GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE
AUGUST 2, 1996
Evenings Out
The future of funk
Grege
Me'Shell Ndegeocello
by Doreen Cudnik
Me'Shell Ndegeocello has always lived up to her name, which means "free as a bird" in Swahili. (It's pronounced nn-DAY-gayoh-CHEL-oh.) Not one to fit neatly into any nice, little boxes, her new album, Peace Beyond Passion, and the accompanying videos, will undoubtedly earn the talented artist a legion of new fans.
Born Michelle Johnson 27 years ago in Berlin, Germany, she later moved to Washington, D.C., where she attended the Duke Ellington School of the Arts and then Howard University. She kicked around the D.C.gogo
scene in the late 1980s and played and recorded with lesbian musician Toshi Reagon, among others.
After moving to New York City in the early 1990s, Ndegeocello was courted by record labels BMI, Warner Bros, and Paisley Park, the label created by the artist formerly known as Prince. She eventually became one of the first artists to sign with Madonna's Maverick label, because it was a new label and she would be given artistic and creative freedom.
"Me'shell's music is poetry, raw and pure," enthused Madonna in the July 1996 Out magazine. The pop diva has also taken to calling Me'Shell's management to make sure that she is given creative control in everything from the way this album is marketed to the making of the videos.
Peace Beyond Passion follows the success of Ndegeocello's debut album, Plantation Lullabies, which was hailed by Time magazine as "literate, smart music about black life, like a Terry McMillan book set to a beat." Lullabies resulted in four 1994 Grammy nominations for Ndegeocello: Best R & B album; Best R&B Song; Best Vocal
Performance Female for her hit song "If That's Your Boyfriend (He Wasn't Last Night)"; and Best Pop Vocal Collaboration for her work with John Cougar Mellencamp on "Wild Night."
The tour that followed the success of Plantation Lullabies confirmed Ndegeocello as an important new singer, songwriter, cultural voice and performing musician. Considered one of the best bass players in the business (she was re-
cently honored with a
Ndegeoclello interchangeably speaks and sings, "I often watch the way you whore yourself, You're so beautiful, You flirt and tease enviously, I wish you'd flirt with me."
And any dyke who has ever questioned her girlfriend's fidelity will relate to Ndegeocello's version of the classic Bill Withers song "Who is He and What is He to You." There's no mistaking the butch bravado in her deep voice when she sings “A
"Best Bass Player There's no mistaking the
Award" at the 1996
Orville H. Gibson butch bravado in her deep Guitar Awards), voice when she sings, “A Ndegé-ocello's work
encompasses eleman we passed just tried to ments of jazz, pop, hip stare me down, And when I hop, and rock, all with
a generous helping of looked at you you looked at old-school funk. Greg the ground, I don't know Tate, writing for Vibe who he is but I think that magazine in 1993, called her work "the you do..."
future of funk."
"Funk like it was
back in the day, black and conscious in Me'shell's memory. Her songs funk with race, sex, drugs, unrequited lust, and the tragedy of the black man," Tate wrote.
On Peace Beyond Passion, Ndegeocello explores issues of religion, sexuality and self-love from a decidedly black lesbian perspective. Where Plantation Lullabies was much more ambiguous in terms of sexuality, (even though the artist came out in an Out magazine article prior to its release), Peace Beyond Passion makes no attempt to conceal her sexual orientation.
In_the_song “Mary Magdalene,”
man we passed just tried to stare me down, And when I looked at you you looked at the ground, I don't know who he is but I think that you do..."
The centerpiece of the album, without a doubt, is a song that delves deep into the issue of homophobia in the church and the views of many African Americans toward gay people. "Leviticus: Faggot" is frightening in its portrayal of a gay black man who is ostracized by his family and his black community, and subsequently forced to hustle for food and money after being kicked out of the house at age sixteen.
The song begins with Ndegeocello speaking menacingly: “Faggot better learn to run 'cuz daddy's home, His sweet little boy just a little too sweet. Every night that man showed the faggot what a real man should be . . .” The song culminates with a gay-bashing that has the gay man “crowned Queen for all
that world to see bloody body face down." Ndegeocello comments on the lack of sympathy shown by many so-called Christians when she sings, "The wages of sin are surely death that's what mama used to say," and when the background vocals sing the chorus, "His mother would pray... save him from this life," it makes you wonder how many mothers have earnestly offered up that prayer instead of simply loving their gay child.
While Me'shell and the executives at Maverick expect some controversy with the album and video, her hope is that it will get people talking honestly about difficult issues. “An artist is often asked to explain the meaning in the tune, especially the lyrics, she said. "I can never tell and make sense of what I'm attempting to get across to the listener. But I am more than satisfied with the dialogue created by the song."
Peace Beyond Passion also is a testament to the artists new-found inner peace. She lives in Los Angeles with her seven-year-old son Solomon Askia, and her partner Winifred, a modern-dance choreographer. She and Winifred exchanged rings in a private ceremony two years ago, giving the woman whose name means "free as a bird" a firm footing on solid ground.
"On the last album, I was disillusioned by so many things," Ndegeocello said. “I thought making a record and receiving some form of public affirmation would bring me the love I desired in my life. This album is my journey towards understanding, and allowing myself the freedom to question reality's boundaries. This body, my mind and whatever wealth I accumulate means nothing. I've discovered that what I wanted no one could give, and what I searched for lived in my heart waiting to be discovered."