On this episode, Michael interviews singer/songwriter Che Afrique. They cover several topics, including mental health and the importance of black culture. Stick around to the end to hear a live performance of the song “Black Love.”
WBCA Podcasts
The Tape Deck Hour
all right y'all what up what up what up it's your boy keeping mike listening on one or two point nine tape deck and tonight I am so excited so excited so excited I got a special guest here in the building and this guest here I will tell you this is long overdue I met this young lady two years ago there was an event through this podcast called show and tell them Boston shout out to show and tell and we were discussing a whole bunch of things but somewhere around the area we were talking about mental health and I just went in on that and um I don't know what the hell I said but I guess it was very important and I guess I was able to grab a tail to a lot of people and this lady hosted the event we were talking a whole bunch of wild stuff but I know mental health was one of the things we talked about two years later I'm still waiting to get an invite back in that diagram podcast y'all promised me that I'm coming baby I'm I'm waiting for it I'm waiting for both of us but you know you invited me back like a couple of months later but it never followed through I'm waiting to get back to that yeah yeah cuz every time I see y'all like I see what y'all be doing out there and it's popping um the last time I saw y'all um I saw well no that's the last time there was one episode remember I saw and they got really really spicy you guys had a guy in the building he was kind of how can I put it like Kevin Samuish mm-hmm yeah very Kevin Samuish right here and they got hot mm-hmm they got really really hot but I was able to vibe out with this young lady and then while I was able to build with her I found out that not only does she sings she sings sings got one hell of a boy and she represents blackness to the fullest yes so we're gonna be talking extra black today we're gonna get blinkly blinkily black like it was February so we're gonna get into that but ladies and gentlemen I got shea Africa in the building what's going on baby girl I'm so blessed thank you for having me thank you so much I'm excited this is long overdue but you know it's all God's time and so this is the right time right now perfect yeah man how was the traffic I wasn't too bad you know come from Quincy I'm surprised it's still 30 minutes to get to the hood I'm like how how is this so but it was it was good it's a beautiful day yes yes yes um so this is what I want to begin because I follow you I follow you on on Instagram and you know we ever get to chitchat and one of the things you always do with me anytime when it comes to like blackness especially to like Latini that blackness you always send me something you always show me like what's going on especially in the key with the promise so first and foremost thank you for that yes because you know sometimes when it comes to Apple Latino I mean we're we're very prideful but at the same time we always got the self-hate that which I really can't stand we got them the nine the blackness and you know I mean it's taught it stinks but for the most part we are loving people we love our blackness we love our melanin and you know anytime it when when it comes to that that blackness apartment we get into it we get into it we vibe it now so thank you for that thank you yeah so let's begin where you from I'm well I mean as far as the basics I'm from Roxbury yeah I've been born and raised in Roxbury on Stafford Street and that is where it all began yeah and um as far as all nationally back what it is like black black or you like what's Indian or yeah so what we'll saw you rip it out here that's always a complex question when you ask an African born in America because there's always a story behind it so we get we got time we got time so I wish I could just have one flag to represent yeah I just I wish I could give you one answer but it is a story right we're good so I like to say that Trini raised me mm-hmm right because my grandmother there from the south they're from Georgia you know they migrated up to New York to Boston and you know my grandfather that raised me was Trinidadian right all my aunts and uncles and cousins you know they're from their part Trinidadian you know but he's not my biological grandfather but that's all I know right we played in the carnival to still being we had a band called Tropical Harmony that we grew up playing as a family similar to Jackson 5 you know all I know is curry chicken stew chicken you know this is who I am however you know later on through my life I found out that my real grandfather was actually a Cuban man Pablo Vasquez you know and grandma you know she didn't want to get all into the story but she revealed that you know before stopping to Boston she took a pit stop to New York everybody's stopping New York first New York is the the doorway to America for a lot of Caribbean Islanders so before coming to Boston she stopped at New York she met a Cuban man by the name of Pablo Vasquez in the 70s and my mom was born from him okay and unfortunately he died before my mom was born so when she remarried Trinidadian grandfather that's all I know I'm an infant we come we came out to Trinidadian southern household yeah but when you find more about yourself you know I got I got Cuban roots so it's a duty of mine to go to Cuba and to really learn a little bit about this culture because I want to be able to say proudly that I am a Afro Cuban right but you know you don't want to be out here perpetrating you know I'm a rep what I know but I now that I know I can't not give it its prep because what you that's what you see right here you know to me but Caribbean Islanders all day my family's Trinidadians and Jamaicans and all kind of West Indians and this is this is what it is and Cuba's a part of the Caribbean Island too so it's one big all melting part over here but yeah shout out to Roxbury because we're just that diverse that I can give you this long story you know what I mean but it's awesome it's beautiful yeah man we have you ever gone to Trinidad no I haven't been to Trinidad I've been I've been to Jamaica so many times I can't get enough of Jamaica they think I'm Jamaican like you Jamaican I'm like I know you know but I need to