Me´Shell Ndegeocello - Plantation Lullabies (1994)

Meshell Ndegeocello  (born Michelle Lynn Johnson, August 29, 1968) is an American singer-songwriter, rapper, bassist, and vocalist. Her music incorporates a wide variety of influences, including funk, soul, jazz, hip hop, reggae and rock. She has received significant critical acclaim throughout her career, and has had ten career Grammy Award nominations. She has been credited for having "sparked the neo-soul movement."

Plantation Lullabies is the first album by Me'shell Ndegeocello. It was released 19 October 1993 on Maverick Records. The album peaked at #166 on the Billboard Top 200 list in 1994; with the single "If That's Your Boyfriend (He Wasn't Last Night)" reaching #73 on the Hot 100.
Me'shell NdegéOcello's debut album twists and turns through so many genres -- R&B, pop, jazz, hip-hop -- that it's hard to put a finger on just where she wants to take its 13 songs.
That she also spins conventional racial and sexual identity here makes Plantation Lullabies an occasionally overwhelming -- as well as a vibrantly sophisticated -- listen. NdegéOcello defies labels throughout, tagging her slinking and crawling songs with a rubbery flow that's just as rooted in '70s funky soul as it is in '90s hip-hop culture.
The best songs here -- "If That's Your Boyfriend (He Wasn't Last Night)," "Dred Loc," and "Outside Your Door" -- work their way into their grooves with a seamless, and almost uniform, bounce. It can be a bit derivative (for all of NdegéOcello's genre crossing, she always seems to go back to the same musical blueprint), but most of the time it's just about as boundary-busting and as affecting as '90s R&B gets.

Track listing

01.  "Plantation Lullabies" – 1:31
02.  "I'm Diggin You (Like an Old Soul Record)" – 4:25
03.  "If That's Your Boyfriend (He Wasn't Last Night)" – 4:31
04.  "Shoot'n Up and Gett'n High" – 4:14
05.  "Dred Loc" – 4:05
06.  "Untitled" – 1:41
07.  "Step into the Projects" – 3:54
08.  "Soul on Ice" – 5:08
09.  "Call Me" – 4:45
10.  "Outside Your Door" – 5:08
11.  "Picture Show" – 4:38
12.  "Sweet Love" – 4:54
13.  "Two Lonely Hearts (On the Subway)" – 4:16

Musicians

Me'shell NdegéOcello – vocals, bass guitar, additional instruments

David Gamson – drums

David “Fuze” Fiuczynski – guitar, acoustic guitar 

Wah-Wah Watson – guitar 

Joshua Redman – Tenor saxophone 

Geri Allen – piano 

Bobby Lyle – piano solo 

James “Sleepy Keys” Preston – piano 

André Betts – drum programming 

Luis Conté – congas

Bill Summers – quíca, hands), shekeré 

Byron Jackson – background vocals 

DJ Premier – “turntable interpretations” 

Production

David Gamson and Me'shell NdegéOcello – producer
Bob Power and Me'shell NdegéOcello – producer
André Betts – producer
Bob Power – mixer
Mic Murphy – additional engineering
George Karas – mixer
Tom Coyne – mastering
Bill Toles – executive producer
Julie Larson – A&R coordinator

Notes
Released:  October 19, 1993
Genre:  Neo soul
Length: 50:58

Label - Maverick Records