June is Black Music Month, Countdown of Shamontiel's Top 30 African-American Artists

President George W. Bush had a lot of screw-ups during his eight-year term, but he did do a couple things right. One of them was proclaiming June as Black Music Month on May 31, 2002. June is a little over a day away, and to celebrate Black Music Month, I'll be featuring one of my favorite artists each day, sharing my first or most personal memory of them, explain what their accomplishments are and why I felt they should make the Black Music Month Top 30 list. There will be some oldies, some newbies and some artists who are in between stages.

My June 10 selection is Erykah Badu.

Black Music Month Heat Factor "Why's this artist hot?": Erykah Badu is clearly not worried about fitting in with a crowd. The video for "Window Seat" made that perfectly clear, especially considering I'm sure she was aware of the backlash. But what was fascinating was how it turned more guys on to her (yes, the surprising junk caught their attention, too) and I heard men talking about it on Chicago radio and on Twitter for days. "Window Seat" has spent 14 weeks on the Billboard charts so far. But Erykah Badu has always succeeded by daring to be different, from turbans, large bracelets and summer dresses to crocheted and straw hats, '70s style stacks and afros, to a bald head or Kangols. You never really know what she's going to wear next, but she could truly care less about fashion trends or being a musical follower. Setting her own trends while respecting other unique artists, she's worked with some of today's most talented artists, including MC Lyte and D'Angelo, and she's the mother of hip hop aficionado Andre 3000's (from Outkast) son, Seven.

First Memory, Most Personal Memory of the Artist: One of my aunts bought me Erykah Badu's first CD as soon as it came out. I was almost 16 and still a little too young to really comprehend all the stuff Erykah Badu was saying, but we both cracked up at the "Afro" song. My aunt and I were not close at all, but this was the first time we'd ever had a girl's day out. "Baduzim" was a temporary way to bond us. Although we haven't been in communication for over a decade, to this day, I can thank her for putting me on to this neo-soul, rock, hip-hop genius.

Fast forward three years later to "Mama's Gun." A childhood friend of mine and I went to a carnival with this very attractive guy that we were both kind of interested in. It was supposed to be a double date, but my date bailed when he found out I kind of liked that guy. My buddy and I weren't in the habit of competing for anybody's attention so we took it as a chance to chill, but we were caught by surprise when the guy shushed us as soon as "Bag Lady (Remix)" came on. What guy is going to shush two attractive and fun girls like us and give someone he doesn't even know the floor? None other than Erykah Badu. While we were both fans, that's when we knew Erykah Badu was the baddest. Apparently "Cleva" was the truth because he completely ignored us until that song went off. All I could do was smile, bob my head to the song and watch this 6'6 dude zone out like we weren't even there. The three of us spent the rest of the night talking about music, playing random games and cracking jokes. The next day when the guy told both of us he was interested, we laughed it off and said we didn't need that kind of baggage. We didn't want "to hurt our back dragging all them bags like that." Friends don't fight over boys. They find new boys to date.

Accomplishments from the Artist: Erykah Badu is no stranger to the Billboard charts. "Danger" from 2003's "World Wide Underground" spent 11 weeks on the charts. Grammy-award winning "Love of My Life (An Ode to Hip Hop)" from 2003's "Brown Sugar" soundtrack stayed on the charts for 27 weeks. "Bag Lady" from 2000's "Mama's Gun" was on the charts for 20 weeks. And of course her first single "On & On" was the number one hit in 1997 when we were first introduced to her music and won her a Grammy. She's also won at least one Soul Train Award, BET Award, The Rock Star Award, American Music Award, Fryderyk International Award and Billboard Music Award.

Other Black Music Month Selections:June 1 Trey Songz

June 2 Marvin Gaye

June 3 Rakim Allah

June 4 Brandy Norwood

June 5 Tina Turner

June 6 MC Lyte

June 7 Lyfe Jennings

June 8 Bill Withers

June 9 Wyclef Jean