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Love of My Life (An Ode to Hip-Hop) by Erykah Badu feat. Common

Piano chords, voicings & structure breakdown · 9 steps · 5 unique chords · 2000s

Community chart. These chords come from a chart a musician wrote and shared on the iReal Pro forums, not from a transcription checked against the recording. Charts are sometimes written in a different key or simplified, and no second chart of this song agreed closely enough to mark this page verified. Trust your ears.
A Section 1Step 1 of 9

Cm9

LeftC2, G2RightB♭3, D4, E♭4, G4
C4C2G2D4G4B♭3E♭4
Left hand Right hand Middle C (C4)

No source cited for this step

Harmonic Analysis & Structure

Overview

Key: G minor · Chords used: 5 · Sections: 4

Form: A Section → A Section → B Section → B Section

Where these chords come from: a chord chart of this song written by a musician and shared on the iReal Pro forums, archived in the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). It's one musician's reading of the song, not a transcription checked against the recording. This page shows that chart as-is: the analysis below is generated directly from it by code, not written by AI. Consecutive repeats of a chord are shown once, and the piano voicings are our playable arrangement of each chord symbol, not a note-for-note transcription.

Section by section

A Section 1

  • Cm9 – Gm9
    iv9 – i9

A Section 2

Same chords as A Section 1.

B Section 1

  • E♭maj7 – Dm9 – Cm9 – E♭maj7 – D♭maj9 – Cm9 – Gm9
    bVImaj7 – v9 – iv9 – bVImaj7 – bVmaj9 – iv9 – i9

B Section 2

Same chords as B Section 1.

Chord vocabulary

ChordRoman numeralRoleHeard in
Cm9iv9In the keyA Section, B Section
Gm9i9Home chord (tonic)A Section, B Section
E♭maj7bVImaj7In the keyB Section
Dm9v9Outside the key (chromatic)B Section
D♭maj9bVmaj9Outside the key (chromatic)B Section

Sources & accuracy

  • Chords: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “Love of My Life (An Ode To Hip Hop)” (credited “Badu Erykah”, style Medium Swing) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Performer confirmed from the Billboard year-end charts.
  • Section names: from the chart's own markings: section names written on the chart (Intro, Verse, Chorus…) are kept, and rehearsal letters are shown as “A Section”, “B Section” and so on (the B of an AABA song is called the Bridge).
  • Chord charts are often written in a key that suits a particular singer or band, so this may not be the key of the original recording.
  • About the song: Wikipedia.
  • Not verified: only one chart of this song is available, so it hasn't been cross-checked.
  • Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.

Sources & Accuracy

Every chord on this page comes from the community chart listed first below. Piano voicings are our arrangement of the reported chord symbols, not a note-for-note transcription.

  • Chords from a chart a musician wrote and shared on the iReal Pro forums (archived in the ChoCo research dataset); may be in a different key from the recording, and not checked against it.

    Community chord chart “Love of My Life (An Ode To Hip Hop)” (credited “Badu Erykah”, style Medium Swing) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Performer confirmed from the Billboard year-end charts.

All Piano Voicings

#SectionChordLeft handRight handSources
1A Section 1Cm9C2, G2B♭3, D4, E♭4, G4—
2A Section 1Gm9G2, D3B♭3, D4, F4, A4—
3B Section 1E♭maj7E♭2, B♭2B♭3, D4, G4—
4B Section 1Dm9D2, A2A3, C4, E4, F4—
5B Section 1Cm9C2, G2B♭3, D4, E♭4, G4—
6B Section 1E♭maj7E♭2, B♭2B♭3, D4, G4—
7B Section 1D♭maj9D♭2, A♭2A♭3, C4, E♭4, F4—
8B Section 1Cm9C2, G2B♭3, D4, E♭4, G4—
9B Section 1Gm9G2, D3B♭3, D4, F4, A4—