Meshell Ndegeocello Quotes

My music is a direct reflection of the eclectic person I am. I don't like to be stuck in an R&B box.

I'm putting everything on the line in being able to express myself in a different way than rappers normally do. They might say, 'It's rap' or 'It's R&B,' but I'm stepping outside the box and making music for me and making music for the fans to understand me. I'm going the extra distance to be able to come across different.

The wonderful thing about Jazz is its willingness to take chances.

A lot of singers find a musical genre people like and stick with it. That's being a conformist. I sing ballads, rock, salsa, rap.

I found a certain kind of music congenial to me; it never occurred to me to write music that was academically acceptable.

We play melodic music, we play songs, we play all kinds of things and when you improvise you don't just shut out different languages, you use all the languages that you have.

People are always defining and re-defining music. My style of playing has been characterized as smooth jazz and acid jazz. I listen as I play; I'm not caught up in defining the type of music I play.

I like so many different kinds of music that I've never allowed myself the limitations of one particular range.

My 'Slide Some Oil' ain't gon' be Nipsey Russell's 'Slide Some Oil.' Elijah Kelley's 'You Can't Win' ain't gon' be Michael Jackson's 'You Can't Win.'

No one can pigeon-hole me because I play everything, and I did that on purpose.

It seems like music gets put in this hub where you have to rap about this, and the minute you do something else, it's like you changing. Nah, I'm being creative.

I've never sampled just one artist, I'm known for my reputation and my creativity.

I think people have come to know that I am not comfortable in a box, you know, and that I love music.

I like hearing fiddles, steel guitar, acoustics up loud - really rock & roll stuff but with a country sound behind it. That's just who I am. I'm not trying to prove a point; I am just doing what I like. But I don't have any problems with any other artist coming in and doing their own thing.

The only sort of descriptive adjective or catch phrase for my music would be 'eclectic.'

I urge younger artists to know that you don't have to be anything you don't want. You can do whatever's comfortable for you. From the music I make, to the things I do in my life, I'm true to my R&B core. I have the capability to make pop records and crossover, but that's not my aim.

My genre of music is very eclectic. I might play some Latin jazz, or just go into a spontaneous jazz thing. That's the thing about coming to one of my performances. Not every show is the same.

There are a lot of things in Queen albums that you don't expect; that's why we threw them in.

My last two records that I made were both quite pointed in one direction and I think I do my best stuff when it's all over the map, when there's a couple traditional things, a couple pretty rocking things.

I didn't get into music to become a blues musician, or a country musician. I'm a singer-songwriter. In my book that means I get to do whatever I want.

I'm really open to doing music. We just have to figure out what kind of music it's going to be - something where I don't feel compromised.

If someone is a straight jazzhead, or a straight metalhead, or straight classical, they have a very narrow range of what they allow into their lives. But the people who listen to what we put out into the world have to be open-minded. Because we're so pluralist.

It's funny; people get so doctrinaire about music. It should be the last thing you don't have an open mind about.

I don't like being put in a box. I just make music, you know?

I would never say I will stay in electronic music for the rest of my life. I will always do whatever I feel like at that moment.