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Music is my only guide. I don't care if people pigeonhole me. Miles Davis is my hero. He covered Cindy Lauper and Michael Jackson, and he didn't give a hoot about what the purists said.

Meshell Ndegeocello

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Meshell Ndegeocello
Age: 56
Born: 1968
Born: August 29
Bassist
Composer
Guitarist
Jazz Musician
Rapper
Recording Artist
Singer
Singer-Songwriter
Songwriter
Berlin
Germany
Michelle Lynn Johnson
Meshell Suhaila Bashir-Shakur
Me'Shell Ndegéocello
Give
Jackson
Care
Michael
Music
Guide
Giving
Covered
Purists
People
Guides
Pigeonhole
Miles
Cindy
Hero
Hoot
Didn
Davis

More quotes by Meshell Ndegeocello

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Once you encounter people who are really testing the limits of kindness, that's when you start to build up a shield and close yourself down.
Meshell Ndegeocello
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Your government has problems...my government has problems. I can't be a judge. All I can do is be an ambassador of love. I'm a musician, not a soldier, and if I'm invited to a place in order to play and bring love, I'll always accept the invitation.
Meshell Ndegeocello
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It's funny, I think after you are a star like Sting and you no longer think you need any guidance or aid - it would be great to see those stars work with other songwriters.
Meshell Ndegeocello
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My favorite period is when we lived in the land of the three-minute song. The Motown thing - I thought they were genius in knowing that's as much as a listener can take.
Meshell Ndegeocello
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I'm becoming more and more apolitical - I think the most revolutionary thing you can do is just live your life and have a good time. Before they scoop you up on the street or you die.
Meshell Ndegeocello
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Her beauty cannot be measured with standards of a colonized mind
Meshell Ndegeocello
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God looks out for fools and babies.
Meshell Ndegeocello
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Our leaders and Osama Bin Laden all claim to do the right thing in the name of God. I question that. I wonder if that God is worth the life of another human-being.
Meshell Ndegeocello
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My father was a jazz tenor sax player. He played in a lot of big bands. So I had that sound around me all the time. The first record that really caught my ear was Clifford Brown's 'Brownie Eyes.' I grew up listening to John Coltrane and Illinois Jacquet. This is where I come from... I love improvisational music.
Meshell Ndegeocello
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My greatest influence is Jimi Hendrix, and if he's been reincarnated, or if he's looking down, sideways, or looking up, I just wanted to tell him that I love him and thank him for opening doors for me. I just wanted to make it beautiful for him.
Meshell Ndegeocello
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I feel that musicians are in a fellowship, and that fellowship is a responsibility.
Meshell Ndegeocello
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I think leaders are incapable of the strength that passive resistance entails.
Meshell Ndegeocello
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I'm a true believer that unless you're Prince or Stevie Wonder - and even Prince is showing that he needs help - not everybody can produce themselves. I'm definitely not that person.
Meshell Ndegeocello
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It's interesting to do other people's music - that's how I learned to play, by learning other people's songs. It's nice to delve into how other people got to where they are.
Meshell Ndegeocello
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Madonna is interesting. She changed music. She definitely did. She gave me an opportunity that no one else would give me, so I am very grateful to her.
Meshell Ndegeocello
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Definitely dub is in my body forever. I think I hear everything through a dub filter. Even when I play rock music, I play through a dub filter.
Meshell Ndegeocello
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Yes, violence begets more violence, but historically this has been the way of the world.
Meshell Ndegeocello
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I love children. I'd prefer to be around children much more than adults, actually. And I like animals, too. I'm just really into beings who are at ease with themselves.
Meshell Ndegeocello
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I stopped beating up on myself. I stopped asking myself why I didn't sell this number of records, why I don't have corporate sponsorship. I just don't buy into any of that anymore.
Meshell Ndegeocello
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Sometimes people ask what it was like when I got to meet Mick Jagger, and I must admit that you just try and chill out and be your best self around anyone that you meet.
Meshell Ndegeocello