Interview by Nigel Jamal
What does your name, The Healacist, mean?
It has three meanings. The first is literally the combination of the healing lyricist. I see myself as a person that spits rhymes for the purpose of healing. Every rhyme that I write is for that purpose. The second one is Healacist like Heal a Sis, like heal a sister because I deal with women and girls. It’s kind of a play on words. The last one is to heal a cyst. In doing the work with women and girls I found that many of the root causes of a lot of issues start within the body and the womb. One of the things that show up in a woman’s body is a cyst, these tumors, are things that show up and when they go unaddressed can cause pain and turmoil in a woman’s life without her even knowing.
What’s your upcoming project about?
Rapffirmations is a short EP album. It came out of necessity from dealing with the pandemic. There were so many Mothers that I knew that when things went down with the pandemic, especially Mothers that worked, they were going crazy trying to figure out how do I do my mothering, do my work, and have private time while everyone is always at home. I think too, if people were already having issues and working through things that the pandemic illuminated that. People have affirmations that help them deal with things, but I figured sometimes they need a rhyme to it. Like… “I’m a multi-millionaire, I’m going to get there, if not today tomorrow I’ll get there”. It’s mantras in rhyme form, lyrical affirmations. The project also centers around grown ass woman experiences. As a part of the over 40 club, I felt it was important to make hip hop songs relevant to the experiences we’re going through.
You also do events. Do you have any events coming up?
I’m doing an event on Mother’s Day, May 9th, called “Mamaffirmations” which is a spin-off of the EP title. We’re also going to be talking about music and motherhood mental health all throughout the month of May. “Mamaffirmations” came from me doing these live in my living room concerts during the pandemic that I started on Mother’s Day of last year. We also did a documentary last year that was centered on hip hop and healing using my life as an example. Mothers have shared their stories and journeys with me and I’ve interpreted them for this show to do monologues, songs, and spoken word pieces to share as a healing experience on ways women, especially mothers, can be proactive in their improvement in mental health.
How can people connect with the details throughout the month?
I’ll be going live on Instagram @thehealacist. I’ll be sharing stories weekly throughout the month of May to talk about motherhood and mental health awareness to explain why we need to focus on it seriously.
When does the Rapffirmations project come out?
It comes out in waves. The first part comes out on Mother’s Day. On Mother’s Day I’m dropping “Girl Get Up”, which is the signature song on Rapffirmations. The music video and the song will be released on that day. At the end of the month, on May 31st, the full EP will be available.
Do you have any words of encouragement for other artists working to make it in this business of music?
Stay true to what you want out of the art. Whatever you see for yourself, stay true to that. I tell people all the time that I describe myself as the hip hop Oprah or the hip hop Iyanla Vanzant and there is no real title for what I do. It’s like I’m a performing arts public speaker. We’re seeing more and more people who are becoming successful by being their authentic selves. Of course, you have to be dope, too. Also, know your lane. I have a unique way of using words in rhyme form that people gravitate to and that is my talent so I stay true to my talent and my lane. The other thing I would say is to be humble enough and have enough hustle to hire people. One of my issues has been trying to handle too many things that I’m not talented in. It’s best to pay people that are talented in that particular area of business. It’s true what people say about keeping smart people around you.