“Hey, I’ll never take you to something that you won’t like…” Confident words coming from someone who—as far as I know—couldn’t see the future. (My Dad [RIP] felt differently.) But she knew what she liked—therefore, what we would like. That’s always been the awareness of my dear mother, Charis Bowling—whose taste and judgment we’ve trusted from the very beginning when it came to entertainment, arts, politics, and pop culture. Roots & Influence Mom grew up in a very traditional West Indian family: …
Connecting the Dots : Why Cultural Legacy Begins with Self-Discovery
Before you change the world, you’ve got to know the world that built you. – King Esseen We talk about legacy a lot—but legacy isn’t just what you leave behind. It’s what you build every time you choose to show up in your full, creative truth. It’s the mark you make when you create from a place that’s rooted—not in trends—but in truth, culture, memory, and intention. That’s where connecting the dots comes in.Because creativity isn’t random—it’s …
The Sounds That Shaped Me : Curating the Harmonic Convergence Playlist
Before I had words for who I was—I had sound. I had rhythm. I had feeling. And that was enough to begin. – King Esseen Music didn’t just accompany my story—it scored it. From Saturday mornings filled with Stevie and Sade, to late-night sample flips and freestyle ciphers in basements that smelled like vinyl and vision—sound has always been the heartbeat of my memory. But it wasn’t just the songs. It was the stories behind them. The …