Nic Stokes Presents: “NOBody Knows”- A WorldLife Camp event [POST EVENT WRITE UP]

However, the host of the night won it all! He gave us his portrayal of Chicago's ‘Lil’ Durk’ to a T’, gold locs and all. Everyone else who wasn't with the theatrics decided to simply dress to impress, like 2021 Milwaukee Film Festival winner, independent filmmaker Marquise Mays who gave a smooth Nupe shimmy on the dance floor, or Milwaukee fashion model JuJu Kujjo who dressed up as herself- but ‘made it fashion!’ There wasn't a corner in the room that wasn’t filled with people and the vibes kept going all night; A great mixture of early 2000’s favorites and current summer hits kept us all jammin.’ After having indulged in the vibes of the night long enough, I finally pulled Nic Stokes to the side, into the semi-quietness of the stairwell for a brief interview

CW: …[Lexi] was telling me, “WordLife Camp was a part of our come up...CopyWrite would be nothing without [our] collaborations with [WorldLife Camp]...” Would you tell me what your background with CopyWrite is; what your background is, period- how you got started?

N: Yea, so back in the day, my big brothers from WorldLife Camp built a relationship with CopyWrite. CopyWrite threw a lot of events. I remember one specifically at 88.9 radio, I believe, there was a concert series and they did an event there…

 (“So icy” by Gucci Mane started playing in the background during this interview. . .  Ha, how player is that?)

N: ...I've always been supportive of CopyWrite; it's Black and woman owned, and I'm all about diversity so that was really it for me. I definitely wanted to have them as a part of this event. For my background, I've been doing parties since I was 9 years old. I've been on the radio- my dad is Earl Stokes from 98.3- people may know me as ‘Jammin Nic’, some people just know me as ‘Nic Stokes’, so that's kinda just my background. I went to Atlanta for school, Morehouse, so I got the chance to get a different perspective on partying, curating events and the possibilities that can happen. I tried to bring that back to Milwaukee. 

CW: Is partying something that you simply feel good doing or do you feel that there is a greater purpose for you in bringing people together? What is it about the lane of partying for you that means a lot?

N: Well, I think that the underlying thing about partying is the music. Music brings people together, it takes you back to different times and points in your life where you might have struggled, when you might  have had success, when you were just having a good time... I think it's just a good thing that you can do to bring people together….just partying with your friends and family, you might get a chance to network and meet somebody that may be in your same field or endeavor of work; you might get the chance to cross paths with someone that you might not have before. So that's what I try to do. I try to bring diverse crowds- and not necessarily race but it could be different lanes, it could be somebody that's an artist, somebody that's a journalist, somebody that's a construction worker, somebody that does real estate- so that's why it's important to me to create spaces in Milwaukee where people can do that. 

CW: What I've noticed about certain individuals, or even certain groups who resonate with one doing things their own way tend to be the “black sheep” of their families or of where they come from...do you feel that you are the black sheep of where you come from- socially, creatively, in your background….?

N: I wouldn't necessarily say that I'm the black sheep, I would just say that I just took my own lane, and I see other people doing that same thing… I don't wanna be self-serving and say ‘oh I'm the only person doing this and the only person doing that’, you know what I mean? 

CW: I feel that. As far as the end goal for your impact, is it being a party host, is it doing something more? What is the end goal for your influence of bringing people together and doing things that come naturally to you? Where do you see yourself? 

N: That's something that I would wanna do full time because I enjoy it. That's my passion. I wanna make sure that people are good, people are having a good time, making sure that people have a space where they can be themselves and have a great time, so whether that be parties, concerts or networking at social events, things like that are kinda my lane...not kinda, that is my lane.  

CW: I see that you have newer faces like DJ Gemini Gilly here-

N: She's awesome. 

CW: Yeah, she's great. Do you feel that you have a responsibility to the newer [faces] of creatives in Milwaukee because there are a lot of people who are a part of the older scene of Milwaukee- the influencers, the people who were the go-getters, the initiators, the parties, the bashes, the concerts, the shows. . . Do you feel that you have a responsibility to the up-and-coming [creatives], the youth? 

