keiyaA's Forever, Ya Girl

5 years forward

the year 2020 sparked a collective awakening illuminated by synchronicities. in addition to the confusion, grief, and virtual reality we faced in the earliest stages of the global pandemic, i observed that many of us were:

• having similar societal revelations

• reclaiming crucial aspects of our personal identities and cultures

• sitting with healing plant medicine

• listening to the same music miles apart from each other

we encountered numerous obstacles and hurtful truths in 2020, but music was one of the remedies that helped soothe the pain. for this month’s collectible, i’m highlighting a standout release that many folks related to during this time: Forever, Ya Girl by keiyaA. a sonic kinship often formed through discussions of this album, coupled with echoes of “YES, you get it. you get me.” keiyaA’s debut album celebrates its fifth anniversary today (3/27). i have it on cassette, which i played ahead of writing this piece.

Forever, Ya Girl ranks highly among my favorite albums from 2020, and i still cherish it deeply. keiyaA’s music kept me company during the lockdowns and remains prescient to today’s social climate. here’s what i wrote about the album back in 2021 for a newsletter feature called watch this space:

Chicago-born, New York-based artist keiyaA released a resonant album a year ago that could serve as a soundtrack to this current generation. Forever, Ya Girl is both the message and the salve in a moment where Black femmes are reclaiming and taking up space, telling the larger society as a whole: “I want my things!”

clocking in at right under 45 minutes, keiyaA’s self-produced debut features a mix of jazz, poetry, and perfectly timed samples, creating a sound that will demand repeat listens for years to come. i’ve been a fan of keiyaA since my college radio days where i’d play her Bandcamp singles all the time, so i’m ecstatic to see her profile rise.

i don’t think i could write a more succinct summary than this. but for an anniversary, this gorgeous album deserves to be explored in more depth. across 16 tracks, Forever, Ya Girl wears the traditions of Black American music (including jazz, R&B, gospel, and hip-hop) while forging a path all its own. in this way, i associate keiyaA with the modern Black Renaissance, and i’d place this album within the canon of Black feminist theory.

themes such as spirituality, sensuality, liberation, Afrofuturism, and self-empowerment abound on Forever, Ya Girl. as noted on her Bandcamp page, “[keiyaA] aims to center the narrative and intellect of the Black woman in the late-stage capitalist world.” this lens is evident across the album’s run, but it’s summed up pretty well by the following stream of consciousness on “I! Gits! Weary!”

Should I give up privacy so I can pay my rent?
Should I take a policy out on my tax-sponsored dissent?
Should I grow more green before I take another hit?
'Cause I gits weary on the regular
Should I speak up about the shit I'm dealing with?
It's like no matter what I try, I can't shake this feeling, yeah
Is it my spirit crying, or is it the psilocybin?
'Cause I can feel it on the regular

among many things, i love how Forever, Ya Girl plays seamlessly like a mixtape. the spoken word samples and archival film snippets provide beautiful transitions between songs. a clip from the 1974 film Space is the Place plays at the end of track 1 (“I Thot There Was One Wound in This House, There’s Two”). it’s the scene where Sun Ra (draped in his customary sparkly regalia) has just landed on Earth to recruit a group of inner-city youth to join him in space, and they are understandably skeptical. by contrast, i am delighted to go on the cosmic ride that Forever, Ya Girl invites us on because there’s so much to study and enjoy on this journey.

as the album progresses, Nina Simone’s voice plays at the end of “Rectifiya”¹ and continues into “Hvnli,” serving as another prominent reminder of keiyaA’s jazzy influences and philosophical outlook.

Everybody is half dead
Everybody avoids everybody

All over the place, in most situations, most all of the time
I know I'm one of those everybody

further on, “Every N***a is a Star” borrows from Boris Gardiner’s 1973 song of the same name, using the phrase as a refrain to punctuate keiyaA’s rhythmic flow. i should note that one of my favorite lyrics on the whole album appears on this track: “I'm a Leo, so I prefer to cook with high heat.” born under the same sun sign, it’s quite biographical for me.

i keep coming back to this concept of this album being both the message and the salve. this is true for the listener’s personal experience, but it’s also revealed throughout the album’s lyrical content. in the aforementioned verse from “I! Gits! Weary!,” keiyaA melodically explains how she’s affected by the issues of our time before telling us the medicine that brought about this introspection (“Is it my spirit crying, or is it the psilocybin?”). then on “F.W.U.,” she lyrically alchemizes the ebbs and flows of her inner monologue while emphasizing the importance of keeping the spliff in proper rotation.

I'm wrestled with conflicts, center on topics of liberation
I'm riddled with demons, it's time to release them once and for all
I'm dealing with burdens I never deserved, yet I'm responsible
The wheels gon' keep turnin' and I'ma keep burnin', so baby roll up

towards the end of the album, “Nu World Burdens” reinvokes that concept of weariness and envisions a society where Blackness is no longer relegated to oppression.

Can't you stand on your own?
Can't your work breathe its own life?
I can't wait to be alone
To be one with my blackest fire
'Cause we deserve to go home
And our souls will never be owned again
We can thrive on our own
And rid ourselves of these new world burdens

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i enjoyed revisiting this cassette as the weather warms up for spring. it plays the same audio on both sides, and the glistening textures of keiyaA’s production style really shine in this listening format. the tape was bundled with two stickers when i purchased it on Bandcamp. a yellow namesake sticker (in the same blocky typeface that stylizes her name on the album) lives on the back of my laptop, whereas the “SHE WANTS HER THINGS!” sticker has yet to be placed on something. i like having it as a memento without the commitment of sticking it somewhere permanently.

i’ve had the pleasure of seeing keiyaA perform live prior to this album’s release. the year was 2018, and she took the stage during a showcase that one of my cousins hosted in Brooklyn. it was one of the earliest days of my post-grad internship at Billboard, so school wasn’t that far from my mind and i told the artist how much i had played her music on my college radio show. i specifically kept the single “No Gravity” in frequent rotation, which loosely interpolated (and flipped) the chorus to “Rocket Science” by Joyce Wrice and Kay Franklin.² although keiyaA’s version is unavailable for streaming, the “No Gravity” mp3 remains in my personal library since i purchased it way back when.

keiyaA also performs and releases music under the alias dj cowriiie (credited separately as a producer in the liner notes). as her repertoire expands, i hope to attend another performance of hers in the future.

for those already familiar with Forever, Ya Girl, what’s your favorite track? and if you’re new to keiyaA’s music, i am delighted to put you on.

my favorite tracks: “Rectifiya,” “FWU,” “Nu World Burdens,” “I! Gits! Weary!,” “Hvnli.”

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honoring Corinne Bailey Rae’s debut album: 15 years later

1. a track co-produced by dj blackpower, also known as MIKE.

2. i played TF outta both songs, to be honest.