Metascore
82

Universal acclaim - based on 14 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 14
  2. Negative: 0 out of 14
  1. Entertainment Weekly
    100
    Another set of songs that are political and unflinchingly personal, but still manage to entertain. [7 June 2002, p. 76]
  2. Cookie drips with R&B, hip-hop, Latin grooves, experimental jazz, blues and techno tidbits for yummy multilayered goodness.
  3. Without resorting to anything so obvious as a hook she manages to maintain continuity and interest over an hour-plus of poetry-with-funk.
  4. Cookie is so frequently brilliant that its periodic missteps feel like integral parts of a grand design.
  5. 80
    Call it urban ethereal, grounded in gritty raps and coiled funk rhythms, bolstered by jazz keyboards, soaring vocals, and synthesizers.
  6. Powerful, beautiful, sensual and activist, this is the record Prince keeps trying to make.
  7. Urb
    80
    Cookie is a true musical treat that more than hits its mark with seriously sublime style. [Aug 2002, p.118]
  8. Throughout, Cookie crackles with intensity, be it of the sexual, political, or religious kind.
  9. Ultimately, the disc is a mix of Afrocentrifugal explosiveness -- not only from the music, but also from her powerful lyrics that make the political personal and the personal political.
  10. Spin
    80
    Ndegeocello still swings for the same musical fences she did in '93. Here, though, she puts more shots into the seats. [Mar 2002, p.129]
  11. Mojo
    70
    Overlong, but provocative and engaging. [Dec 2002, p.116]
  12. Uncut
    60
    Long on rhetoric, short on melodic structure, it's hard going. [Dec 2002, p.150]
  13. Blender
    60
    Her lustrous music can err on the side of sleepy, because she prefers atmospherics and tricky harmonies to blaring hooks. [Apr/May 2002, p.116]
  14. Meshell's best when making the political personal--as she does on the blistering, explicit ballad "Trust"--instead of the other way around.

Awards & Rankings

User Score
7.3

Generally favorable reviews- based on 18 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 18
  3. Negative: 4 out of 18
  1. SethB
    Jul 9, 2002
    10
    Easily the best Urban record this year: If you like tight, deep lyrics or innovative bumpin' beats and jams then this record has it all! Easily the best Urban record this year: If you like tight, deep lyrics or innovative bumpin' beats and jams then this record has it all! I disagree with the Rolling Stone critic about, "this is the record Prince keeps trying to make" but it has the same incredible feel of Sign Of The Times without sounding anything like Prince. Full Review »