Google defines Luxury as “the stateof great comfort and extravagant living.” Y’all know.. Luxe. Opulence. Decadence. Dripping. Lavish-ery. Life style goals. ~Aesthetics~ & all that jazz. We’re so well versed in the art of luxury. Every musician, rapper, entrepreneur and your local Instagram homie/honey can all tell you what to need to have a luxurious life and the way this nation’s culture is set up … that’s all a part of the American Dream, to have more than the next person and honestly, I’m not knocking it. It’s all facts. This world has become extremely materialistic. Everything is a stunt, and while y’all figuring out different ways to “shit on niggas/bitches” the world’s splendors are passing you by. I’m not here to manage what y’all do with your money but I’ve always thought luxury was something more than the plush rugs, mink furs and golds all in your watch. Luxury is time, it’s a commodity unlike any other. Luxury is a beautifully underrated concept and with its twisted definition in today’s world … It’s hard to see outside that limited box. It’s not only time it’s a beautiful emotional release. It is moments, in all of their elegance. A luxurious moment to me is evenings spent with my family, laughing and reminiscing about good times. Quiet moments with God. It’s top-down weather. Off-days from work and school. Its intimate moments with friends. Secrets whispered in the wee hours of the morning. Adventures. Child-like moments. A good cup of coffee. Wind in your fucking hair. Something that makes you feel alive. The type of shit that gets your blood rushing and forcing that pulse to beat. So much more than just a lifestyle (word to Young Thug). Luxury to me, is freedom. Freedom from the confines of society, expectations and responsibilities if only for a miniscule moment (because that’s how long good things seem to last nowadays anyway). The word deserves a redefinition and reconfiguration. It desires to be modified and made modest. It yearns for simplicity, humility that is like the whispers of lullabies in the middle of July … Happiness. Bliss. Lifted weight. It is to be imprudently in love with your life. That’s the lap of luxury to me.
H, xo.
snapchat - hodaxo.
Jesse Boykins III -- A coffee talk feature.
“Ya hotter than a New York summer in a Spike Lee movie…”
R&B for me has been a genre that I have loved and built upon since my youth but music nowadays has locked love that away for me. With artists like Frank Ocean and The Weeknd making their way onto the scene a couple years ago, what was considered R&B for me changed. I’ve always been into alternative music that kind of breaks outside of our traditional genre’s sort of like what the aforementioned artists have created, but y’all.. lawd.. Jesse Boykins III has switched it up for me completely.
With his soulful and serene voice, coming in with powerful and well-timed, immaculately formed runs that just about take his already amazing lyrics to an entire ‘nother level.. It’s a wonder why I haven’t stumbled on to his work earlier in life. This Brooklyn based brother, hailing from from the Chi has been creating EP’s since way back in ‘08. The Beauty Created,my favorite to be exact consist of cult favs like “Amorous” and “Come to My Room” - which shows his first trip and nomination at the 2010 Soul Train Awards He has also covered “Prototype” by the great Andre 3000 and turned it into a mini-movie which you can watch (and fall in love with) here.
Jesse’s music sets the tone for this trippy-dippy yet soulful listening experience that I have yet to see, especially as of late. With his influences listed from men such as D’Angelo & Maxwell (two of my favorite R&B artists, ever), it’s a no brain-er that he’s been on heavy, heavy rotation. There’s something about the vibe of his music that takes me somewhere; somewhere that burns incense, and has me feelin’ like I should be rockin’ waist-beads and anklet’s and have my hair picked out while dancing in the meadows — and I mean this in the sincerest way possible— his music is truly, hauntingly and deeply beautiful. Timeless, is the best way to describe the feel created from him and his all black band of brothas, it’s no secret that this man has soul but he demonstrates, so skillfully you would think it’s effortless, how the music he creates permeates the shell of how R&B is culturally considered and creates it’s own lane, without ever straying too far from it’s true home.
