Last night’s Soul Train Awards gave us a Dru Hill reunion, New Jack Swing medley and soul cypher realness, but above all, the annual show served as a reminder of Erykah Badu’s enduring brilliance.
As host, she wowed us with her comedic timing, unparelled fashion choices and of course–that soulful voice. As it turns out, Erykah’s braids were the also subject of awe and adoration, too.
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The singer has always worn standout dos on and off the stage, but these floorlength braids are definitely next level. Shortly before the show aired, Badu detailed the styling process with The New York Times, saying she wanted them to be “as thin as the lines on your hand.”
Each one takes between 8-15 minutes to construct and the entire head requires weeks of work, with as many as five women working at once. Badu’s love for braids goes all the way back to her adolescence, when she first encountered the salon of Isis Brantley, who styles her hair to this day.
“When we are all together, the rhythm — and we are all around, there’s incense … it just feels really good,” she said of the braiding process. “It takes a village. A tribe. And it’s a sharing kind of thing.”
See more photos of Badu’s epic braids below!