The Witzard

"I'm writing all the time, but recently I got the bug back. When it comes, it comes, and I can't force it, but... I got it back with "Hotline Bling" and all the other things I've been experimenting with," Erykah Badu recently told Noisey concerning her five-year gap between New Amerykah Part 2 (Return of The Ankh) and just-released But You Caint Use My Phone ; a clever allusion to Badu's own widely-acclaimed 1997 Live single "Tyrone," in which she famously laments, "you need to call Tyrone... but ya can't use my phone." "HOT LINE BLING BUT U CAINT USE MY PHONE MIX" (now re-titled "Cell U Lar Device" ) was initially conceived as an impromptu birthday present for a friend of Erykah Badu 's with assistance from Dallas -area producer Zach Witness , better known locally as one White Chocolate . "When I thought about doing the "Hotline Bling" remix, I thought about him. And the same ...

"Remember one night, I went to Erykah [Badu 's] house, she made tea for me. We talked about love and what life could really be for me. She said, "when that sh*t is real, you just know," Canada 's #1 Rap-Singer Drake crooned of an apparent tea-date with Miss Badu on "Days In The East." While it may or may not actually be a fictionalized re-telling, Drake and Erykah Badu 's mutual admiration doesn't seem to end with "Days In The East;" without any prior warning, Erykah-She ILL-Badu suddenly uploaded her slightly wordy "HOTLINE BLING BUT U CAINT USE MY PHONE MIX" to her newly-minted Soundcloud page Friday evening. ANALOUGE GIRL {IN A DGITAL WORLD} aka THE MIGHTY AFRO DIGHTY herself plays bells, in addition to providing original vocal accompaniment, on "HOTLINE BLING" along with her cast of highly skilled players: producer/keyboardist Zach Witness , guitarist Ben Hixon , and Ethan Worland on "brushes...