N: I think that you definitely- 

(Speaking of Big Gilly, “Ski” by Gunna and Young Thug cuts on and Stokes can't help but to feel it)

N: ... Awww this is my song, I'm sorry…. 

(He puts on his MC voice and speaks into the mic, still by the stairwell, unseen but still heard)

N: ... Yeah, yeah, yeah! I need yall to hit that dance! Yeah! Yeah! . . . My bad.

CW: It's all good. That was awesome!

N: I've known DJ Gemini Gilly for a long time. We went to ‘King together and when she first got on her D.J. journey I was like ‘yo, I gotta support you. You're Black. You're a woman. You’re independent. You're strong. You're trying to get out here. I have to support you because you have a passion.’ I think that anybody that has a passion for something, anybody that's really honest and really wanting to express themselves and reach their goals and go after their passions, I think the whole city- I think that everybody should support them. It was only right that I had her come here to D.J. tonight.

CW: I appreciate that..the way you just say that, Black man supporting Black woman, Black woman supporting Black men and Black people just supporting each other, genuinely.

N: As a Black man, you gotta support the queens. . . Got to. I just feel like I have that responsibility because I have a Black mom, I have Black sisters, I have a Black niece, you know what I mean? It's only right.

CW: We appreciate that, so thank you. . . It's poppin tonight. It's lit!

You should have been there, but we are sure there will be more. 

/Naomi-Re’a for CW

Nails | CW Fashion Feature

"I don't see how she can get her nails so long! How can she do anything with those?! Nails with anything more than color and way too long are so unprofessional! Red nails are for Jezebels!"

Did you know both Queen Nefertiti and Cleopatra both wore red nails? The practice of nail expression goes way back to ancient times. Even these historical icons partook in the  ornamentation that is scratched deep into the culture and positive self expression of Black women.

Though nails have evolved overtime, they're still a part of who we are. I fell in love with nail Culture at a very young age. I still remember the very first pair of press-ons my mom had bought me when I was younger. They were from the value beauty down the street from my house and I had begged her each time we went in for this Winnie the Pooh set. The first few times she said no; but I was persistent. I just HAD to have this set. One day, she surprised my sister and I with our own. 

That moment meant the absolute world to me and became the catalyst for my love of the nail culture. 

The act of getting nail enhancements is much more than just sitting in someone's chair and paying them for whatever they give, no. It's a form of self-care; it's that moment a mother finally gets away from the kids, that, I haven't done anything for myself in so long, that, this is a gift to myself; a pure form of self empowerment. 

If you've ever seen a Black woman before and after getting her nails done, you'll see what I mean. The hand gets to going, the keyboard gets to clacking, and she just refuses to do certain things because she just got her nails done. It's nail culture code. I honestly wouldn't have it any other way. 

Nails bring women together and is a very therapeutic experience for most. Every time I service someone, by the time we're down, they feel different, relieved, and enlightened. 

My prayer is that the culture truly stands the test of time, as it's always been more than JUST nails.

/Jeronica Brister | @jbtravelingnailtech

Creatively Directed by Vato Vergara

Styled by Vato Vergara and Kyndal J

Nail Art by Jeronica Brister 

Models Sydney Beason and Emerald Monet

Shot by Chris Spencer

Shawn Millz - Greedy

Some of my favorite rap songs are the ones that incorporate other genres in their music, so when I hear unique songs like that it catches my ear. That’s what this song did for me. Greedy is a certified street banger made by artist Shawn Millz of Milwaukee. It’s a rap song with gritty lyrics and a grudge influenced tone. Nirvana, while wasn’t the first, made that grunge type of rock go so hard; so when you mix it into rap, it just creates this multi genre type of sound which is becoming very popular these days. 

There’s aggression in this song, cockniess, and determination. This song will grab everyone’s ears, not just the men, because we are all about that hustle (or we should be). Besides the dope lyrics, the beat on this joint is sick. This beat gives me street, Gotham City and classic Jeezy Can’t Ban the Snowman vibes. Lyrics set the tone for a song, but ultimately the beat is what grabs our attention. I don’t know who made this beat, but my car speaker’s thank you. You can listen to more of Shawn Millz’ music here on Apple Music. 

