Erykah Badu honoured the late great singer-songwriter Roberta Flack during her one-off DJ set in London for her birthday. See the video below.
Last Thursday (February 27), Badu celebrated her 54th birthday by playing a surprise DJ set at Camden’s Jazz Cafe under the alias DJ Lo Down Loretta Brown.
London’s own Keyrahh was the opening DJ and, when the ‘Bag Lady’ singer got on stage, she thanked her for warming up the crowd and introduced Rashad Smith (aka producer Tumbling Dice) whom she hailed as “the original hitmaker from New York that had the ’90s streets on fire”.
She then took over the decks for an experimental, eclectic set while on “mushrooms”.
An impromptu Q&A session afterward. A fan praised Badu for the Texas singer’s 2012 Robert Glasper collaboration ‘Afro Blue’ from his ‘Black Radio’ album, causing Badu to point out that the lyrics were originally written by Flack.
“Roberta!” Badu began to shout into the mic. “Roberta! […] Some say there are two certain deaths that we can experience: the first death is the one where we stop breathing and cease to live on the planet. The second death is the last time somebody says your name so, Roberta!”
Then, she launched into song, singing Flack’s iconic hit ‘Killing Me Softly With His Song’ before throwing up a peace sign and leaving. Check out the footage here:
Roberta Flack died on February 24 in her New York City home. She was most widely recognised as a pioneer of R&B, being the iconic voice behind tracks like ‘The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face’, ‘Feel Like Makin’ Love’ and ‘Killing Me Softly With His Song’.
At the time of writing, no cause of death has been revealed. However, the singer had been battling ALS for the past three years.
When the news broke, a representative issued a statement: “We are heartbroken that the glorious Roberta Flack passed away this morning,” they wrote in a new statement. “She died peacefully surrounded by her family. Roberta broke boundaries and records. She was also a proud educator.”
Lauryn Hill also paid tribute to Flack. As part of the Fugees, she covered ‘Killing Me Softly With His Song’ for their 1996 album ‘The Score’ – with the rendition going on to win a Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal the following year.
She detailed how Flack’s music “fascinated me with their beauty and sophistication”, and that the artist had “moved me and showed me through her own creative choices and standards what else was possible within the idiom of Soul”.
Hill added that her version of ‘Killing Me Softly…’ was made “to honour the beauty and brilliance of this song and [Flack’s] performance of it to our generation”.
Elsewhere in Badu’s set, she explained the significance of Yasiin Bey‘s (fka Mos Def) ‘Umi Says’. As the song finished, she continued singing the refrain (“For Black people to be free, to be free, to be free…“) before going into a speech about oppression: “What he means is for all people to be free because the moment all people realise some people aren’t free, that’s when we [go], ‘Uh oh!'”
She also revealed that she is starting a comedy career. After Badu was interrupted by a fan, she fired back witty quips in the need to “test some of [her] material”.
In other news, Erykah Badu won her first Grammy in two decades. At this year’s ceremony, she and Rapsody were awarded Best Melodic Rap Performance for their duet ‘3:AM’ from the latter’s fourth album ‘Please Don’t Cry’. This marked Badu’s fifth overall award and Rapsody’s inaugural. Check out all the winners the Grammys 2025 here.