Memphis Music Feature: Lukah
Discover new music and get to the know the amazing people making that music with these I Love Memphis Music Features. Check out all the music feature here.
Discover new music and get to the know the amazing people making that music with these I Love Memphis Music Features. Check out all the music feature here.
Originally hailing from South Memphis, raised in a musical family, Lukah was “born with music in the bloodline, in the bloodstream.” He can trace his love for music even back to when he was just an 8 year old boy singing to Michael Jackson and Prince.
I sat down with Lukah to talk about how his inspirations and his music have shaped him, what he hopes for the future, and what makes Memphis special to him.
After beginning homeschooling around the age of 15, Lukah began spending a lot of downtime in the studio his mom built out in his attic. This was the catalyst to music becoming more than a hobby for him and rather a way of life. He and his friends often found themselves up in the attic to “create the vision.” Looking back now, Lukah sees that this was one of the best things that could’ve happened to him.
When I asked Lukah to describe his music style, rather than confining his music simply to a genre, he described it almost as an experience to be had. “Raw. Forceful. I like to say mind-changing. Not life-changing, but mindchanging. Some call it deep…Layered. Gritty. Truthful. Painful.” These words give a clear insight into why Lukah does what he does: to tell a story. Each of Lukah’s tracks can be a story that connects one song to the next. “I’m aiming to hit the soul of every listener listening. Every word, I want it to pierce. It’s very strategic and planned how I do everything. Every rhyme, every word…I just like to create and just be myself and let the people see what’s different.” It’s also invaluable to him that in the stories he’s telling, it’s clear to fans that he’s a MC that “cared about what he was saying on the wax, and cared about the people and the struggling, and cared enough to speak on it and stand up on it.”
He finds himself wanting to be an agent of change for those that will come after him. “I went against the grain for a purpose. It was for other people after me. If they ever get to see anything that I’ve done or anything that I’m doing, they can also go against the grain, be themselves, do whatever it is they love, and not have to fall victim to what the city makes you fall victim to.”
Two of those coming after him, in particular, would be his two young sons. Family is everything to him. He meditates on them to help keep him grounded, centered, and focused. “ My number one goal is to leave a blueprint for my boys because I know I won’t be here. And I want them to be able to continue to learn from me through music. I’m always in the mindstate of family…If I didn't have my wife, she’s a huge supporter, she’s the reason I’m able to move the way I move…Everything I do, y’all, is family.”
Lukah carries with him a desire to break the mold of style often found within the Memphis rap scene. He seeks to honor and still pay homage to the rap/hip-hop styles of old as he “came from that style, born and raised,” while also paving way for new sounds. Melding together a sound inspired by greats from across the board of Hip-Hop, Soul, and Jazz alike such as Project Pat, Nas, Aretha Franklin, and Thelonious Monk (just to name a few of the ones he has pictures of hanging in his studio), he never waivers from creating what he feels is best and what he loves. He never caves to whatever pressure there may be to create a particular sound.
When it comes to Memphis and the significance of the city in Lukah’s journey and life, it comes down to history, simply put. Memphis is the root of a lot of genres as we know them today. To know music, is to know Memphis. And to know Memphis, is to know music. To Lukah, that’s what makes Memphis so special. “This city is entrenched in history…music. You can hear it, you can taste it in the air when you come to the city…People want to come here because of that. They want to come here because of the soul, the history…the food…Hearing the music is like tasting the food in this city.” Lukah mentioned that he even had a friend visit the National Civil Rights museum and get inspired to write 10 beats after one visit.
He notes how important it is that our city has the first Black built and owned neighborhood in the country, Orange Mound. There’s also a beauty that he hopes kids today realize about being in a city with such a deep, complex story. It doesn’t take much to dig into it and learn more. “You can find the origin of this city and learn about the origin anywhere you go. Someone has a story about this city.” He urges young children or artists to know their history, especially their Hip-Hop history if they’re pursuing that avenue. It’s vital to widening the scopes of our future. “When you know where you come from, you can know where you’re going, and make the corrections on the route you’re traveling in the future.”
As far as the future of Memphis music goes, Memphis Hip-Hop in particular, Lukah wants to see us open our doors to all styles of music. He wants us to open the floodgates of Hip-Hop, letting anyone with any new sound or genre thrive in the Memphis music community. “A lot of the styles were taken from Memphis. So just imagine if we were to open up and let it flood with all forms of Hip-Hop. The future is crazy. It’s already dominating what it’s dominating right now. Imagine if we could dominate everything across the board.”
He’d also like to create a space for live Hip-Hop performances as there aren’t really any in the city right now. Of current Memphis venues, though, Lukah noted that Hi-Tone, 1884 Lounge at Minglewood, and Young Avenue Deli were among some of his favorites to perform at.
Lastly, Lukah gave some of his personal favorite Memphis-Must’s. To him, you haven’t been to Memphis if you haven’t been to:
Four Way Grill
STAX Museum of Soul Music
Royal Studios
Cozy Corner
“Come down here. It’s a beautiful space. Good food. Good people. Soul music, Blues, Rock n Roll, Hip-Hop. All of that is here, man, and that’s why the people come. And that’s why I think the people should continue to come. Because the music is going to keep growing. Memphis is going to keep growing musically and historically. Nothing’s going to change. It’s a mecca for music.”
As Lukah always says, “Peace and light.”
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