Inspired by poetry, the 22-year old Newark, NJ native Karma Black is one of Vibes in the City’s latest featured artist this Wednesday. The indie artist first captured audiences at the infamous Apollo Theater in Harlem with her impeccable lyricism and flow, Karma Black is just getting started.
AAHH: How did you find out about Vibes in the City?
KB: That’s a good question. One of my artist friends posted a flyer via social media and I decided to check it out.
AAHH: Tonight’s also your single release, who produced it? Describe the sound for us.
KB: MO Sound Group is where my track was produced, my engineer is Shahid A.K.A Push
AAHH: What do you want fans and new listeners to get from your latest single?
KB: If anything I would like for my fans to hear a different sound and know that there isn’t anything wrong with spilling feelings in a track about someone you love.
AAHH: As I was listening to your music on SoundCloud, the remix you did for “Lost Ones” hit home. What was you’re inspiration for the song?
KB: Well I was at an open mic event held in Brooklyn, NY and there was a DJ spinning in between acts. He played the Lauryn Hill track and beat hit my whole soul [laughs]. I decided to write to the track when the time was right. At the time, I wrote the song there was a story on social media that went viral and broke my heart. A young lady by the name Amy Joyner Lucas lost her life at age 16 due to bullying in school. Though it was televised, I felt like she didn’t receive the proper recognition due to the fact that Beyoncé just released her Visual album “Lemonade.”
It made me question society and America as a whole so I wrote about it. The second verse of the song is very interesting and most people still don’t know the background story. A couple of weeks PRIOR to the death of Philando Castile I was sitting in the airport at 12:00am writing that verse. A couple of weeks later I seen the live video on Facebook of him being murdered by a white cop in front of his wife and daughter to fend for themselves. This too shattered my heart into pieces and for some days my mental was all messed up. I had to question myself and ask if that was my apology letter to him and his family smh. I call that song my God Sent Song.
AAHH: Describe your stage presence.
KB: Unexplainable! Every time I touch the stage I am fearless in the pursuit of what sets my soul on fire.
AAHH: If you had the chance, what rapper would you collab with?
KB: J COLE If you had to describe your rapping skills in five words, what would it be? Flow lyrics swag truth and FLOW lol jk LOVE.
AAHH: What other artists are you affiliated with, if any?
KB: The most recent artist I plan to do an EP with is Johnny Culver.
Be on the lookout for more Karma Black as she’s in the works of creating more lyricism that’s missing in Hip-Hop. You can listen to more at Karma Black’s Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/blackkarma
https://soundcloud.com/blackkarma/prayer-hands
