Meshell Ndegeocello: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

'Meshell Ndegeocello's Tiny Desk (home) concert feels like a narrative film. Shot in vivid black and white, the concert includes songs from throughout her career framed by her thoughts on the importance and influence of James Baldwin: "He deserves flowers every day. Most of all because he was willing to discuss things that were painful, hard to look at, hard to see, hard to accept." That description also applies to Ndegeocello's inventive and challenging work on display here. She opens with "Step Into the Projects" from her 1993 debut album, Plantation Lullabies, transformed from its original funky groove into a stark spoken word piece. "Price of the Ticket," with her longtime guitarist Chris Bruce, is from Ndegeocello's recent project, Chapter & Verse: The Gospel of James Baldwin, "a 21st century ritual toolkit for justice" inspired by Baldwin's The Fire Next Time.'