Erykah Badu taught herself how to play the piano within a week at seven years old.
Erykah Badu
The 47-year-old soul singer believes she's always had music flowing their her veins even before she starting learning the craft as she was able to sit at the piano that her grandfather bought her and create 20 songs from lyrics she had written as a small child.
In an interview with The Guardian newspaper, she said: "Music was a big part of my life.
"We had a radio in the bathroom of my maternal grandmother's house that never went off ... My paternal grandfather bought me a piano when I was seven years old. No music lessons. Just, 'Here's a piano.' And I was able to get up on it and write songs. I think I wrote 20 songs in the first week."
The brunette beauty has bagged herself the title 'Godmother of Soul' over the years because younger fans and upcoming artists see her as a "cool big sister."
And Erykah - whose real name is Erica Abi Wright - thinks that is fairly accurate.
She said: "I can see the evidence of that when I listen to music or hear young artists talk and they're not shy at all about telling me thank you for the things I've contributed to them."
However, Erykah has found herself in hot water over her outspoken political views in the past because she "lives in her own little bubble" and doesn't keep up with news.
But she doesn't think people have to share positive messages to be "great."
She explained: "There will never be another Muhammad Ali, there will never be another Fela Kuti, there will never be another Isley Brothers. "Great artists don't necessarily have some positive message or a moral message. I just think they're very honest. If they're very honest, you can see it come through no matter what they're talking about. I learned that with me, everything I do is a political statement. Everything I say is a political statement for some reason in the world."
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