visit Cuba and I need to visit Trinidad and I do feel like you know especially Trinidad that's a country that I wouldn't just up and go to I really want someone who's from the country to be able to navigate me you know the way that I should be navigated but that's on the list that's on the list yeah you know it's funny I because I have a couple of Trinidadian friends I'm trending that it's actually one of the list I want to go to one of once I hit the Caribbean cuz I've been to D.R. I've been to PR but Trinidad and Jamaica is actually one of those I want to check out I've been to Jamaica listen we should do a big group trip or something look say listen listen listen I'm gonna marry I'm doing ways to get back on a dad on podcast I got me to listen listen the podcast is one of them but have you been to Cuba though unfortunately oh we had a story about it yeah yeah unfortunately because some political reasons we can't get there right now okay okay okay family band right now family band yep but um yeah we gonna make that happen um but uh yeah I mean I'm trying to go to some of these countries hopefully we can get that island boy video I want I you know you know this new song island boys that I haven't dropped yet I know you've been asking for for a while that when that comes out I got to shoot that I'm gonna see another country I can't be shot in Castle Island no you know what I mean so I'll throw an idea to what I did because you could either you know do it depending on the budget you could pick one of your favorite countries or you could like slip slide through like you know a country little island tour and it hit every island to represent them and you know that's why I should you know depending what your budget looking like you could pick your favorite one the one you love the most that's how oh just pick you know ten different little islands out there and rep and you could have like you know I don't know how I know how girls do they pick that one buff doing in the video now you're gonna keep it real we're gonna be realistic right but I would say I was thinking of a plan of a cruise right yeah because a cruise allows you to hit multiple countries in one trip bear you know what I'm saying you go to a cruise you'll be in Bahamas you'll be in Puerto Rico you'll be in Jamaica and you'll be in Aruba in five days yeah but we we gonna get there but about show-and-tell shout out to show-and-tell Boston that is the podcast that I met you at in Roxbury by the way Roxbury making all kind of history yeah and we have a big community podcast the same one that I met you at with a whole community a whole city was talking yeah we're doing that August 11 August 11 at we're gonna start at five o'clock we're gonna have you know meet and greet between five and six we're gonna have our big this panel discussion between six and eight and somewhere around nine we're gonna have our performances featuring yours truly and you got to be there for that one you got my number yeah yeah I keep I keep missing it y'all keep telling me show up and I try to get there in the final hour I was like yeah I feel like I'm lost with a GPS y'all but I'm loving the context what is it like 90 y'all what is it y'all like we got shiny pool we got Tata we got Kavon we got machere we got cricket we got most we got Yuki we got my boy Lamar we got my boy X and that's everybody and of course me and share free yeah and we just added a new member to the group Alex so shout out to Alex but um it's a good ten of us because it's a big job you know you got the host and you got the co-host and you got the people who marketing and you got the people who's recruiting and the man behind the camera you know you don't see Shane a lot but he's the man behind the camera he helped start this whole thing so it's a lot of us for a reason but yeah come out everybody Boston come out August 11 show and tell Boston follow it on Instagram show and tell Boston and you know we'll go from there yes yes yes yes so back to the lady of the hour mache um when do you start a singing I mean I recall you know being a kid you know singing in the tub and things like that but when you really want to talk about my first time being on stage it was a college performance so you know I'm 19 years old my first time really singing on stage things really started popping off after college I would say I was about like maybe 23 years old mm-hmm back in like 2014 2015 things really started picking up when I met Shane and we were as a part of a group called Black Pop and we were really picking up momentum you know we were performing like two or three times a month and um things was great you know I became a mom and things simmered down you know I'm also a teacher so shout out to Boston Public School I want to get that in a second you know I'm saying so teacher where we'll get it to the second right so life started life in and I started singing less you know but that's why I'm back I'm here the baby's grown now I'm outside okay and I want to be on all of these stages you know so many things have opened up you got these beautiful places like Grace by Nia you know what I mean like I want to be on these stages these places didn't exist you know ten years ago and I started getting getting popping I was out singing at barbecues and church functions and family functions and Franklin Park but these beautiful abiances that you know the black community in Boston have set up I need a piece of that shout out to Darryl's too that was my first real gig shout out to Darryl's yeah that was corner bar was my first real gig and yeah all of this Boston history this is this is it yeah so you say you were 19 when you first did your first performance yeah was it in the ritual song or was it a cover no it was a cover it was Mary J Blige I'm going down of course I'm going down you know I sang the mess out of that thing and my cousin Lolita she really loved Mary J Blige at the time so you know my family was there in the audience I was my first time my family hearing me sing so you know you want to do something you know somebody going light you know but yeah that was the first time all right cool cool all right so check it we're gonna go to a quick PSA and then afterwards we're gonna get to one of your joints and we wanted the cold that after we get to that joint can we do that yes I check this out your boy keeping Mike it's a 102.9 tape