Meshell Ndegeocello's first three albums dealt with
race, spirituality and love, respectively. Controversy and confrontation were always present.
So was Meshell's desperate desire for understanding and compassion in a world too cruel too
often.
Cookie, her fourth album touches on all these topics and more. It is a very personal
album, openly revealing: a true artist's introspective.
Cookie: The Anthropological Mixtape may be the most important urban album of the year.
Meshell Ndegeocello Discography
- Cookie: The Anthropological Mixtape
- Selections from Lullabies, Peace Beyond Passion & Bitter. Cookie is a diverse
poetic offering of raw lyrics and jazz-fusion funk.
- Plantation Lullabies
- In the 1990's, bassist and vocalist Meshell Ndegeocello wrote and performed music of
such substance and power that her songs threatened to knock down the walls that separate
jazz, funk, R&B, and hip-hop. On "Step Into the Projects," from 1993's Plantation
Lullabies, Ndegeocello delivered a sound that expressed rage, beauty, and depth with an
ultra-cool vibe.
- Peace Beyond Passion
- Peace Beyond Passion is a return to the funk/soul/hip hop of Plantation Lullabies. This
CD contains lyrics of blackness and a view of the world from a totally black perspective.
Many of the albums songs deal with serious almost somber topics racism (Deuteronomy),
homophobia (Leviticus) and promiscuity (Mary Magdalene) Meshell even reaches into her own
past on Make Me Wanna Holler. Meshell continues to deliver a new perspective on these
topics, a viewpoint impossible to ignore.
- Bitter
- Meshell moves beyond her trademark R&B/funk, blending her sound with jazz, folk and
rock. With each new release Meshell raises our musical and philosophical awareness still
higher. The CD is awesome! "Faithful" is a lament on infidelity that starts out slow and
cool, and climaxes with a blistering guitar solo. Jimi Hendrix' "May This Be Love" is
freshly reinvented. Other standouts are "Sincerity" and the title track. The cherry on top
is the hypnotic "Wasted Time" which features harmony vocals by Joe Henry. Meshell is most
definitely an artist before her time, Bitter is an incredible album that will wrap you in
it's emotion and depth.
BIGBAER Urban Alternative Music Magazine
Meshell Ndegeocello: Peace Beyond Passion
I met Meshell on a Sunday at Chicago's Park West Theater. BIGBAER was there to promote
Meshell's show that night. There was a "Meet 'n Greet" scheduled for six that evening and we
brought along promotional materials for display and CD samplers for her fans.
Meshell's tour bus pulled up just as we were finishing our setup. A few minutes later,
Meshell walked in. Though obviously road weary, she wore the most perfect smile I have ever
seen. I immediately thought about the title of her 1996 release: Peace Beyond Passion. That
was the smile she wore; peaceful, wise and loving.
Meshell walked up and introduced herself and although she had just finished a six hour bus
trip from St. Louis, she was relaxed, open and very personable. Her smile never left her face
as we talked music, touring and basketball.
I won't try to hide the fact that I am a huge fan of Meshell's, her music, her lyrics and
her professionalism all touch me deeply. "Hollywood," Meshell is definitely NOT! She is a
poet philosopher, a musician and lyricist who has found peace beyond passion.
Take the best of Gil Scott-Heron, Joan Armatrading, Tracy Chapman, Lonnie Liston Smith and
Herbie Hancock and you can begin to get an idea of the breadth and depth of Meshell's music.
These comparisons all fall far short of reality.
Cookie: The Anthropological Mixtape contains selections from Meshell's three previous
albums as well as new material. "Pocketbook" (Missy Elliot and Rockwilder remix featuring
Redman and Tweet) is Meshell's "Darkside of the Moon" track, just as Pink Floyd was initially
criticized for "going commercial" some fans may not like the departure from Ndegoecello's
more familiar style.
Just as Darkside of the Moon won new fans, and ultimately, helped Pink Floyd turn into a
legendary supergroup, Meshell's new material adds to her repertoire and will allow her to
expand her audience. Fans need not worry: everything you've loved about Meshell is still
there. Now there's even more.
Cookie: The Anthropological Mixtape may be the most important urban album of the year.
Meshell has always been an artist far ahead of her time and now, when the urban music genre
is struggling to find creativity and new direction, when hope for originality relies on
artists such as Outkast and the neo-soul revival, Meshell Ndegeocello may just find that her
time is now.
