Word: ndegeocello
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...Dynasty and jackets with zippers all over them. On Bedtime Stories, though, she successfully pulls herself out of the time warp by surrounding herself with au courant '90s performers such as Babyface (who co-wrote two tracks on Bedtime Stories and also sings on them), critical darling Me'Shell NdegeOcello (who plays bass and raps) and Icelandic alternative diva Bjork (who co-wrote a tune). One of the songs on the new CD, Inside of Me, even shamelessly samples from Back and Forth, a pop hit by the hot teenage singer Aaliyah that is still on the Billboard charts (Madonna...
...Revolutionary love songs" from Me'Shell NdegeOcello...
...NdegeOcello (whose name means "free like a bird" in Swahili) and her career are starting to take wing with the release of her debut album, Plantation Lullabies. "A plantation can be your job, your marriage, anyplace where you don't feel free," she says, explaining the title. "Lullabies are songs that soothe little children to sleep, but they can also be empowering." She has a new video on MTV (she is bald in the arty black and white clip; she has since let her hair grow out a bit), and a Rolling Stone critics' poll chose NdegeOcello...
...songs on Plantation Lullabies feature whiplash bass grooves and down- for-the-struggle lyrics. This is literate, smart music about black life, like a Terry McMillan book set to a beat. NdegeOcello's voice flows easily from singing to speaking, brashly loitering in the space in between. "Konks and fade creams, sad passion deferred dreams," she sing-speaks on Soul on Ice, a swipe at buppies who refuse to date black women. "You want blond- haired, blue-eyed soul;/ Snow-white passion without the hot comb." Other songs deal with everything from love on the subway to what she sees...
...most controversial song, If That's Your Boyfriend (He Wasn't Last Night), she sings of cheerfully taking away a friend's mate. Feminists have deplored the unsisterly politics, while gays have accused her of trying to mask her sexuality. NdegeOcello -- a U.S. Army brat who was born in Berlin but raised in Washington -- calls herself gay but says she has also been attracted to men; she has a four-year-old son, Askia. "How can I dislike or distance myself from men," she says, "when I have to raise...