deck and we're back in a few y'all bear with me the revolution wasn't televised in the 60s is it gonna be televised in the 90s well you know the catchphrase what that was all about the revolution would not be told about that was about the fact that the first change that takes spaces in your mind you have to change your mind before you change the way you live in the way you move so when we said that the revolution would not be televised we were saying that like that the thing that's going to change people there's something that no one will ever be able to capture on film it'll just be something that you see and all of a sudden you realize I'm on the wrong page or I'm on the right page but I'm on the wrong note and I've got to get in sync with everyone else to understand what's happening in this country but I think that the black Americans have been the only real that hard Americans here because we the only ones who who carried the process through the process that everyone else has to sort of like skip stages we're the ones who marched we're the ones who carried the Bible we're the ones who carried the flag we're the ones who tried to go through the courts and and and being born American didn't didn't seem to matter because we were born American but we still had to fight for what we were looking for and we still had to go through those channels and those processes what up your ship where keeping Mike you listen a one or two point nine tape deck and we back your guy my homie Jay Affleck I how you doing girl I'm doing great you're chilling I'm chilling you ain't nervous you're right all right I would like to hear I will get to this joint but before we get to this joint I want to ask you a quick question every time I bring on all this over I always ask this question you know I always try to look at inspiration like when I did when I do this radio thing like one of my inspiration you know what one of the guys I looked at doing radio was actually how it's done because he was just like an outrageous maniac and I like raunchy stuff so coming up who was like you know your inspiration like your role models in the in the music anything but you know what I want to do it like she does it music inspiration I mean vocally you know I'm inspired by a lot of soul R&B artists and Neil so artists you know I love my Lauren Hills and my Erica Badu's my Jill Scott's my Monica's and Brandy's I even love my Patti LaBelle's and my Shaka Khan's I adore my male artist as well I love Luther Vandross Stevie Wonder Marvin Gaye Al Green and you know that's the soul part I didn't even hit the reggae part oh you know what I mean my baris Hammons and my bar Marley's my bougie mountain's and my jock yours and things like that I mean I'm inspired by by so many yeah yeah so I mean one thing I know with this one we don't do it's a lot so it's a little reggae vibe we got out here it's a little reggae about out here so we're gonna get into it right here we're gonna go with this joint from the distance the remix yeah so we're gonna get into it and we want to coat this and see what the song's about let's do it I checked this out your boy keeping Mike 102.9 tape deck and you gonna join us right here cuz it's popping Oh yeah I'm stuck between what my body wants and what my soul needs and what my mind knows because when I'm with you I lose control my hands start to tingle and my heart beats faster through my chest I can't deny that I want you by my side and I can't control myself don't want to be with no one else no I can't pretend I want to be more than your friend but I'm afraid to get too close I guess I love you I'm stuck between what my body wants and what my soul needs and what my mind knows this bus I can't contain this feeling paper you know you drop me crazy on my mind I must confess oh yeah oh yeah this feeling that I have is growing deep inside you owe me and I owe you what are we gonna do from a distance and see from a distance and see from a distance and to the point that I don't think that I could even be around you now look in your eye you smell the sound of the Jesus I need you now but I don't see how I don't see how just the sun is away you can change that to play see from a distance and see from a distance and see from a distance and see from a distance and see from a distance from a distance remix you know I wanted to like talk to you but you was so growing on the back and I just let you know I'm gonna let it be great to let it be great okay let's get to this because I heard the joint and I think at the coding things that's why I was always asked to ask people what the songs about like I took it as though either two things either somebody that you have a crush on but you got to keep it from a distance because they might be a little bit too toxic or somebody you dealt with and they know they only come with benefits so you have to keep that from a distance which one I'm going with all the above yeah all of the above so about this song so this song was about someone who I was in love with and I had no business being in love with what you love when that happens man and it gives you because your brain and your heart and your body are not on the same page right so my body says you want him you want him now and your brain says oh no girl you have you shouldn't be talking to this person and your heart says but you'll buy love him right so you're literally fighting between your physical desires and your emotional desires and your logic right because your logic will burst all those bubbles like listen I don't care how you feel that's not the one right but you know it could be a struggle love can be a struggle and at the time I was feeling it and I literally made a Facebook post I the song was inspired by a Facebook post I wrote on my Facebook one day when I was in my feelings I was in my bag and I wrote um I'm stuck between what my body wants what my soul needs and what my mind knows is best and it was such a dope post that I was like hold up that's a song right there and that's literally the first sentence you know and um I during covid I was approached by Isa Bivens shout out to Isa Bivens of Pearl of the World um David Curtis who's a producer and an actor in Boston and Jackie Davis they approached me during covid a to write a song for their web series they wanted a web series about covid about being in love during covid and it was it was great