Adrienne/ For CW

2Hi - White Lighter Bad Luck [ALBUM]

After a few years of loosies and EP’s, the dropping of his first full length project “2 Birds” last year, and being left with the bread crumb that was “Round and Round” back in August just for this moment here, local artist 2Hi continues the narrative of his rockstar lifestyle with the drop of his second Album, “White Lighter Bad Luck.”  Lyrically accompanied by the acclaimed NilexNile, otherwise known as Nile, Lake, and executive productions by No B, this melodic psychedelia is the melancholic voice of all who have found contentment with numbness, however, having subconscious undertones of self awareness and emotional longing; this all blends in to one truth while under great influence.. The intro track “Ghost” leads us straight to 2Hi’s inner conflict; there is an assertiveness here that may pass for aggression, or vice versa, in lyrics like “..And I'm in the back of the room high off the shrooms sitting, just think to myself, I am an artist who starvin’, no I can't bargain, I gotta double my wealth..lil bitch im cool, I don't need help, all of this work under my belt- I gotta do it all myself, I gotta do it all myself..” and the words “I gotta work on myself, I gotta work on myself..'' are heard faintly a lines afterwards, signaling the slip into 2Hi’s subconscious, his real thoughts, “..I'm an animal, I can't live with myself, only hurts if you take it out and you put my heart on the shelf, I just need your help…”

WLBL led with this tone for another 5 tracks and then about halfway into the album, we are temporarily given an energetic boost with “Switch Lanes”- how very telling of the motivation that many try to find after crash landing back on Earth into their own reality. This is made for the ‘fast and the furious’ (don't do it, drive safely), when you feel like a flexer, bump this!!….Annnnnd right back into the feels. Old habits die hard and some norms can't seem to be shaken in “Tattoos.” 2Hi comes a bit cleaner about his vices, even more so about the norms of his life experiences that trigger those vices; “ I got tattoos on my soul, I woke up lost on the road, I know that I'm on my own, mountains to me look like stones- I take these drugs to fly home...I seen it all just unfold, I seen this shit happen before…” Very easily, the methods taken on for masking continuous pain are cause for being misunderstood by those on the outside looking in because of one’s own miseducation on how to cope properly, leaving room to be branded (“tattooed”) as everything that we do not intend to really be. Tell me how YOU feel about “ White Lighter Bad Luck,” Milwaukee.

/Naomi-Re’a for CW

Miss Mocha Presents: “Buttah & Brown”- Emmit James & Claudio Parrone Jr. [Write Up]

Two words….SAAANG BOY!! Appropriately, the “Buttah and Brown” tour was brought to Milwaukee first to welcome our own Emmit James home and he brought with him some fellas with vocals on top of vocals, the crowd was very much in tune [Miss Mocha DID that]. DJ FreakishNerd shows out on the 1’s and 2’s with a great mix as the crowd forms and continues to grow up until show time; the floor tables, the booths, and the bar were all full and the stage was lit up with green, blue, red lights one after the other, giving the atmosphere an intimate yet active lounge feel. Emmit James, one half of the Headliners for the show, introduces Leroy Booker to the stage and right off the bat he hits us with a good ol’ nostalgic ‘YEEEEAAAaaaauuuuuUUUHHH!!’ and runs for his life into his introduction song, accompanied by, to quote Emmit, “the illustrious Curtis Crump Jr.” on the keys. He gave us a few love jams before the other half of Buttah & Brown was introduced, Claudio Parrone Jr. A.K.A. C.J. He slowed us down even more with a smooth rendition of “Until the End of Time” by Justin Timberlake, and of course the crowd showed their love for it as they participated in a ‘call and response’ moment with C.J.; “This ones for the lovers!”...Speaking of Lovers, they sure were in attendance on this night. C.J. stepped to the side for the last moment of his set and let the band play for the crowd. Without hesitation, multiple couples, young and old, got up and started slow dancing. It was a sight!

Klassik took the stage next and dominated, vocally and lyrically. His production was a one man show, with a stage presence that could fill a room, the crowd was nothing short of engaged. Finally, feeding off of the momentum of the night, Emmit James and Claudio Jr. took the stage as Buttah & Brown and with the inclusion of an insane drum solo and even a praise break, they gave their audience what they wanted, a high energy cap to the night.

