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When Erykah Badu’s Baduzim came out I was 11. I discovered it when I was 13 upon a visit to my cousin’s house, back then it was still an event to sit down as a family and watch the Grammy Awards. Julia (My cousin) and her boyfriend at the time must have been in love and it was my first time experiencing love at its rawest form because they used to fight, hell for leather screaming and slamming doors. Leaving for days on end then coming home and apologizing kind of love. I was that kid, and sometimes still am; who laughed when I was nervous. And I’d roll around her lounge in stiches when they’d fight. Until today, I still enjoy the sound of fighting; something about the passion in it makes me smile. In her lounge I discovered, Erykah Badu, Baduizm; The Roots; Things Fall Apart, D’Angelo’s Brown Sugar and Jay Z’s Blueprint. There was an allure in my cousin’s brown, wooden floor villa on the North Shore of Auckland, New Zealand on her expensive Yamaha stereo the echoed into my soul