because I already had a song about keeping someone from a distance ah you know what I'm saying and this the the episode was called the web series was called from a distance so I didn't have a title for my song it was just I was just keep singing from a distance but I didn't have a title but you know being approached to do a web series during covid about love and having to keep yourself from a distance and question whether it's real or not you know I was like uh I have a song already you don't have to write anything I'm like no I already have something and it would just fit perfectly um and I also ended up auditioning for a role as a girl called Violet Crush and um we literally shot this web series with our phones at home during covid they gave us scripts we recorded it on our lab talks all kind of stuff we sent it in they edited it and put all of our stuff together in this whole web series okay so it was on facebook it was called from a distance but they took it off facebook and it might be available online I'm not sure it was dope it was a great experience but the song was connected to the web series but yeah it's about you know them those those struggles those struggles of not knowing what to do and you don't know which which organ to listen to yeah that's great because you know you talk about you know falling in love from a distance in covid exactly and you know how the covid loves you like girl you don't love me you just you just don't want to be at home by yourself or you know you ain't got no food in your fridge you so you just want to be up because I got cable I got an Xbox this ain't love this is right this is covid love you got to see if they and then you got to see if you really loved them or you just bored and the or you know people are dying and things like that a lot of people have this desperate like what if I die and you know you only live once people are making all kind of bad relationship decisions yeah during covid so that was that was the struggle man not not knowing what to do and what part of your soul to listen to well the reason why I you I'm kind of giggling in the background of loving from a distance because I got divorced from a distance and was already covid so that's what I got stuck with traumatizing depression now it's funny I can laugh at it out nowadays but geez four years ago oh boy right now right now cried later boy I know there's nothing like being lonely watching the chicago boost documentary that's so funny you start contemplating life why am I married already I should have got married before this yeah somebody would have been cooking my meals right now no I was mad I got the voice that's what happened okay I got the voice for cover so I got the voice of a distance so well y'all fighting love my thing is the mess yeah I'm so sorry let's say this that covid revealed a lot especially with relationships it revealed who was serious and who was not and as tragic as that I'm sure that felt for you yeah it saved you a longer heartache to be honest probably a couple thousand dollars and I don't know yeah it saved you from 10 more years of unhappy relationship you know what I mean yeah I'm out you know I'm all I'm a single ready to mango ladies size that's fun he's saying he's ready he's all right now i'm gonna get inside right now but um no what I've learned with all my angle you know everything happens for a reason you know it's just like a chapter my life is close on to the next one it's not all it's not I mean it was sad during the moment but you know me and home girl we're cool for the most part we we we crossed whatever we're cordial we're cool so there's nothing to be you know it was just sad for the moment but you know everything happens for a reason it shows who we were as a as people yeah it was like we were not gonna survive so that was just that was just a testament to see it we're gonna it's gonna make you a break you and it broke us but I make something out of that in the next chapter so I'm good in that department yeah I'm good so another thing I found out from a distance this was a remix yeah so the original version I haven't heard the original but it's like it's like same lyrics different beat or so whole different lyrics from a whole yeah so the lyrics it's the same lyrics different beat you might like the beat because to me the beat is a little more Latin now the not a person who made the beat he said he was making an afro beat but for me it's not given afro for me is given it was given Latin what a given given and same lyrics though because remember they said you know shake can you write a song for this web series called from a distance and I just literally went through my already written songs that I never put out and I was like bingo this this works yeah called it from a distance repeated the chorus and and it worked so the on my soundcloud shayafreak on my soundcloud the original from a distance is there and my soundcloud is like a like a time capsule because you know I may not be trying to update it you know moved on to different musical platforms but the things that are there are my first songs so those the it'll stay there so if you go on my soundcloud you can get to hear from a distance they're original that uh send send me the link yes send me the link um there's a couple of joins we won't go go through since you're here in the building this is pretty much like um this is uh what I like to do giving people their flowers as they are around you know me because when you see so you know once you get that gram you gonna be like you know what I remembered him he put me on the station I'm like I did that for her so for your check the session boy keep it like listen to water 2.9 we're gonna go to a quick psa and bear with me y'all people won't give you the real talk on drugs but it's time we know the facts fentanyl is killing people it's a powerful opioid often made illegally and commonly mixed with illicit drugs it can even be pressed into counterfeit pills that resemble prescription medications just two milligrams about the size of a few grains of sand could potentially be lethal this isn't an ad to scare you but it isn't an ad to make you think twice get the facts go to real deal on fentanyl.com this message is brought to you by the ad council I'm Scarlett Johansson my family relied on public assistance to help provide meals for us these meals fueled my involvement