Was introduced to Kleph and started recording and experiencing the music culture there. It wasn’t NY or Philly but it was perfect for me because it wasn’t too fast but full of opportunity. I found the Verses crew at Tropical Soul and went there every Tuesday despite some pushback I got in my relationship. I felt like I was a part of something great. The only problem was I was starting to drink a lot more and used drinking to calm my anxiety in social settings. I didn’t need to do that there at Verses but I did anyway and it clouded a lot of my memories. When I started working at Croaker’s Spot I found another home as most of the folks there were into music as well. Good food and music. Lots of poetry and I was in my early twenties with no children yet. I only wish I had left the alcohol alone back then because it was not needed at all. I had everything I needed to be successful and the drinking dimmed my light a bit.

When Lorna took Verses to DC on Wednesdays I rode up with her a lot and helped with the setup and break down. We would ride and listen to music and sing and she would always joke me because my favorite songs were slow and melodic and mainly sad songs. She could always identify if I would like a song based on how fast or slow it was, how deep it was and so forth. But that was my vibe then and still kinda is now.

When the flood came I was right there in it. Trapped in a building with Kleph and the other people living there. That was a sad sad day. I helped him save a lot of his music though and he got a tat of me holding his MPC because I literally picked it up and started moving stuff out of that basement apartment cause he didn’t think the storm was gonna get that bad. He eventually followed suit and moved some things but he lost so much still because the water came in so fast. I remember thinking we might die. Someone did die in the building now that I think about it.

Whew. So many stories.
“The Feminine of He” https://youtu.be/vaiZLFFEN38

MELa
Musically.Entertaining.Lyrically.Alluring.