Cookie: The Anthropological Mixtape

Cookie: The Anthropological Mixtape
Studio album by Meshell Ndegeocello
Released	June 4, 2002
Genre	R&B neo soul hip hop
Label	Maverick
Producer	Allen Cato, Meshell Ndegeocello
Meshell Ndegeocello chronology
Bitter (1999) Cookie: The Anthropological Mixtape (2002) Comfort Woman (2003)

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	(82/100)
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
The A.V. Club	(favorable)
Robert Christgau	A−
Entertainment Weekly	A
Metro Weekly	(favorable)
Rolling Stone
Slant
Spin	(8/10)
Vibe
Yahoo! Music	(favorable)

Cookie: The Anthropological Mixtape is an album by Meshell Ndegeocello. It was released on June 4, 2002 on Maverick Records. The album peaked at #67 on the Billboard Top 200 list that year, and was nominated for Best Contemporary R&B Album at the 2003 Grammy Awards. The album also peaked at #21 on the Billboard R&B Album chart and #67 on Billboard's Top Internet Albums chart.

Two singles were released from the LP. The remixed version of "Pocketbook" charted on Billboard's R&B Bubbling Under the Hot 100 chart, for several weeks, also appearing on the R&B Airplay and Sales charts. "Earth" was remixed by Ben Watt and peaked at #14 on Billboard's Dance Music/Maxi Single Sales chart.

"The album pays homage to the power of the word, written and spoken," Meshell Ndegeocello states in the liner notes of the album. It features short clips of spoken word performances by writers, poets and activists such as Angela Davis, Gil-Scott Heron and Etheridge Knight.

Track listing

1. "Dead Nigga Blvd., Pt. 1" (Meshell Ndegeocello, Allen Cato) – 3:03
2. "Hot Night" (Supa Dave West, Ndegeocello, Talib Kweli, Héctor Lavoe) – 4:32
3. "Interlude: Blah Blah Blah, Dyba Dyba Dyba" (Ndegeocello, Cato) – :40
4. "Priorities 1-6" (Ndegeocello, Cato) – 3:43
5. "Pocketbook" (Ndegeocello) – 4:00
6. "Barry Farms" (Ndegeocello) – 5:20
7. "Trust" (Ndegeocello) – 5:25
8. "Akel Dama (Field of Blood)" (Ndegeocello, Michael Cain) – 7:27
9. "Earth" (Ndegeocello, Cato) – 5:14
10. "Better By the Pound" (George Clinton, Grace Cook) – 5:23
11. "Criterion" (Ndegeocello) – 4:27
12. "GOD.FEAR.MONEY" (Ndegeocello) – 3:31
13. "Jabril" (Ndegeocello) – 6:06
14. "Dead Nigga Blvd., Pt. 2" (Ndegeocello, Cato) – 3:13
15. "Interlude: 6 Legged Griot Trio (Weariness)" (Ndegeocello) – 4:53
16. "Pocketbook (Rockwilder and Missy Elliott Remix)" (Ndegeocello, Missy Elliott, Dana Stinson, Reggie Noble) – 3:59

Personnel

Musicians

• Meshell Ndegeocello – vocals, bass guitar, additional instruments ("everything else")
• Allen Cato – guitar, drum programming, vocal arrangement (#2, 9)
• Federico González Peña – Rhodes electric piano (#7), piano (#9, 13, 15)
• Michael Cain – piano (#8)
• Grégoire Maret – harmonica (#9, 13)
• Jacques Schwarz-Bart – tenor saxophone (#10, 11, 13, 15)
• Marcus Miller – bass clarinet and fretless bass (#13)
• Michael Hampton – electric guitar (#14)
• Oliver Gene Lake Jr. – drums (#9, 11-13, 15)
• Kiggo Wellman – drums (#6)
• Sean Rickman – drums (#10)
• Alfredo Mojica – percussion (#7, 9-11, 13)
• Supa Dave West – track programming (#2)
• Talib Kweli – rapper (#2)
• Lalah Hathaway – vocals (#9, 13), vocal arrangement (#9)
• Caron Wheeler – vocals (#7, 9, 11)
• Redman – rapper (#16)
• Tweet – vocals (#16)
• Spoken words by Dick Gregory (#1), Angela Davis (#2), Gil Scott-Heron (#8), Countee Cullen (#8), Etheridge Knight (#8, 15), Claude McKay (#15), June Jordan (#15)

Production

• Produced by Allen Cato and Meshell Ndegeocello
• "Hot Night" (#2) co-produced by Supa Dave West
• "Pocketbook" remix (#16) produced by Rockwilder and Missy Elliott
• Recorded by Eric Dyba and Allen Cato
• Additional post production editing by Rail Jon Rogut
• Mixed by Bob Power
• Assisting and additional mixing by Andrew Brooks
• Mastering by Tom Coyne
• Art direction and design by Frank Maddocks
• Photography by David Fenton
• A&R by Damu Mtume and Danny Strick

External links

• Cookie: The Anthropological Mixtape at Metacritic
• Release history at Discogs