Erykah Badu and The Alchemist laid out the full shape of Before the World Blows: The Abi and Alan Experiment on 26 August 2026, two days ahead of its release on Friday 28 August. Consequence reported the details. The album runs to 16 tracks and includes the singles already out, "Next 2 U" and "Witch Doctor."
The guest list is where the record shows its reach across two scenes. Thundercat appears on "They Ain't You," Steve Lacy on "To the Moon (Plan C)," Earl Sweatshirt on "I Know That Man," and Kamasi Washington closes the album on "Black Box." Westside Gunn turns up twice, on "Crossfade" alongside DJ Creole Princess and Joi, and again on "No I.D." DRAM features on "Valentine."
The rest of the track list keeps the same slightly off-centre humour the pair have used throughout the campaign: "Echos," "I Just Play a Part," "Love Me Not," "Breezy," "Abracadabra," and a pair titled "What the People Say (Apostle 1)" and "Hot BiBi (Apostle 2)."
The promotion is stranger than the record. Badu set up a site where fans work through a series of challenges to unlock a burner number, then have to give the album title as a passphrase for a chance to speak to her by phone or video call. Selected callers are asked to finish the sentence "One Mo ______ Before the World Blows," and some of those conversations are being recorded and folded back into the campaign. It is a marketing funnel built as a party line.
The two take the album on the road across North America in September, opening at Ravinia Festival in Highland Park, Illinois on 10 September and finishing at the Hollywood Bowl on 29 September, with dates in Detroit, Toronto, Cleveland, Uncasville, Forest Hills, Washington, Indianapolis, Denver, San Diego, Berkeley and Highland in between. De La Soul supports on seven of them and Smino on three.
Our earlier reporting on the record includes Erykah Badu and The Alchemist setting the joint album for August 28 and the controversial video for Witch Doctor. The rest sits under R&B and soul.
The facts
- Before the World Blows: The Abi and Alan Experiment runs to 16 tracks
- It was released on Friday 28 August 2026
- Guests include Thundercat, Earl Sweatshirt, Steve Lacy, Kamasi Washington and Westside Gunn
- Earlier singles Next 2 U and Witch Doctor are on the album
- Fans unlock a burner number through challenges for a chance to speak to Badu
- A 13-date North American tour opens at Ravinia on 10 September 2026
- It closes at the Hollywood Bowl on 29 September, with De La Soul and Smino supporting
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