in theater and the arts as a child which fostered my love for acting the Feeding American network of food banks helps millions of people put food on the table you can join the movement to end hunger by donating volunteering and advocating because when people are fed futures are nourished join the movement to end hunger at Feeding America dot org slash act now brought to you by Feeding America and the ad council and we are back this your boy keeping mike you listen to one or two point nine tape deck I got the lovely Jay Africa in the building how you doing girl I'm doing blessed we good out here yes we always ask my artist you good out here you ain't nervous or like that you comfortable I love it so next time I give you a call you coming back here you know bless something else oh yeah Africa the name what was your well that we yeah we talking black here so I have to see yes talk to be out of it Muhan so you know Shea Africa you know my first name is Siobhan and it's um c-h-e you know v-o-n and you know the shade comes from you know nickname Shea from Siobhan but when I went to Africa in college I was about 21 years old and I was in Senegal and driving through the city you know everything's in French so Senegal they primarily speak French so one of the boutiques is you know is written in cursive a-f-r-i-q-u-e and it just looked so beautiful and I said to him I was like is that Africa and French he's like yeah just like Monique is afric oh my god I never heard Africa like that in my life you know and it just sounded so seductive and beautiful and elegant you know afric and I knew that I wanted that to be a part of my stage name so I got it tatted on me I got Africa on my right arm and I have afric above it and you know when it was time for me to sing and I thought about what kind of name I wanted I was like you know Shea afric I started off by shy afric I used to live in Chicago for six years and they call me shy town forever and when I first started I was like okay I'm shy afric right but you know just like artists does they grow and they change um Shea was more closer to my first name and I I wanted Shea instead of shy so you may hear people call me shy you may hear people call me Shea I answer to both of them it just really tells how deep you know me and what part of my life you know because obviously my family's gonna call me my first name yeah and those who knew me back in the day gonna call me shy and those who know me recently are gonna call me Shea but we I'm going by Shea now okay so that's what we want Shea afric yeah that's dope that's dope um one of the things that I found out that now only do you sing you you love the kids so you're teacher yes how fun is that I love it it's honestly it's it's to me it's like one of the best jobs you know especially working with younger children you get to be your silly big kid self and I'm a big kid low heat so I can't have a profession that's uptight suit and tie quiet cubicle I you know I have to be a teacher I need a profession that allows me to be silly fun colorful elaborate and be my unapologetic black self ah okay that part talk about it all right so you know I be in the classroom dropping all kind of gyms whether the kids pick them up or not but it allows us a job it's a career that allows me to be free as much as I can within the confines of this system you know and how important it's like you know teach blackness to the kids oh it's very important it's extremely important teaching blackness is something everybody's avoiding everybody's avoiding the black talk black history why is that they don't want to be reminded of the past right and they also don't want us to develop too much self love and self pride and turn around and and you know uproot this whole system do you know what I mean yeah so it is going to be a forever battle of knowledge of self you know the whole war on self is to change the history and miseducate you so you don't know about yourself and just for us to continue thinking that we're inferior and that their superior um the only way you could do that is to continue the lie if they stop today the curtain the man behind a curtain would be revealed but you know I push black love so much because everybody else is afraid to do it I push black love so much because our black and brown children it's statistics show that they do better in school and in life when they have a sense of self when they have teachers that look like him look like her and him you know when they can understand them their culture you know um but you know children too much even when we grew up we were taught that blackness is ugly and our hair is nappy and nobody wants us our noses are too big our lips are too we were taught so much we were taught that we didn't invent anything right we were useless and we didn't contribute anything um I'm here to teach the truth I'm here to dismantle the whole thing and re-educate our children and let them know just how beautiful and powerful and strong and intelligent they are I want to remind them that they are mothers and fathers of this civilization and they are more powerful and magical than they can even imagine and honestly I'm not just educating the children I'm reminding their families as well I've had a lot of mom and dads you know cry on my shoulder and confined to me because they don't feel that sense of love and pride in themselves as well so this is an ongoing thing I'm I'm still learning to love myself the way I am so I my job is going to be to teach it so that we can all keep the energy going um there's just too many symbols and signs in the world just trying to tell us the opposite so we got a we got to fight it back with love with black love I love it I love it and you know one of the things that I try to do um when it comes to like you know bringing awareness you know towards the human community is particularly like black humans um one of the things that we as a people we have to understand what kind of system we come through like you know if people that are not black they need to understand what it's like being black living under the capitalist country if you're not black you understand what you need to understand what have I understand or meaning what it's like being black living in the communist country or socialist country or whatever system you know the power said be puts in you so I try my hardest when I am bring awareness