On my favorite song, “Come to my Room”, we hear an innocent plea of Jesse coaxing his will-be suitor to simply, come to his room. The grounded sense of his lyrics will have you thinking it’s an easy going kind of song till you catch a moment, where you gotta run it back like “oh shit, this dude is smoothhhhhh.” And that is what I love most about Boykins, you get these easy going tracks with what seem to be elementary musings of love, till he bellows a, “You willl seeeeee, lyingggggg nexttttttttttttt to meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee ohhhhhhhhh!” and you’re left floored. Breathless. Astounded.
Look, I may have gotten a little excited in this post, but I’m telling you, Jesse Boykins is a name you’ll want to remember and these albums will be played for a very long time, some of these tracks have even made my infamous “Wedding Songs” playlist, next to hits by Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke and Stevie Wonder. So, with all of that being said, Jesse Boykins’ career seems to be booming and I am glad to see the recognition he is getting is more than well deserved. Keep an eye out for his Love Apparatus LP which is set to drop some time this year. There’s nothing that touches the soul and helps maintain balance than some damn good R&B song. Nothing like it and Jesse Boykins’ love movement is making sure we don’t miss a beat — Literally.
xo,
Hoda.
Track his success here:
love letter to the men who couldn't get her —
hey you, yes you. remember me? the girl who kept you up so late at night probably because all of your phone calls were made so late at night. yes, me the one who came and brought you food and gifts to your house, came saw you when you were sick? remember her? The one who listened to you gripe and complain about your ex, telling me she was crazy and how she had an attitude problem and how you like me so much because i’m so different. yes me, i’m writing you to tell you that our waters were troubled before we stepped in, in case you didn’t know. she would call and text you and you would swear that it’s nothing and that you’re in the situation with me to grow. those waters that left me high and dry many a nights, debating if i should call to question your whereabouts, did I even have that right? better yet, did i even stand a chance? because the second she came around, it’s like i was tossed out. made no sense to me, i was raised to be strong, resilient and to never take no shit from anyone, especially not no man, but i somehow ended up being the seat-filler for your past. and no don’t try and give me that “you get what you allow” bullshit because when you fall in love, you don’t ask for it. you don’t ask to be treated as a second-rate lover when all the while you were number one in my life. this wasn’t a love of permission, nope. i cared so much that i ended up getting hurt. all the soft shit aside, was it because she screamed at you louder than i? or maybe it’s because she was hitting your phone up non stop? and i beg the question, how in the world did her birthday end up as the password to your phone while i’m laying next to you? how did you end up at her family gathering and i’m waiting for a call? too many questions, i’ll let this all simmer. just take a deep breath, understand that i don’t regret a thing because i loved you fully and deeply, and here i am, woman enough to admit you are a fuck up. i didn’t stand a chance huh? i bet. i thought love was supposed to ignite carnal instincts in people, the hunt. supposed to make you want one person and when you find them that’s it. why didn’t you just choose her? better yet, why the fuck did you choose me while you still loved her? sorry, i know i promised no more questions but did you think that just because i laughed at all your jokes i wouldn’t wise up to your immature ass methodologically way of loving someone? i finally did.
with love,
Hoda xo.
curlzgonewild 🌀
soul2soul.
let us get down to the nitty gritty, the dirt dust and rime. the rust around your mind, let’s spice things up a bit. let me pull apart your mind. let me caress your thoughts with my metaphorical tongue, or my actual one - whichever moves first. let me smooth your edges with my very hands and wring you out to dry after i drench you in my mental love-making – you see, the art of conversation, true genuine soul to soul interaction has not only dwindled i am more than certain extinct, but let’s revive it baby. let’s talk and leave our inhibitions on the kitchen sink. let me travel in and out.. and in and out of your secrets, let me know you. get intimate with your past, present and future alike. i want to know about how when you got your first bike without training wheels, you sped down a hill and have never felt as free as you did then. tell me how you stay up late at night and think about the woman you will one day call your wife and how she will make you breakfast while you are still sound a sleep and how you already love her. tell me how you still hurt because you never knew your father even though he lived with you and you siblings, and how it hurt you in middle school to go to the sock hop alone. let me know all of these thoughts, let me open doors and travel through the many corridors of your mental..