 /Naomi-Re’a for CW

HymnWho -Retroactive Phenomenon [ALBUM]

HymnWho “Retroactive Phenomenon” ALBUM  

Like the beautiful dynamic of the iconic blend of Hip-Hop and R&B on a track, the marriage of the poetic, conviction filled, or otherwise, nonchalant vocal tones of a rapper and the hard hitting orchestrated chaos of rock instrumentation is a delicacy. HymnWho has dropped a sonically pleasing gem with the presentation of “Retroactive Phenomenon.” The allure of this album from songs like “Revival,” “Niggas and Nikolai,” and “Saviour,” was in the production; very 80’s with the slowness and off-kilter pounding of the beat, having a faster paced rhythym happen in some moments, still with a high capacity of instrumentation, HymnWho’s vocals were hauntingly gliding over the music with a melodic, Darkwave tone and the modern, melancholic  lyrical content that is found in today’s rap. In “Shoebox,” he gave us more of a trap flow but the production was still very consistent with the Darkwave sound. However, we do get some rap nostalgia as well. “Wishes” not only gives us more room to focus on the bars and their transparency, but the boom-bap is more so evident in this production. Tell me how YOU feel about “Retroactive Phenomenon,” Milwaukee.

/Naomi-Re’a for CW

NOBody Knows [ a WordLife Camp event and /CW is trying to get you on the list]

Rissa Fam - Eat ft. Munch Lauren

One thing about me is that I love a good ol classic ratchet banger, and that’s what EAT is. Now

this nice little hidden gem came out in 2010, but I recently discovered it last week. The Milwaukee bop by Rissa Fam and Munch Lauren currently has over 1 million streams on the internet, and was released with a colorful hyped music video on Youtube. I’m a firm lover of music, and I will always appreciate party music; it just gets you hype and makes you celebrate yourself. When I hear that I try to activate my Megan knees in the comfort of my home (keyword try). The music video was shot so simple, but it was effective. I mean who wouldn’t wanna see twerking, good vibes, and good food in a music video? Sounds like a good time to me. It’s dope to see more styles of music coming out of artists from Milwaukee, we just need to get everyone connected together. Rissa Fam is definitely an artist who embraces the good vibes in Milwaukee, and puts into her music. She also did a song this year with Milwaukee artist Chicken P called Money. You can check out more of her music on her Youtube.

Adrienne/ For CW

Bee's in Black Cat Alley | an interview with NEW muralist Mi Salgado

The art in Black Cat Alley on the East side of Milwaukee (E Ivanhoe Pl, Milwaukee, WI 53202) is iconic. From breathtaking imagery, bold colors, creative use, and even moments of controversial application, it is a place in the city like no other. If you have been to Black Cat Alley within the last month, you would have surely noticed that a new cohort of artists were selected to create new murals to become a part of its growing narrative of public art. Excited to see the work in action, CopyWrite visited Mi Salgado as she worked on her piece, Life’s Pollinators.

The original design for Mi’s mural was based off of a painting she curated in 2020 during quarantine. Before Covid happened she had been working on a body of work to submit to a gallery show. However, when the world shut down and those opportunities were no longer an option she decided to redirect her creative focus.

Mi: “I wanted to come up with a piece that defined how working hard can turn into something beautiful and working together can [do the same]. In some way we are all connected.”

She pointed out how the bees pollinate, flowers grow, and we sustain life and beauty through those actions. Her mural shows these components together in a larger than life abstraction of honey combs, flowers, and bee’s together in splashes of orange and yellow warmth. 

As a self taught artist who only began to dabble in professional work in 2018, Mi is excited to be a part of the list of names who have blessed Black Cat Alley with their work. Being a professional artist was never really something Mi had considered for herself, but when she had the opportunity to take on a commission it changed her trajectory and pushed her to explore the craft a little more.

Mi: “I started off drawing and doing a lot of pin work. Then that turned into painting. From there I also picked up wood burning. So I have been practicing a lot of different disciplines. 