towards my community it's like look this is what it's like when you live towards this system you're you're not equal you're not part of this thing that everybody gets a fair piece of American part kind of like America you know it's it's kind of similar so I try to bring you know that type of awareness that is not the way people look at it from the outside looking in you know it's like that saying um though the it's not green on the other side the first not green on the other side what's that saying the grass is not green on the other side yeah so that's what I try to do when I try to bring is green or where you water it yeah look never heard that one but that's the type of things that I try to bring and just like America there's things that I found out trying to seek more nice a lot of Cubans they contribute a lot towards Cuba and they don't get the credit for it they don't even know what happened yeah you know I found out recently like we had our own black Wall Street but it was not called Wall Street it was like we're gonna do our own thing and you know if you come to our community come try me you gonna see what happens you know we we had our own thing we had our own work I didn't even know any of that stuff and you know that that history has just been erased and not so yeah literally so that's that's the knowledge and wisdom I try to bring so I'm glad that you're doing your part for the community and teaching these kids what's really going on yeah so I salute you for that thank you I'm a big promoter of black love all day every day I'll stand alone promoting this here okay this is my job I feel like this is God's work this is this is common sense mm-hmm that if you you're supposed to have self-pride and who you are you should not be desiring to be or look like anyone else who you are is what you should stand on you know so I stand on business that's what 100% black business 100% 100% all right I want to play this joyful before we played this particularly Joy cuz I know for this actually was one of my favorite I want to I want to do a quick quick quick PSA can I want to set the tone for this one so here's your point give it back listen to water too for it I take that and pay with me for at least 30 seconds y'all as veterans we're no strangers to helping others that's what we were taught service before self but we do have one question for the veterans listening when is the last time you reached out for help if you or someone you know needs resources whether it's for stress finances employment or mental health don't wait reach out find more information at va.gov/reach that's va.gov/reach brought to you by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs and the Ad Council and we are back this your boy keep with my you listen to one or two point nine tape deck and before we get to this joint I gotta look at the camera for a second because I appreciate my hat at the moment I was either a haircut today and I wasn't able to see my barber because I had to come here but the hat that I picked today I respect it's like I got a like feel like a skinny whoop is thundering yes okay that's that black love right there right there right there's self love 100% but this try to go play that I've been playing a couple of times it's not black love but it's very aggressive and I've been just blasted it uh we're gonna go through this joy not the one it would definitely go to the cold and hell of this joy those go water too for a night tape day chaffy cake keep it bike let's rock it off yeah somewhere deep inside me somewhere deep inside told me I would not be the one I just tried to hide it I just tried to fight it acting like I knew I'd be the one I wasn't supposed to be here but I am and you're dealing with it we had this baby boy though he wasn't really playing just still here and I must admit it but why are you playing games with me when you know I really want to pay a money if this is a future that you just don't say tell me that I'm not the one to say you're not the one yeah you can play around with these other girls around here but I'm your baby my my and let's get something clear you must be rewinding me about how you feeling because lately I've been in my feelings we've been getting closer working on us but then the next minute that we fight or fuss you go out and disappear because you think I ain't going nowhere but if I leave tomorrow I don't think you would even care so why are you playing games with me when you know I really want to pay a money if this is a future that you just don't say tell me that I'm not the one to say you're not the one to say again and again again again I knew that I wouldn't be the one in the end of this okay because I respect the fact that you are here you play your part and it is clear you just said but I'm still glad because that's one thing that I did do your job play your part you do it well and you did it from the start so let's not mess things up let's be good parents handle your responsibility and I'll stay on my way oh yeah oh yeah not the one not the one i'm not the one um so um let's let's the coast is shall we something happened yeah it didn't work out nope and um a beautiful baby was involved in it mm-hmm it wasn't planned mm-hmm but it is what it is um yeah okay I won't get too personal with it but what was his reaction he don't even like he he gonna be in his feelings and he gonna be alright okay because he got with an artist and this is a part of it okay all right there ain't no names being dropped those who though those those but he's been dreading this song and reluctantly I was very reluctant to release this song I wrote this song oh excuse me excuse me I didn't write nada this is a freestyle baby oh you went straight to the booth yes I was J.C. style panel panel not straight to the booth I was crying in my kitchen uh-huh on new year's day in my feelings in my bag and I and I I knew to get the laptop and go on beats.com and put this emotion in the song okay I literally freestyled it I can play the freestyle for you and you can see how close it is to the real thing this all came out while tears were rolling down my face um 2019 it says it on my phone one slash one slash 2019 mm-hmm being a new mom and realizing that on new year's eve I'm not out with my girls I'm not even out with my man yeah you know what I'm saying I'm home with my baby and I'm realizing that this is