Step Inside Erykah Badu’s Home Studio—or “Badudio”—Where Everything Makes Music

[instrument buzzing]

Beautiful instrument.

Very low frequency, good for the lower chakra.

And I got this at my third Ayahuasca ceremony.

May the force be with you.

[chill music]

Hey Vogue.

I m Erykah Badu.

And welcome to the Badudio.

It s my home studio.

I m gonna show you some of my amulets and talismans,

so come on a journey with me.

Let s go.

I ve been in the Badudio for almost a year.

Our house is around the corner.

And I decided to move the studio out of the family house

to at least give us some sacred space.

Of course, it s full of music.

When you have a sacred space,

everything in it is also sacred.

Everything you do in it is also sacred.

The whole house is an altar paying homage to creativity,

and my blessings, and gifts.

And one of the most sacred things

in my space is this Rhodes 73,

given to me by one of my very good friends, Vince.

It s a beautiful sound.

[keyboard playing]

When I first got it, it would just pop on by itself.

I am almost sure that it s haunted.

I ve written some hauntingly crazy songs on it.

I m a okay keyboard player,

but when I play this one, Liberace.

[jazzy music]

Okay, I got some more stuff to show you.

Come on.

I have singing bowls that I use.

And they re good for meditation,

and stress, and those kinds of things.

But this one is a purse.

Isn t that cute?

And this was made by one of my friends.

And the name of his brand is Please Look at my Ass.

And it has this little tool.

[singing bowl chimes]

So wherever I am, I can find some peace.

Hello, and welcome to the Badudio bedroom.

I don t like a lot of things in the place,

but there are a few things that I have to have.

Number one, my bells.

As soon as I wake up in the morning, I put these on.

I love things that make music,

especially when you walk or dance.

And I can also use them when I m recording.

The second thing that I have to have in my room is a sauna.

In this case, an infrared sauna.

Infrared light on the light spectrum

is very healing to the cells.

My self-care regimen is very important to me.

And I really enjoy sweating, and bathing,

and showering, and those types of things

that give attention to the biggest organ

on the body, the skin.

I m gonna take you like this.

[bells jingling]

Let s turn it on.

There s a car radio with a CD player

in here that I stole in 1983.

I don t steal anymore.

If you see this light on, that means don t bother me,

I m in the infrared sauna, meditating.

And that keeps me off your ass.

Trust me.

Let me show you some other stuff in here.

Follow me.

These are the things that are so very precious.

The metals.

I m from Dallas, Texas.

South Dallas, Texas, to be exact.

The home of people that actually get

real gold teeth put in their mouth.

I designed this grill.

And it s a tuning fork.

Controlling the frequency of the environment,

you know what I m saying?

This grill set is made of my favorite stone, opal.

But there s something super special about this opal.

Follow me.

[chill music]

This is a pretty sacred room where I come and meditate.

There are different ways that I meditate.

In this case, sonically.

I ve been using sound instruments on my albums since 1997.

There s always a bed of delta waves,

or zeta waves, or beta waves underneath the music.

One of my favorite instruments

or tools I like to use are tuning forks.

This is a specially crafted

double-ended giant tuning fork that I really love.

They re delta waves on one side, and beta on the other.

And this is how it sounds.

[tuning fork vibrating]

And this is a spinning sphere.

It expands the vibration because it spins.

[sphere chiming]

This is in the key of F,

which is the frequency of the universe.

I also like to use my om wand.

[instrument buzzing]

Beautiful instrument.

Very low frequency,

good for the lower chakras, or the lower nature.

Sexual energy, creative energy, tribal energy.

And I got this at my third Ayahuasca ceremony.

It was a gift.

May the force be with you.

[bowl chiming]

Feels really good.

It makes me wanna put on my favorite hat.

Thank you so much for this special time

that we had together.

I appreciate you Vogue.

I m gonna go outside and look at the stars

since it s such a really clear night here in Texas.

[chill music]