09/06/2026
They say "Never meet your heores".
My 1st time meeting Cassandra Wilson in person was 1997. Crooked Lettaz was recording songs that would eventually become the Grey Skies album at Terminal Studios in Ridgeland.
One of her representatives pulled up to the studio in the middle of our session and explained to us that Cassandra needed to get in the studio immediately to record something for a big project. It was an "emergency" and they were willing to pay for our studio time and compensate us for the inconvenience.
Now, me being me, my first reaction was "Hell naw"! It didnt matter to me who it was. Our time was OUR time. WE were Crooked Lettaz and our time was to be respected. We were at a stalemate.
After a few minutes passed, Cassandra walked in. Of course I knew who she was. Her name loomed large as one of the artists who had made it to the worldwide stage from Jackson, MS. Didnt matter to me though. In our business, if you let someone "lil boy" you once, word would spread that youre a pushover.
But she disarmed us with her charm.
She spoke to us about the music business. We connected through Jackson. The people we both knew. The places we frequented. The schools. All of it. I found out she was my soror...an AKA. My demeanor softened. Next thing you know, we willingly gave up our studio time (and we got reimbursed for it).
That was the beginning of a professional relationship birthed out of mutual respect and love for music and Jackson. Anytime we saw each other it was love. When she opened The Yellow Scarf, it was a throwback to the venues I remembered coming up. A place designed exclusively for music lovers to see live performances. It was something Jackson sorely needed. At that time, Cassandra was the epitome of "giving back" to the city. Investing her money, time, and celebrity to help advance our music community.
When I got word that she had passed, I was prepared to offer my tribute and my story. But as condolences were pouring in from all across the world, so were the posts about her being "MAGA".
I had no idea.
Granted I didnt follow her on socials. So I missed all of the tweets and posts. I had to go back and see for myself. Confident that I wouldnt find anything. Surely these folks were just exacerbating some urban myth created during Covid. Folks were bored during the pandemic right?
But they weren't making it up.
The tweets were real.
I dived deeper.
And I dont think Ive ever been so disappointed...and disgusted...in someone that I looked up to and respected ever in my life. Man, it hurt. Someone who had always showered me love...who had loved on all of us through her music...turned her back on us.
I ran through all the contingencies.
Maybe she had contracted Covid and this was brain fog.
Maybe she was hacked.
Maybe these were the ramblings of a social media manager who started tweeting unchecked.
I thought of every possible scenario. But the more I dug, the more I found.
A wise man once said "If you dont love the people, you will betray the people". And ANY Black person who aligns themselves with a movement designed to oppress us DOESNT LOVE US! I dont care who it is. You can never justify aligning with racists. I dont know what happened to influence her shift. And now I dont care.
Anti-Blackness in any form is not honorable. It is an abomination.
Like Kiese Laymon said "Some of our heroes loved us to the end. Some did not".
Unfortunately, I cant seperate the art from whats in the heart.
It is what it is.
(SEE KIESE'S POST IN THE COMMENTS)
