"Woke," a term singer Erykah Badu reinvigorated in the late aughts on the track "Master Teacher," has since taken on "a life of its own," and she believes it has become a put-down for Black people.
"It doesn't belong to us anymore," the four-time Grammy Award winner said in an interview this week, reflecting on the evolution of the the word from a social justice battle cry to a stereotype of dissent that is now weaponized as conservative invective.
Speaking during "Mavericks With Ari Melber," the "On & On" and "Tyrone" musician discussed how she reintroduced the established term on her 2008 album, "New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)," and how it morphed.
