Keba Careful about being Loco for the Coco

over 1 year in TT News day

It’s called Loco for the Coco but don’t let the name fool you. When US-based, TT artiste Keba “Keba” Williams sings that song it’s a powerful one about an immigrant’s woman’s right to the word no.
The song is about consent and the US’ current political climate, all dramatised in the recently-released music video using TT’s folk character, the la diablesse.
It opens with a midnight robber-type voiceover saying: “You see those men who can’t keep their hands to themselves. The ones who only want to put women through hell; it is them who need to watch out for la diablesse.
“It is revenge she wants and revenge she will get.”
In the soca-blended, reggae-type strains, she sings: “Walk into the room, all the necks start breaking. Something like a brown little shot, I’m the one they’re chasing…”
Keba said the song was inspired by her own experiences of performing at certain spaces in the US.
She has two degrees: one in music and the other in chemistry. She started pursuing music when the opportunities for chemistry weren’t turning around. She left TT at 16.
“I was sending out resumes. I was sending out applications for jobs and I just was not getting through and I was the kind of person who had good grades.
“If I had an interview, I’d ace the interview. I just was not having success in progressing after college in the workforce through chemistry. Whereas through music, I had professors that were coming and asking me to do performances, I did a jingle at a music studio and that started to become a way for me to earn income.
[caption id="attachment_974280" align="alignnone" width="916"] Keba Williams aka Keba's video for her latest single, Loco for the Coco uses TT's folk character, the La Diablesse.[/caption]
“But that was also where I met a producer – I just had like these little business cards and I left them these cards saying I was a singing songwriter – and he said, ‘Hey do you make original music?”
He told her he was looking for a singer/songwriter and that was the beginning of “a whole different journey.”
She did an internship at a music studio where she learnt more about production and writing and then opened her own recording studio in Miami which she ran for a few years. While she loved working with developing talent, she sold the studio and decided to pursue her own music career.
Over the years, she has seen vast political and social changes in the US. The events of 2020 – the pandemic and Black Lives Matter – raised serious questions about the kind of society one lives in the US.
“What happened with people such as George Floyd and Breonna Taylor in 2020 were huge eye-openers for black lives and human rights for black people.
“Seeing those archaic ideas of how people should be treated seep into women’s rights, the reversal of Roe versus Wade, it really made me question how I am perceived as a black woman in America.
“It really brought up certain concerns and questions as to what my future would be as a black woman in America especially coming from a country like TT.”
In TT, she did not deal with a lot of identity issues and never thought she would have to worry about that for herself or her children.
These changes were a culture shock for her. These concerns were raised more after some experiences she had while performing.
Sometimes she is the only person of colour entertaining in a space, she said.
At some of the “high-end, luxury gigs” her audience is largely Caucasian.
On a particular night she was performing at a lounge where there was a designated space for its investors.
“There is just an energy with the way people think they can communicate with you, where they think they can throw some extra money your way and expect you to react in a certain way or they feel they are plucking you from obscurity by giving you any type of attention.
“There was this older white gentleman who came up to me and tried to kiss me during one of my songs.
“It was so inappropriate. At the time, it was also like, ‘What do I do?’ As a professional, the show must go on, I am here to do my job.”
She then asked whether the restaurant would have defended him, as its investor, or her?
While this was a push for her to write the song, it was not until another man had acted inappropriately toward her that Loco for the Coco was born.
The chorus was written during a car ride after the gig in 2018. She recorded part of it on a voice note and left it for a little while. She came back to it a year later and still liked how it sounded and so decided to develop it.
Keba worked on the song’s production and when she captured the vibe – which she described as a mix of Caribbean rhythms with a retro-style guitar, hip-hop and R&B elements – she worked further with Jamaican producer Kris Karz to make the song radio ready.
The song was released in 2020 and the video released in June.
Keba wondered, after being hit on by these men, if, after making advances on a black woman, they went home and voted in favour of policies for black women.
“I don’t think so,” she said.
She wanted Loco for Coco to be empowering for black women and to not focus solely on the transgressions of these types of men.
[caption id="attachment_974281" align="alignnone" width="916"] Keba Williams aka Keba's video for her latest single, Loco for the Coco uses TT's folk character, the la diablesse.[/caption]
“But more on the fact of, regardless of how these men choose to show up in the world and how they choose to treat women of colour, we get to walk with our heads high and we get to love who we are and we get to feel safe in our bodies,” she said.
Williams said for the listener who experienced situations like these the song makes them feel seen and heard.
“I was surprised by the number of women who shared with me – some of them in entertainment, some of them not – how they felt in certain situations. Or how certain men made them feel at certain times in their lives.”
Helping to provide a space for women to share their experiences has given Keba validation as to the song’s importance.
It has also given her fuel to write more songs.
She said there are people who value artistes who express something that they’ve experienced or never even shared.
“Some of these experiences come along with a weird type of shame that we as women feel we can’t talk about, or people see us as trying to be victims or perceive it in a way we don’t feel comfortable sharing.
“So for anyone who has ever shared with me after hearing the song, it has been a huge eye-opener.”
Keba hopes to release an EP or album next year and it will continue in the vein of Loco for the Coco being a “sound that is reminiscent of the Caribbean and talking about issues women of colour face.”
She wants to continue giving an empowering voice to women while representing and identifying the Caribbean more in her music.
“My journey has been a long one of figuring out which lane I want to occupy musically. R&B has been a love of mine but I would even say, I have even taken for granted, those things that come second nature to me as a Trinidadian and as a person from the Caribbean.”
The more she shares her new songs which tap into her Caribbean roots, the more she realises how much of a unique voice and perspective it provides.
 
The post Keba: Careful about being Loco for the Coco appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.

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