Erykah Badu’s Billboard Booty Suit Still Has Us Buzzing — And Debating Its Venus-Inspired Roots

Throughout her career, Erykah Badu has consistently inspired conversations around her future-forward ‘fits. Her latest move at the 2025 Billboard Women in Music Awards was no exception. Badu took the stage to accept the ICON Award on March 29 in a voluptuous custom mohair “booty suit” that had folks clapping back louder than her knitted backside.

Many assumed the look—crafted in collaboration with 22-year-old designer Myah Hasbany—was a callout of Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL) culture or a dig at “fake” bodies.

However, others recognized a deeper nod.

Makeup artist Shèreen Greene shared a collage linking Badu’s look to Venus figurines dating back to 35,000 BCE, alongside images of Sarah Baartman, known historically as the “Hottentot Venus.”

Paired together, the images remind us how society–particularly through non-Black lenses—has long gazed at, distorted, and tried to diminish the female form, especially when that form is full, Black, and powerful.

Badu confirmed her tribute to the “full figure form” in a short film.

The suit’s exaggerated bust and hips weren’t mocking—they were reclaiming. It was a nod to lineage that includes the hypervisibility and exploitation of Black women’s bodies while also refusing to be reduced to that history. It asked the viewer to sit with their assumptions, not hers.

Hasbany, who has been working with Badu since 2020 and has already earned renown for her designs with highlighting body and gender dysmorphia, described the piece as open to interpretation.

We saw it as a love letter to the natural forms, curves, and legacy of Black women’s bodies—outside of caricature, outside of performance, and without the need for explanation.

And maybe that’s the point. It doesn’t need to be one thing. It doesn’t need to make sense to everyone. It was art, it was protest, and most importantly, it was ours.