First of all let me preface this post by saying that this video embodies everything that I love about Miss Erykah Badu. Today Erykah tweeted that the premiere of "Window Seat Part II" was going to go down promptly at 3:33 PM and many of us lied in wait for its appearance. It features the version of "Window Seat" with a Rick Ross opening verse that dropped earlier this year and "Turn Me Away (Get Munny)" on the back end. In my opinion, the video is great. All the way to her being picked up by Rick Ross from outside the bail bonds office for her presumed arrest for walking nude in public for her first "Window Seat" video, to collaborating with Rick Ross yet again, to receiving a Louis Vuitton bag full of who-knows-what, to pulling pantyhose over her face with accomplice Ross, to leaving the car running, to the gunshots and clickety clack of feet running in heels at the end. This video promises a continuing plot and I'm already salivating for more. Speaking of more, let's consider what I'm sure will be a backlash and at the very least head-scratching moments regarding Ms. Badu's recent choices, this video included. 

I distinctly remember scores of Badu fans being confused all the way to irritated when "Jump Up In The Air and Stay There" debuted. Lil Wayne was her choice to spit that hot fire while she and Bilal sang the lyrics and the hook, but somehow Erykah's insistence that she is more than just her now-13-year-old headwrap fell upon some deaf ears. We've explored Erykah's personal choices a bit on SoulBounce in the past and I won't rehash those too much here. I will say that the person that we want her to sometimes be is not the torchbearer of neo soul anymore even though some of us want her to be. Just like the music she made in 1997 isn't the same, nor are any of us.

Erykah is a self-proclaimed baby momma, even though some of us abhor that term. She is a woman who collaborated with a self-proclaimed pusher (and former corrections officer) who has an unhealthy fascination with that white stuff. But those contradictions--just like being accepting of Biggie rhyming about "bitches" and "hoes" yet flinching when someone recommends music by yet another cocaine pusher--is as much a part of hip-hop as fathering two children within the same year. Or having three kids by three of the most arguably influential lyrcists that hip-hop has ever seen. Let's not forget that the video for "Next Lifetime" was as much a great story as much as it was a peek into her romantic preferences. In fact, Erykah Badu has more in common with some of your beloved and not so beloved hip-hop artist than most of us realize.

In short, if you think Erykah's done shocking, I'm sure we haven't seen anything yet. Whenever "Window Seat Part III" drops, I'm sure it will cause even more uncomfortable moments. But for this Badu fan and lover of those who reinvent and cause controversy, this is right up my alley. Let us know your thoughts in the comments.