We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Asha Omega a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Asha , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Do you wish you had started sooner?

If I could go back in time, I wouldn’t change a thing. The years I spent being a student of the craft too afraid to share my gift, watching my peers take the Chicago rap scene by storm, lit a fire in me that I didn’t know what to do with. I sat in open mic after open mic watching some of the greatest rappers, singers, poets, and whatnot leave their mark on every single person in a room. I knew after years of writing poetry, short stories, hiding inn plain sight, that I had earned the right to take up space. And from there I went to Clark Atlanta University as an honors program student, where I effectively wasted student loans from the government to make art in their studio library with my homegirl Ocean Baileux. When I finally went back home, I joined Emcee Skool, a 6 month artist development program that led to year of community work, activations, teaching in schools on the west and south side of Chicago – my understanding of music, its power, and what it can do on a macro + micro level shifted entirely. A little while later when I branched off and decided to dedicate my time to being a recording and performing artist, all of those lessons I’d learned throughout those times are what make my work so personal and impactful now. The tears shed, the illusion of “time” being wasted, the heartaches and dead-end jobs, all are key to where I am now. My ego may say, “I wish I started earlier,” but I know that I’ve been rapping since.. I knew that I could. The only thing that changed for me was my intentions, me standing in my purpose, and the lessons that have formed me into the human, woman, rapper, cousin, friend, peer, I am today.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m Asha Omega, an emcee, recording artist, curator (when I have capacity), and Aquarius born in Harvey, IL (a South Suburb of Chicago) and raised all over the south side. Music has always been a pillar in my life with roots in House music, R&B, and Rap with artists such as Beyoncé, Lauryn Hill, Jill Scott, Britney Spears, Yasiin Bey, Nelly Furtado, Missy Elliot, and the list goes on. I fell in love with writing as a child in English classes, finding peace in writing short stories, essays, reading novels, and writing poetry. It blossomed into a relationship with Hip-Hop in my teenage years, but I decided to dedicate my life to expressing myself via rhythm and poetry at 18. Within the 9 years of being of service in this craft, I have learned so much and been able to connect with so many different people because of it. It’s the reason I wake up every morning excited to get the day started because I know it’s something bigger than me working at and.

Music is a tool I use to transmute emotion, moments in time, and motifs through frequency and language. Music is one of the most powerful instruments in the universe and I am extremely lucky to be able to use the gift in such a an impactful way. I feel such a beautiful camaraderie amongst the talent that exists in the realm of Hip-Hop, especially Chicago (iykyk). We are such an expansive constellation with such a diverse wealth of talent, and being a part of something so much bigger than just me is so beautiful.

As of recent, I’m most proud of being blessed with the opportunity to open up for Coast Contra at the legendary venue — The Promontory! What made this blessing even more special was the fact that I was able to share it with people near and dear to my heart; JazStarr, M.V.T.E., Inga M., Prince Drive, Achillez, MobeeThicc, GQ The Teacha, Victoria Boating, Rikkie Khrist, and so many others! This moment was such an impact catalyst for myself as I enter my Saturn Return at the age of 27, I believe there’s a shift happening within music that I’m excited to see come into fruition as it’s happening within for me,

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

The mission is always rooted in building community within each other, and that’s something I’ve been soooo fortunate in finding in my journey. The amount of diverse perspectives and experiences other than my own add so much value my life and our communities. I use my music as a therapy to express and speak life into myself in those around me and those who listens. I want to be a personal affirmation deck to be played whenever you need a certain vibe to bring you back to your feet, or when you need to drop to your knees and weep. The human experience and spectrums are so vast and complex it can be difficult to process, and for myself, I use lyrics as a conduit to change my situation, my mindset, and environment, my everything — and it has. It is my personal “magic” and I want people to be able to use the music to do the same thing.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson I had to unlearn is the idea of following perfection to the point of procrastination. In the past, I would wait and wait and wait and cook and cook and cook to the point of losing momentum, capacity, as well as will following the idea of perfection. I wanted to produce industry standard music when it came to audio quality and at times I sat on songs for YEARS to the point of never releasing it at all (until this year), but I did not have access to those resources and at that point – how would I even get there if I didn’t try?! So I released it into the ether and I let it do whatever it needed to do. Yes, we should have integrity and intention about the quality of art we release, but being waiting to the point of not moving at all doesn’t do us any good. And my life has changed so much because I decided that it was enough — I was enough and that the art would shine through and people would feel me, And that’s something that I value deeply.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ashaomega.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theashaomega/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ashaomega

Image Credits

PAUL ARAKI ELLIOT
NAJM MUHAMMAD
RIKKIE KHRIST