Though the discussion of public art in Milwaukee has only recently become a priority in the city, Black Cat Alley has been making its way in that arena since 2015.  New to this side of the creative world we asked Mi what she has learned so far as an up-and-coming talent:

Mi: “It’s not easy!” She laughed. “One thing I think I suck at is creating the statements. It’s a whole process. You really need to know how to write.”

Writing about your work is something many artists neglect, thus they leave others to create the narrative for them. Mi has been using her family and friends as resources to make sure what she is writing is being interpreted in the way she delivers it. It’s something she is still learning and working on.

Creating more public art is something Mi plans on continuing to do. Now that she knows the process she constantly looks at mural calls to see if there is one that might fit. With Black Cat Alley being one of her first murals and the space having so much notoriety, Mi has a jump start into a very niche but competitive field. 

CW: “What do you think about the shift in Public art rapidly appearing across Milwaukee in the last few years? Why do you think such a shift is occurring?”

Mi: “I want to say Milwaukee is experiencing a whole new art scene. There are a lot of young professionals and stuff like that. I think that could be a reason. There are so many unknown artists here. I think that’s something Black Cat Alley is trying to do, [give] unknown artists an opportunity. I think it’s also like a new culture.

She also mentioned wanting to experience the public art scenes in other places which may fuel inspiration for more work.

Though this is Mi, first public large scale solo mural she has helped kids create mural work in the past. The difference she notes is having the ability to use your own concept and let it flow freely. Even in her current piece, she modified the way in which the composition wraps the bump out in the alley where her mural is and also the type of flowers the bees will pollinate. These modifications are a part of the process and a part of the story that makes working in public spaces so special.

For any artist thinking about stepping into the public art scene, Mi suggests that practice is everything.

Mi: “Don’t give up. Keep submitting. Your first application will be the crappiest one. Just keep practicing. Try to make that resume and artist statement better. Try to perfect that application.”

And clearly the practice is worth it. 

Next time you're “on the East” make sure to stop at Black Cat Alley to see Mi Salgados piece, Life’s Pollinators, and other amazing murals that are sure to inspire.

Lexi S. Brunson /CW

Genesis Renji EP “E.D.E.N. -East of the Garden” Event [Write Up]

What is a more appropriate way to indulge in Autumn, the season of harvest and reaping, then to go to a garden? Being met with a pink rose pedaled trail to start (in addition to the detailed instructions left on instagram by Genesis himself incase folks got lost, heehee), I made my way up to the third floor of The Hide House Warehouse and into the lovely business studio of C&B Creative.Co.  where Genesis Renji would exclusively perform his latest EP- E.D.E.N. during his “East of the Garden” showcase. Opening the door was like stepping into a late night lounge; the lights were dimmed for the mood with just enough lighting placed all around the room. The DJ of the night, FreakishNerd’s booth was set up in the front left corner with the main mic centered in the front of the room, completely wrapped up in a vine of leaves. There were plants appropriately set in every corner. Just before the opening artist Tai Mystique’s vocals took the stage and snatched edges with (and without...I think..) our permission, I was able to get 15 min. with a seemingly nervous, yet “musical genius,” as said by a super supporter in the audience, Genesis Renji.

N: First of all, Congrats on the new drop.. I don't think I was there for the last- did you have a release party for your last album or you just dropped it?

G: For the Keefe one..?

N: ...For S.I.N.S...

G: Yea, S.I.N.S., we did at Company Brewing and that was like 2018.. 

N: That seems like it was so long ago..

G: It was..last year was long go, ha ha..some of us made the moves we needed, and some didn't..we're all still here, that's all I care about.

N: ..I thought that it was interesting that you continued that biblical connection between your life and how you chose to translate it. Why was that the choice that you made? What does the Bible mean for you in your personal life-why do you feel like that was the best way to communicate your emotions?

G: I was brought up in the church..when I was born, I was raised Muslim for a little bit; my last name by birth is Arabic, and then when we moved to Milwaukee from Maryland we were with my Grandmother and we always went to her church- a Lutheran church....Ive always been a fan of, not necessarily religion, but theology in its self and Ive always adapted that and put that into my life. I'm the first born of my name, the oldest of me and my three brothers so that's where ‘Genesis’ comes from..growing up in my church, I ended up working in my church; I've been a youth minister, I was forced to become a deacon by church vote, so I've been in there, I'm a fan of it, I love the knowledge and the wisdom that's in there as well as the stories of faith, so I try to take the thing that I like, but hate the way that it's being used against people, and try to make it something else that you can enjoy and love.  

