Ndegeocello Concert

Last Saturday, the Office of Multicultural Affairs hosted a trip to Meshell Ndegeocello’s concert at McCarter Theatre in Princeton. Ndegeocello performed her 2025 GRAMMY Award-winning alternative jazz album “No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin.” Her album incorporates words and writings from Baldwin that explore identity and sexuality in America—he has writing credit on half the tracks. After listening to an extraordinary concert, III Formers Eric Chen ’27 and Tola Olatunji ’27 and Executive Director of the Hutchins Institute for Social Justice Zaheer Ali describe their concert experience.

Chen and Olatunji listened to Ndegeocello for the first time at her concert. The entire performance, composed of Ndegeocello’s music in conjunction with Baldwin’s prose, transcends any definition of genre. Chen comments that society “has a tendency to place music into hard genres,” such as jazz, rap, and hip-hop, “but [Ndegeocello’s] music is a combination of different genres. ” She promotes the idea that music can be anything, unbound by one specific category. Both III Formers were intrigued by Baldwin, as they had read his books in class—think Giovanni’s Room or Sonny’s Blues—and as Chen describes it, Baldwin is a “master of the English language.” Baldwin’s writing itself, when read aloud, is very rhythmic. His literature is all about “finding love and joy out of immense pain, and also the intersection of gender, sexuality, and race, in a way that Ndegeocello does with her music as well,” Chen adds. Olatunji described the concert as a moving, symbolic experience: a giant eye was projected while Baldwin’s quotes filled the theatre. Both students continue to wonder what it means, but Chen simply thinks “the point of the projection was to get you thinking.” 

Ndegeocello started her career in a go-go band—usually only composed of men. Ali describes that “she has always been different.” He felt the presentation of Ndegeocello and Baldwin’s experience helped Ali reflect on his own notion of identity. Baldwin, as a Black and gay writer, has been very influential in shaping “not just Black literature but also people’s ideas of what an expansive and inclusive form of being in the world is.” One highlight of Ndegeocello’s concert was when she performed her song “Thus Sayeth the Lorde,” a reference to Audre Lorde, a notable speaker for LGBT rights. Ali loved the “clever play on words” and appreciated the “deliberate commentary in the lyrics.” Additionally, the music itself, which incorporated elements of gospel, blues, jazz, and funk, “drew on Black performance styles that added meaning,” he remarked. Ndegeocello’s presentation of self “might challenge people’s expectations of what women should look like or act.” Ali felt that the performance captured the experience of being a Black, lesbian woman in America in a thought-provoking way.

As an experiential learning experience, Ali hopes that more students will take advantage of this opportunity in the future. He invites students to “be more open…to opportunities unique to Lawrenceville.” While the slow and alternative style of Ndegeocello’s music might not be what the average student listens to, he encourages students to take inspiration from Ndegeocello and Baldwin: branch out and be eager to learn about topics that they aren’t accustomed to.