We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Blyke_Love a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Blyke_Love, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you recount a story of an unexpected problem you’ve faced along the way?
One unexpected issue we ran into was back in 2016. We were performing with a live band named 7th High, as Special Guest Performers for a open mic contest, at a venue called “Iconz” in our hometown (Albany, Ga), and for some reason the sound decides to go out in the middle of our performance. We kept performing, & even freestyled during the time that they were working on the sound! What would normally put a hold on a show or cause a cricket moment actually amped our show up even more than what we were already doing because it was unexpected & we kept giving them a show. So that was a happy unexpected problem that worked itself out for us. Glad that was caught on camera. That was a dope night. Funny thing is, somehow the judges didn’t know we were Special Guest Performers & thought we were competing, & chose us to be the winners of that showcase until they were told we weren’t in the competition. Lol!
Blyke_Love, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
We are a Hip-Hop Soul group called “Blyke_Love” from Albany, Ga. Our group consist of Hip-hop Recording Artist/Songwriter “Sifu Jo3” & Soulful Singer/Songwriter “Briley”. We are also Life Partners who have been together for 8 yrs, & manage multiple businesses together as well. Our company “L.A.M.E.” (Living As Me Everyday) is our Parent company/Merch brand. Our other companies are our Independent Record Label “Egypt of America Music”, our Spoken Arts Open Mic/Collective “L.A.M.E. Voices” with Chris Jenkins of “See the ViZion”, & Sifu Jo3 owns a Recording Studio called “The Suthern Air Temple”. Between all of our companies, we offer services ranging from Promo, Entertainment, Event Production, Recording, Mixing/Mastering, Music Production, Songwriting, & Features. Our products as of now are our music, & merch (t-shirts, hats, etc). We’re here to help make other ppl’s lives better, so everything we do is done in that spirit, with that intention, even when we don’t know it ourselves. On our podcast “L.A.M.E. Shit, Different Day” we try to help ppl make sense of the world around us, & within us, by sharing our experiences, thoughts, feelings, lessons learned, & often times, our hangups, in hopes that someone will take something positive from it, &/or better themselves with it. Our music is similar in the sense that we create music that speaks to social issues like our song “The B.O.B. Challenge” where we discuss what’s coming between black love amongst black ppl, as well as reminding black ppl that we are a village, & black men & women need each other for the betterment of black ppl as a whole, to save the village. We also have songs about love, sex with someone you love, Juneteenth, the struggle of balancing the grind/getting money & self-care/love. We talk about a lot in our music, & that’s part of what makes us stand out. We’re genuine when you see/hear us, & we are saying things that aren’t commonly said in our industry. We are representing & showing black love in a different light, off & on record. Briley isn’t half-naked, & flaunting her body for attention, & Sifu isn’t trapping, & projecting toxic masculinity for the sake of his ego. We also aren’t throwing ourselves at each other for ppl’s entertainment. Lol! Blyke_love is a group that represents & embodies real black love, in all it’s different flavors, & we’re using our platforms to help figure out what is coming between not only black love, but love period, amongst all ppl, while simultaneously trying to pour more love into the world with our art, & businesses.. We’re here for the sake of love. We’re proud of that. We’re proud to represent Albany, Ga the way we do. We’re proud to represent our families the way we do. & we’re thankful that God is using us the way God’s using us. We don’t take this responsibility lightly, & we realize we’re blessed to be able to do what we love, & share it with ppl that love it, too.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
Briley: The most simple, cheapest thing anyone can do is be word of mouth. Spread the word of our works, whether it be an event, performance, newly released music, merch, or a new art piece. Be expressive about what you actually like. It doesn’t just stop at spreading the word, because actions does speak louder than words, so attending the events is always great lol. It creates the chain of supply and demand, we can keep giving you what you like if you show that you like it. We like when people show us that you like something that we have put time, energy, passion, and sometimes tears into. It help keeps us going. if society chooses not to be afraid to see and experience what’s new, it would definitely open a lot of lanes for artists/creatives, because for some artists, we feel boxed in trying to create something that really resonates with us but also to the masses, and even more boxed in when society gives little feedback or pushes us back when we try something new. Allowing the space for creativity is beneficial to us all, even the not so creative or artsy people because you never know what could be created that could benefit the masses in ways that we can’t imagine. If it wasn’t for creativity most of the things we utilize today we would not be using.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
Sifu Jo3: I create because I have life, & was called to give life, & creating, whether it’s a kid, or kick patterns, is a form of giving life to me. Whatever we create is a transference of our life energy that’s been transmuted into another form, in our case, music, podcast, events, etc. At this point, the mission hasn’t changed as far as making something meaningful, & making something that says something that needs to be said. I definitely don’t wanna regurgitate what anyone else is saying, & doing. I’m here to bring something fresh, in my own way. I’m here to be me. I create to connect, whether with myself, or someone else. I create to serve God. I don’t make Christian Rap but I’m serious about God, & God matters to me. God is everything to me. So my goal is to ALWAYS bring God in whatever I do. Even if i use profanity there’s still God in it. Not in the profanity but in the message, or in the inspiration. I’m also driven by the desire to get better at my craft. I rap every day. Writing, freestyling, whatever. Just working my creative muscles mentally. As of now, my goal is to continuing building a life I’m proud of. Building something that’ll make our future kids lives better, & help the lives of other ppl. However God wants to use me to do that, I’m here for it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://blyke.love
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/blyke_love
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/blyke.love
- Twitter: http://twitter.com/blyke_love
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/blykelove
- Other: https://linktr.ee/blyke_love
Image Credits
Carlo Johnson Robert Morris