Denzel Curry & Bilal – “Didn’t Cha Know” (Erykah Badu Cover)

Denzel Curry & Bilal – “Didn’t Cha Know” (Erykah Badu Cover)

Last year, the young Florida rap great Denzel Curry released a truly impressive album called Melt My Eyez See Your Future. Today, Curry has revisited a bunch of the tracks from that album on the new Spotify-exclusive Live At Electric Lady session. Curry recorded Live At Electric Lady with the Cold Blooded Soul Band, the ensemble that’s already backed him up on performances like his Tiny Desk Concert. The session’s centerpiece is a take on an Erykah Badu classic.

Erykah Badu recorded “Didn’t Cha Know” with the late genius J Dilla, and she released it as one of the singles from her 2000 sophomore LP Mama’s Gun. It’s a great song. For his Live At Electric Lady performance, Denzel Curry and his Cold Blooded Soul Band are joined by one of Badu’s contemporaries, the Philadelphia neo-soul veteran Bilal. Curry sings lead on the cover, and while he’s nowhere near Badu’s level as a vocalist, he does a whole lot better than most of his rap peers would’ve done. The band’s arrangement is deep and heady, and Curry sounds like he feels that shit. Below, check out Curry’s cover and the video for Badu’s original.

Denzel Curry’s Live At Electric Lady also features a previously unreleased track called “Endtroduction” and a cover of the obscure Japanese rock band Shogun’s 1979 single “Lonely Man.” You can stream the whole live-in-studio EP below.

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