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I want to soundtrack people's layered feelings.
Kelela Mizanekristos -
When I called 'Cut 4 Me' a mixtape, I was thinking about a few elements: One is used instrumentals. The project is more centered around introducing you to an artist; it's not meant to be seminal. It's 'Hi,' 'Hello,' a thing that you first hear.
Kelela Mizanekristos
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I like to try out different methods to get to good songs.
Kelela Mizanekristos -
I've talked about that with friends, about what genre makes sense to choose for each record and the strategy around that... Sometimes it's more about the moment of time, and other times it's more about the sound of the song. Sometimes it's about what's going on in larger life, in politics.
Kelela Mizanekristos -
For those of us who make music together, I think it's important to realize that generosity on both sides is actually going to produce the biggest possibility.
Kelela Mizanekristos -
In Maryland, I didn't grow up around poor white people. Where I grew up, the white people were middle class or upper-middle class. It's interesting how screwed up it is in reality, because most people who receive assistance from the government are white, but not in my head or in my experience.
Kelela Mizanekristos -
Before I collaborate, it's important that I have a conversation about what I care about before we make anything, so that it's very clear.
Kelela Mizanekristos -
As a black woman, there's so much pride and communication through hair. It's naturally something that you are excited to embellish on and be creative about.
Kelela Mizanekristos
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I'm very into familiar things, popular things. I'm into things that no one seems to know about or be into. I'm trying to draw a line between those two things and make it clear... that it all makes sense to me. That it's not disparate. That it's all one thing inside me.
Kelela Mizanekristos -
It's such a challenging time, and in my small way, I will make it so that other younger women, and maybe older women, will be able to do the things they want to do, and accept themselves and their experience.
Kelela Mizanekristos -
I remember the day I first heard what Timbaland and Aaliyah did - that intersection of her pretty voice and his weird, resonant production. I remember where I was and what I was doing. It was a major situation. We're trying to continue that legacy.
Kelela Mizanekristos -
It's been hard for me to nail visual language and personal style because I like so many different things.
Kelela Mizanekristos -
Most of my friends, growing up, were upper-middle-class white kids, so it was a different reality at home both culturally and linguistically. It created a lot of insecurities for me, but it also did a lot of amazing things that I didn't know were happening at the time.
Kelela Mizanekristos -
Even on my most angry song, I'm also still saying, 'Thank you for helping me to learn.' I've always wanted to give voice to that complexity in our experience.
Kelela Mizanekristos
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I try to make it a sonic experience so that when you put your earbuds in or when you're in your room, it sounds like an enveloping feeling. I think that is the most important thing, that wherever you are, it is wrapping you up and making you feel safe and comfortable.
Kelela Mizanekristos -
In the music industry, you can't create success without having to engage a white man. It's just not possible. Whether it's executives, A&Rs, and the people that hold the key to your paper, inevitably, you'll be met with whiteness.
Kelela Mizanekristos -
I don't want you to feel defeated, like, 'Oh boy, why do you do this to me?' We have too many of those songs.
Kelela Mizanekristos -
I spent a lot of time in college. I was just being academic and discovering myself through reason and analysis.
Kelela Mizanekristos -
Anyone who understands anti-racist work, a white person specifically, understands that it is not black people's responsibility, or any person of color's responsibility, to dismantle the structures that keep white people in positions of power. We do our job to thrive, to survive. To protect ourselves, to sit together and feel better and to heal.
Kelela Mizanekristos -
I think my worst enemy was myself. It's like I've been in my own way more than anybody else has been.
Kelela Mizanekristos
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The act of me just being robust in the world is so radical - it's so radical for a black woman to think she's going to be a star, because it takes so much to get there. It's still a battle every day, but I feel happy because I feel like I cracked the code and figured out how to work through it. Now I want to give the map to other women.
Kelela Mizanekristos -
I'm finding out what part of punk culture or white indie culture I actually still want to hold onto - What are the values? What are the contributions that I actually like? - and it not coming from a place of desperation or wanting to be embraced or wanting approval, essentially.
Kelela Mizanekristos -
That's pretty much how every song of mine works - I start with gibberish and melody and phrasing. I speak it naturally first. And then I think about lyrics that fit into that.
Kelela Mizanekristos -
I am not carefree. I'm just not. I experience an immense amount of joy, a crazy amount of joy through sadness and so much struggle. There's something problematic about 'carefree black girl.'
Kelela Mizanekristos