N: Have you had any familial backlash because of it? Because you know a lot of people are quite sensitive about how people choose to translate their beliefs..

G: Im me, as terrible as that sounds or however people are gonna take it, Im me..so with it being me, if you know me or you meet me- get to learn me, you know that anything I do isn’t of ill intent and if I come across as ignorant or im using it in an illegitimate way, I'll take accountability for it and apologize but I've also been in that space long enough to know what I'm doing within that space and outside of that space and still be respectful with it.

N: I think that is a cool approach because, for myself, especially with this pandemic allowing me the time to figure out ‘okay what do I actually believe in or how do I express my belief in it,’ and I realized how much spiritual capacity I have to then not claim just one because I see [God] in everything..

G: It's major. I don't claim to be Christian, I relate to Christianity a lot because that's what I was brought up in and it's embedded in me so deeply, but I also see, like you said, the pieces that overlap. I see where Islam overlaps with Christianity and overlaps with Buddhism or overlaps with whatever other beliefs you may have or dont have. I mean, regardless of what people say, you look at Satanism itself...the Seven Tenets that they follow are pretty good tenets that you wanna follow; dont rape people, dont murder people, respect other people and what they want to do..

N: It's more of a moral thing..

G: Yea, there are overlaps to the things that we don't know, don't understand or may not like, but you're always gonna find a common piece in one of those things and I feel like when you start seeing those common pieces in it, that's really what that universal truth is, so that's what I try to lean towards more when I’m diggin through things- ‘what's the one thing that's tying everything together?’ And that's more than likely the thing that we all need to know and be a part of.

N: Right, I get that..with the album name E.D.E.N., Eventually Dreams End in Nightmares- that sounds pretty pessimistic, ha ha..

G: It does.

N: So why..?

G: So even when you look at the cover, right?- So my last three releases, this one included, have been my most personal bodies of work, so S.I.N.S. was like ‘I'm about to start telling y'all about my romantic life. Yall know Genesis ‘the rapper,’ let's learn Genesis the person. So here's all the stories I've never shared about all these different women that I may have liked or may have been involved with, whatever, whatever, then Keefe is, ‘here's the black boy who grew up in the hood but wasn't from the hood,’ and what that sounds like, what that looks like, and being the voice for all the other black boys who didn't know how to say what they felt. So E.D.E.N. is picking up from the love shit..it's like, alright, this is what happens when we were dealing with a bunch of women, E.D.E.N. is the result of being with one woman, so with that comes, ‘alright, I gave so much of what I wanted to one person and it didn't work out so maybe the dream that I was being sold isn't the dream that I want. Maybe I was better off out here in the garden, that's why when you see the covers-on the cover of S.I.N.S. I'm sharing the apple..and it's like Adam and Eve, we’re bonding over this thing but then on the cover of E.D.E.N. I'm by myself, I'm looking through these apples-if you look, I've bitten through a pile of apples- none of them have that same appeal as that first apple so it's like, ‘what are we doing here, what's the point in searching anymore..?’

N: So if you wanna say, the dream isn't necessarily the dream but the ideal of what that dream could've been or what you wanted it to be- the burst of that bubble..

G: The potential that we all get caught up in, it's like damn, alright..that wasn't what I thought, maybe it doesn't need to be a thing.

N: So in a general sense, when you talk about dreams, in this context youre talking about love, but you know, people can say that “dream” means all types of things, so if someone wanted to take that same title and apply it to anything that they have a dream about, how should they be taking it?

G: So I'm a big fan of spiritualism, of course, I take dreams as messages for me. I dont ignore my dreams, so when I meet people who say ‘I don't dream, I just sleep,’ I'm like, that's scary because you're out here just wingin’ life. That's wild to me. Dreams are how I get answers to prayers, that's where we get to break shit down and figure everything out; that's where the subconscious gets the work. For me, it's like, at the end of this dream, Imma get something. Imma get some type of response- it’s either gonna be the response that I wanted or it’s gonna be a response that I wasn’t looking for and usually we’re scared either way because if it’s not what you want then you’re like, fuck! Now you scared of the thing that you didn't want or that thing that you knew it could've been, and you just didn’t wanna deal with it, but then usually you also are scared of the things that you do want because it's like-

N: ‘..I can have it??’

