Plantation Lullabies received widespread acclaim from contemporary critics. Fellow
Vibe critic
Greg Tate hailed it as "the future of the funk" and "the Next Wave in Soul Music", while Brian Keizer of
Spin deemed it "the kind of deep soul we need in this decade of disintegration", writing that NdegéOcello explores "the wage-slave pits, projects, and reservations of the present-day Pan-African world" with anger, nihilism, and on the romantic ballads, the "sublime grace" of
Stevie Wonder.
Entertainment Weekly was somewhat less enthusiastic, finding some of the singer's lyrics clichéd, the music overly fashionable, and her voice derivative of proto-rap performers such as
Gil Scott-Heron, although the magazine said NdegéOcello "delivers her cool cocktail talk with a winning bluesy resignation".
The Washington Post deemed the album "one of the year's most intriguing and often unsettling pop releases." At the end of 1993,
Plantation Lullabies appeared on numerous top-10 lists Although the album had been acclaimed by music journalists, others criticized NdegéOcello's unapologetic lyrics on songs dealing with race, A few songs from the album led some to charge her with being racist, which NdegéOcello denied; the lyrics of "Shoot'n Up and Gett'n High" held a racist society responsible for the drug addiction and death of its subject while declaring "the white man shall forever sleep with one eye open". Some African-American critics were angered by the singer's depiction of Black men in "Soul on Ice", which accused them of embracing "white racist standards of beauty" while derisively asking if they date White woman because they "go better with the
Brooks Brothers suit?". Ndegeocello was also criticized by some
feminists for her boasts of sexual competition on "If That's Your Boyfriend (He Wasn't Last Night)". In response to the criticism, she told the
Los Angeles Times in 1994: According to NdegéOcello, she was reprimanded by the executives at Maverick for her "outspokenness".
Buddy Seigal wrote at the time that "perhaps because of the controversial nature of her work, radio has been slow to add
Plantation Lullabies to its playlists".
Plantation Lullabies has since been credited as the beginning of the
neo soul genre; it was "arguably the first shot in the so-called 'neo-soul' movement", according to Renee Graham of
The Boston Globe. In 2002, the album was named one of
Vibes nine "essential black rock recordings". Geoff Himes reflected on the record in
The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004): "Virtually a
Prince-like one-person production, it bristled with irresistible hooks -- rhythmic, melodic, and verbal ('I'm digging you like an old soul record'). [NdegéOcello] celebrated African-American culture, but she also criticized its self-betrayals in the form of addiction and misogyny." "NdegéOcello injected hip-hop with the adrenaline of Alternative, organic soul humming with the politics of sex and 'black-on-black love'", Sal Cinquemani wrote in
Slant Magazine, calling
Plantation Lullabies "the quintessential hip-hop album, mixing the soul of Sly Stone and the funk of James Brown with the pop sensibilities of Prince and the grace of Lena Horne".
AllMusic's Michael Gallucci said that in spite of NdegéOcello's occasionally derivative "funky soul" and identity politics, most of the album was "as boundary-busting and as affecting as '90s R&B gets".
Robert Christgau remained relatively unimpressed, citing "I'm Diggin' You" and "Picture Show" as highlights while writing, "deprived of womanist rap, we settle for strong-woman singsong". ==Track listing==