not what I thought it was gonna be and it was a big realization right especially if you used to turn it up with your girls and you're like wow I'm home reflecting on the decision I made like what is going on here but through those tears through those emotions through that reality I was able to come up with not the one and I'm so proud of myself and it took me a while like that's 2019 that's 2024 I was embarrassed I didn't want this song to come out I wrote it yeah and I was happy but I wasn't even ready for folks to start hearing it yeah you know it's a type of uh honesty and vulnerability that I'm putting out there that I wasn't really ready to admit and confront let alone let other people hear but I felt more powerful to just own my situation like no you know I'm not you know I didn't marry you know my son's father no you know we didn't run off with the American dream type of situation right but this is still a beautiful situation we still have a beautiful child we still co-parenting in a great way that that should be celebrated and I knew that this deserves a song this deserves a song because there's so many people feeling the same way and I need to speak to them you know what I'm saying but it took it took some adjusting some growth for me because I was like dang I don't want nobody in my business you know what I'm saying you know what I mean folks don't know what I'm going through and nor should they you know they don't know if I'm happy yeah I'm single I'm mad they don't know what's going on some people didn't even know I was a mom because my pages is for what it is and I don't really promote my family and close friends like that but this was the most raw song and um it's out it's out it's out and I'm really I really want to push it more because I'm really curious to see what people really feel and think about it but when I played it to some of my homeboys they loved it too I was blown away yeah because for brothers who got baby mama problems and stuff it's the same vibe they're like yo I just want to be with this girl like I really just want a family and she's playing with me you know she's taking my love for this child and playing with me I really just wanted to just lay it out there and tell me yo I'm not you're not the one yeah just tell me I'm not the one and but you know in the process you know having children and people's emotions are so much everywhere as well as their possession of you you know what I'm saying yeah like your baby mamas think good ears even when you ain't vice versa right yeah dude well you been stopped being mine yeah you know what I'm saying but you know with all of this it's just like I had to put it out there I had to let everybody know what it is just to get it off me yeah you know what I'm saying just to let everybody know where I stand in this situation and honestly it's very liberating very liberating it is you know you know it's crazy because I I do spoken words and I'm back in I'm over to this day the back end I want to say October September I did a spoken words and I did like a three-part poem but it was actually dedicated to like three actual individuals they all thought it was about one person but the way I played it out it was like no it's really about three actual individuals about you know the past present and future and it's crazy when I got to like the last part of the poem that was dedicated to someone it was like I know that's about me the jaws hit the floor not even about them because no one knew except for one person I saw the video because they were supposed to go see that performance and once they saw that once they saw the performance and like heard it they knew automatically who it was it was funny because the certain people that was in those particular shows I was like talking about them and they missed all like the subliminal which was great time he stuck out with the fur and got away with it so it was dope but this individual they weren't there and then like once my friend I was supposed to go to that show um didn't um was able to catch it but she saw the video her mom was like holy baloney oh you had the video you had the image yeah somebody recorded somebody recorded and they saw that and they yelled I to you like I think if I would like um saw that video I'll probably wear spas new because they know the person it's like they got like they think they're really really cool with each other but it was so funny like everybody loved that poem but a lot of women loved the poem but they felt a certain way because if you hear the poem like they didn't they heard it but not listening because they just heard like a woman woman woman and it came out like bashing bashing bashing but it was like no I was talking about one particular person not y'all I love y'all don't like this person but this is the art though that's the art but the what what I was trying to say is like when you have to like as artists either when you're doing poetry or when you're doing music you really as much as you try to be private you gotta do a little bit of explosive your private life to let the audience know this is what I'm going through but I feel like all my other songs or first of all just know about me every song is about someone or a few someones yeah I can give you a story about where every song came out of right but this particular song there was no hiding no it wasn't I was like oh there's no hiding like I could put out black love and be like that's not about anybody I could put out from a this is like this is not about that song it's kind of hard I was trying to make it just listen the freestyle was real specific yeah I was like this little thing okay it was too many details and I try to make it as general as possible but it's still it's still giving what it was given and I'm okay with that yeah I'm okay with that you know I salvaged a lot of the personal details that did not to be out there you got the gist of the gist of it the gist of it is a woman is coming to terms with the fact that you know she's not the one you know what I mean she's not the one that this man's gonna marry and this is where the story ends and it's okay and really you know especially on the show and tell Boston podcast we talk about love and relationships all the time and I'm big when it comes to baby mamas and baby daddy's like why you don't need to fight no you don't the fighting comes from someone still