G: -Yea and then its like, fuck, you get so wrapped up in, because its possible, ‘am I gone fuck it up still? Or when I get it, do I deserve it, or am I gonna be able to live up to it?’ Or on the flip side, and this is something that I've been dealing with, do I really want what I said I wanted?...so the dreams can eventually end in nightmares because you still gotta wake up, you still gotta deal with the shit and that can be scary.

N: Do you believe that because that ideal was false in the first place that it was bound to fail or do you believe that you manifested that failure in that moment of disregard for yourself? 

G: Seeee..it depends on the person, right? Adam and Eve didn’t manifest their failure. That wasn't their intention, but they eventually stumbled into it. Eden in itself was a dream but that ended because of curiosity...it was just damn, ‘here's something that we haven't done, I think we should try it..; you can apply that to life too so I'm also a firm believer of ‘what's meant to be, I'm gonna make it happen and if it doesn't happen it's because I didn't do what needed to be done to make that happen or I didn't will that to happen, so you can manifest it or you also can't manifest it. Depends on your perspective. 

N: As far as ‘The Garden’ in itself, what is the entirety of that for you?

G: That's just how I see the world, honestly. Like even with my 2016 album, I Might Be Home, I reference Milwaukee as ‘The Garden,’ the song is called “In the Garden,” and in the chorus, I found my way out of the garden, that’s me being in the city, I was forced to be here as a child and then eventually I leave, and me leaving th city that I, 1., wasnt born in, but then, 2., I also didnt know how to manuever in and grow up in, leaving it gave me that breathe and that relaease but also gave me the courage to come back and deal with things, so the garden for me is Milwaukee but the garden can be anything that youre in the middle of and you don’t see anything outside of it, because thats what Eden is-Eden was a point and a place, and for Adam and Eve, there was nothing else outside of that, but then when they found what was outside of that it was like, fuck, I kinda wanna go back there..

N: Can you go back? It's not gonna be the same when you go back, but what does that mean, going back?

G: Is it really worth going back? because you know it's not gone be the same, so you got two choices- you can either, A., turn around and look for this garden that  may or may not be there, or B., you can, as they say in the Bible, “toil the earth for the rest of your days,” and you can create whatever that next garden is for you or try your best to.

N: I’m interested to see how you emote this- this is a really intimate setting here, did you do that on purpose?

G: Yes. I didn't wanna do this at a big venue, I really want to be able to look at everybody..I'm nervous honestly, ha ha ha..

N: I can tell..

G: this is the most vulnerable music i've ever made...so yea...and it was so much shit happening leading up to this- a week of promotion-that's already an issue for me, ya’ll know how we move..but it was like, aye, lets just drop it and see what happens,- and this is the most singing I've ever done-

N: that was gonna be my last, last question because I listened to it and I noticed that you didn't do a lot of standard, nonchalant vocals on this, you had a lot of melodies, so is that tied to how you emote [musically] in general; do you feel more flexible when you're feeling out your emotions?

G: The challenge for me- so last year I was traveling after my break up that inspired the project. I just traveled; that's what I do already, cool, now I can just do it a little bit more, get some me time. During that time of traveling, my main focus was becoming a better songwriter- I'm a good rapper, cool, I make ‘alright’ music, I think, but I need to make better music and make sure the people wanna hear it over and over again, and that came with knowing [that] people want melodies. Being a good rapper is cool but at the end of the day that doesn't sell records; I’m in this shit to be one of the biggest, honestly, so i'm writing 2-5 songs a day, every day for six months straight and in the process, the vocals got stronger, the writing got better, shit got more melodic and it's like, okay cool, singing is something that we need to implement a little bit more to make this work and this is what you get.

N: Alright well, I can't wait to see it live.

G: It's gonna be fire, I appreciate yall. 

/Naomi-Re’a for CW