Today we’d like to introduce you to Mekter.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
My story from the beginning has been shaped by mental health issues. My parents split up before I was born mostly because of my father’s illnesses. Honestly there is a lot more to my childhood, but I do not quite know what to make of it at the moment.
The part that really matters now is that I fell in love with music and learned to play a ton of instruments as a kid. I started playing drums at age 7. I taught myself to read music and a ton of instruments after I started drums. Then I was lucky to have a few phenomenal music teachers in high school to help me with drums and music theory.
I went to undergraduate school in upstate New York at SUNY Albany. I was honestly only there because I thought that’s what you did after high school. Even though I was a music major I was bored in most of my classes doing theory and history of European music.
In 2013, right before my last year of college I got injured and I had surgery on my wrist. That surgery drastically changed my musical path. I could not play any of my instruments for an incredibly long time. To try and combat my lack of creative stimulation, I began really working on DJing and producing music. I already tried a few things with logic and I had messed around with my brother-in-law, DJ Deliver’s CDJs as a teenager. But that was the first time I showed anyone anything I could do musically.
For the next six years I focused on producing and DJing. It was fun and I developed a lot as an artist and a person during this time. This time confirmed that I am going to be an artist forever. During this whole time my own diagnosis of bipolar disorder was disrupting basically everything in my life from finances to relationships. Honestly this period of time had so many unique experiences that gave me the inspiration for the music I create and the shows I run.
In 2019, I started working on music with Maxo Pardo, an artist out of Chicago. We were both living in Boston and doing service with Americorps to help students in Boston Public Schools. In February that year he sent me a beat that he needed something written for. I started writing music around 2008 so even though I had never written a rap song, I was really confident in myself. So, I wrote the song when I was on break at work and when I showed him the rap, he thought I should do it myself.
So, I listened to his advice and started rapping. That song became “One Take Flow.” Maybe 6 weeks later, Maxo Pardo helped me start running the Polar Harmony Foundation events when we were roommates in Boston. These shows were the topic of my graduate final project for Full Sail University. Like with a lot of business schools, you do not write a thesis you create a business plan. My plan for Polar Harmony was to use music events to help create tangible positive change in the world. This felt particularly important as someone who has been looked over, disrespected and discriminated against for both the color of my skin and my diagnosis as someone with mental illness. As sad as it is to say I am used to racism. I have known I was black my whole life and so has everyone else. I did not have a diagnosis until I was 21 years old. I was not used to people I knew and trusted not believing what I said, calling me lazy or abandoning me because it seemed like I would be depressed for the rest of my life.
So, I moved to Los Angeles towards the end of May in 2019 without knowing a single person, having a job or place to live. On top of it all, I never set foot in the state outside of a layover on a high school trip. It has been hard being out here. The thing is although my move here was the result of a manic episode, I love my life now. I value my life now and I think it’s worth living. I don’t think I have been able to say all of that with certainty since I was about 16. until I moved to California at 26. Things still aren’t perfect but I am making progress professionally, creatively and emotionally.
Please tell us about your art.
I make music. It is mostly hip hop right now, but I have made all types of music. I am a multi-instrumentalist, rapper, singer, producer and songwriter.
Writing is my best coping mechanism for dealing with more complex thoughts and feelings. Playing instruments and making beats feels like I am creating the scenery and world for these thoughts to exist in.
I feel like, as many of us do, I put on a good front. I have and continue to manage a hectic professional and personal life, despite a lot of chaos. The reaction I typically get about me going through repeated hospitalizations and mental breakdowns is that I “don’t look like it,” or that I “look so normal.” The thing is I look normal because having mental illness is normal.
I recognize my specific case is more intense than a lot of people, but at least 1 in 5 people in the United States deal with mental health issues at some point. I want people to understand its normal. I want people to stop being afraid of it. I want people to stop leaving people they claimed to love unconditionally because of a label. I don’t think that stigma goes away unless things are openly spoken about. So, if I want a change in the dialogue surrounding mental health then I feel like I should be a part of that process.
I also want people to know that what I am saying is true. Yes, I take artistic license to edit the story and I obviously omit certain parts. However, these are from real experiences. I want people to know that and understand they are not the only one that goes through some of those things.
Given everything that is going on in the world today, do you think the role of artists has changed? How do local, national or international events and issues affect your art?
I do not know that the role of artists has changed much. I think art has always addressed issues in society. The difference may be from how connected everyone is. I know that I talk about a lot of culturally relevant things in my music. So, when I do see that there are things going on related to topics, I care about I try to include them in my work and advocate for positive change.
I realize that I am using the phrase “positive change” a lot. But I think that people who want society to stay the same because its good try and fall on the fact that not all change is good. That is 100% correct. There are bad changes that do happen in society. However, that’s not what I’m doing. That’s not what I’m focusing on. Last year I was teaching in a middle school, I grew up teaching martial arts and still have a relationship with that school. I have nieces and nephews I care about very much and would like to grow up to be the best people they can. I would like to set a good example for all of them on how I act as a person.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
I have an album I released on December 13th, 2019 called “Terminator.” It is on all major streaming platforms.
The other thing I focus on are the Polar Harmony Foundation shows I run with Alex Parker. I think we are doing great work giving artists a platform as well as helping people suffering from homelessness with the donations we collect. We have a Mardi Gras themed show coming up on February 25th at the Arc in DTLA at 8PM. We also have our First Saturday Showcase at Sabor Y Cultura on March 7th at 5PM. In March our lineup is exclusively women, femme and non-binary identifying people. We always post the flyers on the organization’s Instagram, @polarharmony, as well as my own, @justmekter.
If you were interested in performing as a music feature at one of our shows or wanted to help us in our mission, sending a DM or email to [email protected] is the best way to make that happen. Every music feature at our shows gets 30 minutes to perform and they don’t pay us anything. The people that already come and support what we do are really engaged and supportive during everyone’s sets whether it is a pop singer-songwriter or a rapper with a dirty south vibe.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.polarharmony.org
- Phone: 213-915-4493
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: instagram.com/justmekter
- Facebook: facebook.com/justmekter
Image Credit:
Alex Parker, Dan Sullivan, Theo Maulen, Dylan O’Keefe
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
