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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
People
Guides
Pigeonhole
Miles
Cindy
Hero
Hoot
Didn
Davis
Give
Jackson
Care
Michael
Music
Guide
Giving
Covered
Purists

More quotes by Meshell Ndegeocello

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I joke that a person of color would never make a movie like “Midnight in Paris.” Nostalgia isn’t so enticing.
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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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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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
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The blowing thing is something that you either have a predilection for or not. And I don't have that thing. It was just unsanitary. I couldn't do it. I am a complete germaphobe.
Meshell Ndegeocello
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It's very limiting to us as a species, the concept of better-than/less-than. It just seems to be at its end. I'm like, this all fades to black, and it's gone. It's dust. Choose carefully what you obsess about.
Meshell Ndegeocello
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I think leaders are incapable of the strength that passive resistance entails.
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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You make a choice to make music or be an actor, and people automatically think they can have access to your life.
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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Her beauty cannot be measured with standards of a colonized mind
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 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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Yes, violence begets more violence, but historically this has been the way of the world.
Meshell Ndegeocello
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I think all musicians should understand that you have chosen not to be a soldier but a musician.
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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I am here no longer just a vision birthed into this body I accept my praise, my blame, my joy, my sorrow I realize we are, in truth, the truth we seek God, perfect this very moment.
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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My legacy is in my family, not in my work. For me. I don't know about for other people. I try to forget a lot.
Meshell Ndegeocello
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Your yes means nothing if you can't say no.
Meshell Ndegeocello