Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
The A.V. Club	B
Entertainment Weekly	A–
The Guardian
Los Angeles Times
Mojo
The Observer
Pitchfork	7.8/10
Rolling Stone
Uncut

New Amerykah Part One (4th World War) is the 2008 fourth studio album by American neo soul singer and songwriter Erykah Badu. After a hiatus from recording music due to writer's block, Badu communicated with several hip hop producers over the Internet and worked on new music using the GarageBand software program on her laptop. Once the songs were composed, she went on to record most of the album at Electric Lady Studios in New York City.

New Amerykah Part One is an esoteric concept album titled as a pun on Badu's first name and a reflection of the record's political leanings. It features social commentary and themes related to the plight of the African-American community, including poverty, urban violence, complacency, and cultural identity. The record's densely produced music incorporates funk, R&B, hip hop, soul, jazz, and electronica styles.

New Amerykah Part One was released by Universal Motown on February 26, 2008, receiving widespread critical acclaim and debuting at number two on the Billboard 200 albums chart. At the end of the year, it was named by many critics as one of 2008's best records, and by December 2009, it had sold 359,000 copies in the United States. Badu promoted the album with a supporting tour, The Vortex World Tour, during May to July 2008.

Dealing with writer's block and conflicted about her mainstream success, Erykah Badu embarked on her Frustrated Artist Tour in 2003. Her increasing popularity brought upon some backlash towards her public image and expectations of her as "queen of neo soul", an honorific nickname that she found limiting. Her third studio album, Worldwide Underground (2003), was released to mostly positive reviews and was certified gold, although it was underpromoted and sold less than her previous albums. Badu herself was not satisfied with the album and felt she had nothing substantial to express with her music at the time. She took time off from her recording career to deal with her creative block and focus on caring for her children, although she continued to tour in the period between albums.

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