Recently, Erykah Badu and The Alchemist teamed up to unleash another new track, "Next To You." The song is expected to appear on their upcoming collaborative album Abi & Alan, and so far, fans seem to be enjoying it. The Alchemist took to Instagram earlier today to post about the track, revealing that it's dedicated to Prodigy of Mobb Deep, who died of accidental choking in 2017. “For my brother Prodigy . Hope i’m making u proud Science!!!," he captioned the post.
Unfortunately, however, the cover art for the single has sparked controversy among social media users. The artwork appears to be a nod to Sonic Youth’s 1990 Goo album cover. The fact that it was AI-generated has many listeners up in arms.
"Always disappointing to see your favourites use AI," one fan writes, per AllHipHop. "Artists using ai is soooo disappointing," another says. “Erykah Badu was one of the main reasons I got into making music related art," someone else adds. "Mama’s Gun album art is hanging on my wall, seeing this AI garbage artwork makes me sick. These are two talented musicians who had the opportunity to make a classic but instead they cheaped out."
Erykah Badu & The Alchemist Abi & Alan
The backlash comes just ahead of "The Abi & Alan Japan Tour." It will see the two artists perform in Osaka, Tokyo and Yokohama later this month. Badu is also scheduled to perform at Essence Festival in New Orleans during Independence Day weekend this year.
As for the upcoming project itself, it remains unclear exactly when fans can plan to hear it in full. It'll be Badu's first official studio album since New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh), which she released back in 2010.
It'll also follow her mixtape But You Caint Use My Phone, which came out in 2015, along with her Juneteenth concert “Badu Presents: Echoes 19.” The concert was streamed from her hometown of Dallas this week.
