Fifteen years strong — and the Young Leaders stay ready. The 15th Annual Salute to Young Leaders went down last Thursday – it was absolutely on brand as far as how The St. Louis American Foundation celebrates the emerging and current changemakers. I could list them all, but I’m short on space. Be sure to hit up stlamerican.com if you haven’t already to read their stories in the special tabloid dedicated to them that dropped last week. Now let’s get to the lewks (yes, I said lewks). Mistress of ceremonies and KSDK baddie Melanie Johnson must have said to herself, “Y’all can be corporate if you want to, but I’ll be up in the Four Seasons as the Black Jayne Mansfield – and y’all are gonna love it.” And we absolutely did. For some reason, most of my favorite ensembles from this year’s cohort were outside the box as far as business attire. Carrie Henderson, girl did that orange ensemble come in an XXL? Frizzy By Nature co-founder Leslie Hughes had a chokehold on me with that cute little dress. The fellas were looking nice too. If I’m picking a best dressed, Virgil Pearson is the one. That plaid was quite pleasing to see. Congrats to this year’s group. You rightfully rest among some amazing company with respect to the more than 300 folks with the same distinction that have had a solid hand in helping make St. Louis the best it can be. Oh, and did I mention the after party produced by Morgan Casey and ‘nem was on hit?!
Rappers-turned-saingas at City Winery. I had a few things on my bingo card when I perched up in City Winery to check out Murphy Lee and Kyjuan Friday night. Seeing some veterans in the STL hip hop game get their croon on was absolutely not on it! I know y’all have heard me talk about Ruka Puff plenty of times in all my years of beating these streets. I even let y’all know when he transformed into Zeus Rebel Waters. Welp, I’m here to let y’all know today that he has flipped the script all the way left and is now singing country music. The gag is that I didn’t hate it. I was perplexed at first, but then I thought, “Why not?” I’m mean, it was Nelly who revolutionized the country-hip hop connection. Zeus is clearly claiming next for STL – and dressing for the OK Corral. After him, Rhoda G gave us some sax magic. if I didn’t know the identity of both her parents, I would swear she is half Bajau. Those are the tribe of Southeast Asians who can hold their breath underwater for as long as they feel like it. And Rhoda played that note for as long as it would take them to get to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean and back up when she played with Da Skwaad. And speaking of Da Skwaad, of the band’s lead singers is raptress formerly known as Chocolate Tai! Girl, I did not know you could blow like that! You and Marvin sounded goodt (yes, with a “t”)! And your playlist was giving the 70s and 80s babies all we needed to make it through. I wish I hadn’t had to wait so long for Murph and Kyweezy to hit the stage, but the features were featuring! That includes Seviin Li and Jovan Bibbs too. And when Murph hit the stage, can you guess what he did? Yep. He was singing his heart out. He didn’t commit to a whole set of songs – or even a whole song. By the time I settled into being confused why one of the top STL MCs to ever do it was giving his best audition for “The Voice,” he jumped into his hip hop bag. I recalibrated just as quickly and was rhyming along to every single word.
Serving moves at the 35th St. Louis African Arts Festival. It goes without saying that I had to show support for Ms. Cynthia Crosby and her crew of faithful organizers’ return of the St. Louis Arts Festival after that tornado tore Forest Park up last year . They did that! Listen, it looked like it was St. Louis Senegal, instead of St. Louis, Missouri. I had an absolute time, but I left with a burning question. Did all the people who usually go as spectators secretly decide to practice all year for its 2026 return? I felt like the only one in the whole festival who couldn’t just kick my flip flops of and gag everybody with a fully choreographed African dance combo to whatever beat the drummers were serving up. I ain’t playin’. I saw one woman randomly eating her oxtail plate from FuFu ‘n Sauce. She heard a beat she liked, sat her plate down and had me ready to link her up with Eddie Murphy to choreograph a wedding dance sequence if he decides to do a Coming to American 3?” For real, she even flung her flats off to the beat! Help! And that Haitian processional was everything. That’s alright, I’m gonna have y’all ready to tuck y’all little African kick-ball-change set in for 2027. Heather Beal and Diadie Bathily, come to the front. I’m going to make y’all an offer you can’t refuse. Heather, you have 11 months and 22 days to teach me everything about the Dunham Technique. That means moves and vocal sound effects. Diadie, give me everything you got from West Africa – and that means the drums too. Class will not be over until I am transformed into a one-woman African drumming and dancing machine.
A whole skate party under the Arch. Another surprise for me this weekend was stopping by the Arch to partake in the Gateway Arch Park Foundation’s inaugural Rollin’ on the River skate party that took place Memorial Day Weekend. Y’all the last time I was perched to get my “Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll” on like that, I was sneaking into Aloha and The Palace. And while I’m committing to practicing my African dance technique, I’m going to have to go on ahead and book some sessions at Skate City to be ready if Rollin’ on the River comes back next year. Either that or smuggle one of those rolling training walkers Skate City has for the kids and toddlers to use so they aren’t flopping all over the rink. I almost ate that concrete too many times to count. And even with my near death skating experiences, I still had a ball!