This week, Erykah Badu appeared on Ebro In The Morning. The veteran singer, producer, and DJ spoke about the world. She considers herself “an observer,” and the mother of three had some hopeful sentiments to those who may be emotionally downtrodden, given current political, social, and environmental developments.

Approaching the 10:00 mark, Ebro and Peter Rosenberg asked Badu her thoughts following this month’s election and some of the responses since. “There are definitely energies and people who feel a certain way—collectively, that don’t appreciate peace and harmony, for some reason or another. They’re making their last attempt to keep us divided. When I say ‘they,’ I don’t want it to sound like a conspiracy [or] propaganda. But there are energies, and we feel them—and they could be parts of ourselves.”

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However, Badu believes humanity is safe, thanks to future generations. “There’s nothing to be alarmed about—at all.” She continues, “We’re gonna be okay because we have evolved through our children; our children ain’t havin’ [hate]. There’s no such thing as race. There’s no such thing as gender. There’s no such thing as hierarchy or lowerarchy, or any of those kinds of things. They’re just who they are—they’re people. And they’re all hurting. There is a need—the reservation will come up out of a need. Just like Hip-Hop—it came up out of a need; we needed that.” Earlier in the conversation, Erykah spoke of her magnetic pull towards Hip-Hop in the 1980s and 1990s. “This is a need that we have collectively prayed for, wished for, hoped for. Our children will lead us into the future; old ways die with the old. This is who we are, this is what we are.”

Erykah, who released the But You Caint Use My Phone (Mixtape) project in 2015, defines herself differently than some may expect. “I’m not a feminist, or any ‘ist.’ That’s the problem—when you go too far, that’s when we become robots and soldiers to causes that are unnecessary. I’m just a humanist—a person, who is concerned with the growth of us as people, here, altogether. We have to share, altogether—that’s what I’m concerned with. But I do see–like the [morning after the election], in traffic on the way to take the children to school, it’s like we were on teams. It some looks, some people trying to cut you off. That’s [common] in New York. That’s just the way it is: survival of the fittest. But in Texas, it’s not that way—not outwardly. Now, it’s a little bit more outward. They’re not afraid; they have permission.” The Grammy-winning songstress maintains that progress will win in the end. “Things change. To try to fight them causes chaos, I feel.” She continues, “I didn’t feel sad because Donald Trump was elected. I didn’t feel sad because of what I fear he may cause or do. I feel sad because people’s emotions and fears were being manipulated. The lowest parts of people have really been manipulated to really believe or think that they can separate from the whole. We want all; there’s no separating—that’s an illusion…Then, there are also the Black Liberalists who are ready to fight because of it. I feel sad because of that as well, because everyone is being puppeted.”

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Badu points to her 2008 New Amerykah Part One (4th World War) album as a forecast of much of what is presently transpiring in the world.

Earlier in the interview, at 7:20, Erykah reflected on her career, which blossomed in the late 1990s. “I came at a time, when we needed some feminine political statement made in America—and some kind of feminine political, African statement to be made in America. People were very grateful for that. It was aesthetically, what I enjoyed doing. I was studying culture and who I was, and who we are. I think people really appreciated that, because we were all moving in that direction at the same time,” said the Motown Records artist. “I think I poked a little hole in the dam for everything to flow through in like kind. People appreciated that, and they greeted me with gifts and compliments and light and love. It was overwhelming—and it is still.”

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She also reveals that she is hosting, executive producing, and performing at the upcoming Soul Train Awards. “This year I had a bigger hand in it.” (20:00) Reportedly, there will be cypher, skits, and legend award presented to Teddy Riley. Anderson .Paak and D.R.A.M. (with Badu) will perform.