Baldwin and Me (feat. Meshell Ndegeocello)

When Grammy nominated bassist Meshell Ndegeocello read James Baldwin for the first time, her world shifted on its axis. Like many before her, Baldwin’s words reverberated into her creative process. In this episode, we speak with Ndegeocello about the literary ancestors who inform her music, the arc of her decades-long career, and Hanif shares a playlist of songs inspired by poetry and literature. For the playlist of songs curated for this episode visit http://bit.ly/oos-meshell

/ Show Notes /

Meshell Ndegeocello’s most recent project is Chapter and Verse, The Gospel of James Baldwin.

Meshell cites The Fire Next Time and Another Country as the texts that introduced her to Baldwin.

Meshell says the writers whose work she'd most love to put to music are Kiese Laymon, Joan Didion's The White Album and Sheila Heti.

/ Music In This Week's Playlist /

Mary Magdalene, Meshell Ndegeocello

The Sensual World, Kate Bush

Popular, Nada Surf

When I Can See The Valley, Leyla MCcalla

Samson, Regina Spektor

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, Iron Maiden

Guantanamera, Celia Cruz

Baldwin, Jamila Woods

/ Credits /

Object of Sound is a Sonos show produced by work x work: Scott Newman, Jemma Rose Brown, and Babette Thomas. The show is additionally produced by Hanif Abdurraqib. Our engineers are Sam Bair and Josh Hahn of The Relic Room.