"I'm interested in singing songs about my family, my people, the motherland, joy, happiness..."
Djata: Nicki, I must first say that it's an honor for me to be having this discourse with you. At any rate, from where did the lyrics come in your early years and how have they evolved?
Nicki: Thanks, Djata. For the first lyrics I wrote to my 1st jazz pianist's Sabrina, the words came from the real story; Sabrina was his & his wife's 1st born, and the story came from a collection of words I thought told how he must have felt about her beauty, his responsibility to protect her, his wishes for her happiness in life. His music was/is so beautiful, I wanted to sing along, so I wrote words.
For the 1st music & lyrics I wrote for Make Some Kind of Magic, it came from a comment I made to a poet who had signed me to sing accapella on her poetry show- something I don't know how to do performance-wise - I ended up telling her, don't worry, we'll make some kind of magic. When I heard the words out my mouth, I thought, “Hmmmm…that sounds like a song”. I proceeded to put notes to the cadence of the words, and told the story of my first trip to Africa. Usually, a phrase, or a scene will conjure up a story, then I have to find melody to match words.
Djata: You’ve told me that when you do a song, you have to like the story. What do you mean by that?
Nicki: I'm interested in singing songs about my family, my people, the motherland, joy, happiness. I'm not interested in singing sad, violent songs, songs about people mistreating people.
Djata: You were a single Mom who raised two sons to adulthood. You’ve been involved in music, literally, all of your life. But, Nicki, as a basis for all that you’ve done and still do, I’m curious, at this point in your life, what really makes you tick?
Nicki: Love of life makes me tick; learning makes be happy, I love people, artists, art, nature.
Djata: Is there or are there either benefits or detriments, or both, to being a female performer?
Nicki: I'm still looking for benefits outside of self actualization/fulfillment; gender determents are a way of life. Women are not viewed as equal human beings.
Djata: Do you believe that there is any one thing or are there several things that female artists, of all kinds, can do to help bring humanity to a tangibly higher level where people will be able to relate to each other on many levels, as opposed to so much of the division between cultural groups and sexes that is so prevalent today?
Nicki: Many things can be done to bring humanity to a higher level, go back to kindergarten like behavior, and treat people like we want to be treated with respect and consideration. . Understand that r-a-c-e is a make believe word which means nothing, and immediately stop applying it to reality.
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