in love and someone still got their feelings involved when you don't have feelings everything should be good and usually goes well yeah so I won I really wanted to be vulnerable with my feelings and be mature to say I have feelings for this person and I wanted them to be honest with me so that I can just stop and focus on the child yeah you know I'm saying I'm asking you be honest tell me I'm not the one let's okay well let's just focus on this child but so many people can't do that I wanted I really wanted to inspire people to just be a little bit more mature about their co-parent and about their feelings for each other mm-hmm it's easier said than done and done but you know reality just needs to kick in and when you know you're not this person someone it's easier yeah so many people be like whoa you know when she's done when he's done I'll come back around no it's done it's not the one the quicker you realize that the happier you will be your kid will be yep you won't keep talking trash while they're playing and he they got to hear you talk about their mom and daddy the quicker you could just be happy healthy family so that was a big one for me I was vulnerable I laid it on the line I'm not Keisha Cole I don't be do I don't be singing these heartbreak songs I really don't you see me I sing about love and how good it feels and and everything about it but and island boys and island boys we're still up because that's my love for varieties of men you know but you know this was the one that I was like oh okay I guess I'm gonna have to get a little sad a little but you someone was like this ain't even a sad joint though it's not I just like triumphant it you know I'm not not I can look at it neither but it was aggressive it's a little bit of aggression if I heard of that yeah all right I scared you a little bit not not aggressive in the next way like this yeah there's nothing like scary aggressive because it's like you know who you're afraid of somebody be like you know I'll kill you right there that calm you know I'll kill that's the one you got to be afraid of yeah this was the one that just you know laid it out there um and um it was a little controversy over the cover art I mean some people were kind of like well first of all some people thought I was pregnant again oh well I when I put this song did you you thought that no I saw the cover but we'll just forgot that no I promised the world you hear me Boston you hear me I will never this is a this is this is deep because I'm taking it on the radio you will never see me getting pregnant again without being married okay we're not with not repeating shame on it fooled me one shame on me and fooled me twice listen they know fooled me twice all right but no um I forgot my point well the point the point is this song got raw this song got real and you need a couple of those okay it's this is the reality of love love gets real dirty and real tough and and you just have to rip off the band-aid and face stuff and that's what I did with this one hundred percent and you know we were talking behind the scenes and you're right I should have talked about my divorce after this dad gone sorry I'm telling you okay we're not the one yeah but check this out you should boy keep it Mike you doesn't want to 2.9 and we're gonna go to a quick PSA and after that we're gonna have a performer from shade so we about to rock out y'all bear with me again here's that song again for the hundredth time today here's that song again it's gonna be stuck in your head all day here's that song again it will make you cray cray you love your kids enough to watch that TV show a bajillion times love them enough to make sure they're in the right car seat for their age and size show them you love them keep them safe visit nhtsa.gov/therightseat brought to you by the national highway traffic safety administration and the ad council alright what's going on it's your boy keep it Mike you listen to one or two point night tape deck and we're not gonna waste any time here I got the lovely shade after gay and we're gonna do this join black love good purpose and this right here we're doing all this right here everything blackness black love black unity black anything so you ready girl yes let's rock it out one or two point night black on black on black it was a instant connection that hypnotic complexion on you you got my full attention yay let me take this time to mention that i'm addicted to that melanin i love the way the sun shines on your skin and i love the way it likes blow through the wind in the way you always smell like frankincense boy you haven't said black love don't need nothing else but your black love don't want nothing else but your black love baby you drive me crazy i can't see myself with no one else yeah you're the best part waking up like the coffee in my cup don't need no cream all i need is that brown sugar baby i can't get enough because i'm addicted to that melanin i love the way the sun shines on your skin and i love the way it likes blow through the wind in the way you always smell like frankincense boy you haven't said black love don't need nothing else but your black love don't want nothing else but your black love baby you drive me crazy i can't see myself with no one else yeah and oh you taste so good like i knew you would give me some of that sweet maple syrup baby straight up out the wood because i'm addicted to that melanin baby i love the way the sun shines on your skin baby and i love the way it likes blow through the wind baby and the way you always smell like frankincense baby hey hey black love black love baby you drive me crazy yeah can't see myself with no one else no no no no no no this is for my brown skin baby my caramel chocolate baby liquorish baby but i scotch baby mocha baby oh you drive me crazy got me grooving out here got me grooving out here in the background girl that's what i'm talking about dripping melanin to filthin this is chain this your boy keeping mike represent in black love and you go catch me here every friday from six to seven jay thank you thank you thank you thank you don't be a stranger you got an open door here so anytime you are coming through bus on the mike we'll talk more we talk about you know people ain't the one or black love and all that other great stuff so yeah catch me friday six to seven keeping mike jay we out of here peace thank you