The Last Word: Erykah Badu

Mark Summers for Rolling StoneWho are your heroes?
My grandmothers, Thelma Gipson and Viola Wilson. They're both 90. They keep me grounded. Thelma was a principal's assistant at an elementary school. She made sure my siblings and I were properly fed, even when she was really tired. Viola worked for Rockwell International, which built the space shuttles. She and I work in the yard, paint, continuously redecorate. She bought me my first piano and made sure that if I was singing about something, it