Erykah Badu and The Alchemist have released the video for "Witch Doctor," the lead single from their still-untitled collaborative album, due out Friday, August 28.
Badu directed the clip herself, and it plays as a spiritual sequel to her controversial 2010 video for "Window Seat." The video opens with Badu driving a sprinter van through the streets of her native Dallas, glancing back at the camera from the passenger seat in bug-eyed shades and a blonde dip-dyed wig before jamming with The Alchemist in the back of the vehicle.
She then steps out into the streets, where she is accosted and assaulted by fellow Dallasites for reasons the video never explains, stripped of her wig, grill and outfit, and refused entry to a nightclub called Sandaga 813 before being left naked and bloody with her heart in her hand. A voiceover from Badu plays over the final moments before the entire sequence runs in reverse and resets.
Like "Window Seat" before it, the "Witch Doctor" video trades in deliberately unsettling imagery, though this time its meaning beyond spectacle and controversy is left far more ambiguous.
The video arrives days ahead of Badu and The Alchemist's joint album, adding to the run of new hip-hop and R&B releases tracked on the release calendar.
The facts
- 'Witch Doctor' video directed by Erykah Badu herself
- Lead single from a joint album due August 28
- Video echoes her controversial 2010 'Window Seat' visual
- Filmed on the streets of Badu's native Dallas
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