How The Crockpot was saved with a #touchandagree in the Forest

Today I was going through my phone trying to erase photos and videos to have more storage space and I came across this one video clip that I probably will never erase off of my phone. (Check my IG @melanesia_ ) This 15sec video only reminds me of the POWER that each of us as gods hold within us, and it only constantly reminds me how powerful we can be when we come together and focus our energy on whatever it is that we want.

I guess I’ll get straight to the story….. well…. kinda… we’ll start with the backstory… so much is connected…and I write like I talk so stay with me lol

{The Backstory}

For the past few years I have been blessed to meet and establish relationships with some of the most iconic spirits, musicians, singers, and creatives in the world…..and what I noticed about all of us is that we are all talented beyond belief… but we are all so very humble …..to a fault almost… because although we’ve always know we were “IT” … none of us really ever promoted ourselves or our gifts the way we could have or should have…until now that is….

We all seemed to shy away from the spotlight so to speak. Looking back I see it was because being in the spotlight was never our mission. We are all so passionate about our gifts. We did things because we loved it…the money always seemed to be the last focus …so many of us were happy as hell creatively …and struggling financially. And it’s so funny because it’s like none of us really cared. We just hung out with each other and dreamed out loud. There were so many times where I would be at home depressed about not having money or some shit and Keenan and Jairus (The Kompoerse) would come to my house to kick it…and we would laugh, I would cook soul food in exchange for guitar lessons, we would talk about the type of shit we would want to do in a perfect world… and just like that…. I would be pulled out of my depression without even realizing what was happening. When we all was on the Lil Wayne tours… I would always find myself on their bus…or kicking it with them… we all had these lights that just drew us to each other. We inspired each other without even trying.

I would have these same types of convos and experiences with Sabi and her sister Brittany all the time. We would all be sitting on the floor…chilling in my house …. dreaming out loud. Sabi would play me incredible music that was infused with this beautiful energy…. and I used to be so in awe because it was like geesh…. I wish people had the opportunity to see what I see and hear what I hear.

I remember my bday last year was a little blah for me… I was in a bad mood and I got this phone call from Tim and Josh (Bobby Church) to come hang out at the studio since I wasn’t doing shit. …. and once again…like magic…. whatever was wrong with my ass…. it just went away when the music started playing.

When I think about it all…..It’s been like meeting a bunch of other X-Men for the 1st time after going though life thinking you were the weirdo and there was nobody else out there that thought like you or felt the same things you felt.

Now…. I just gave you all the back story so you can understand how my brain has been turning over the years…. Let’s just say this shit has been slow cooking for over 4 years now…. and Dec. 1st was my 1st attempt at creating OUR perfect world… for us…and people like us. We called it The Crockpot. Because clearly we all have been simmering and slow cooking for a longgggg long time.

I wanted to create something that could highlight and showcase these “X-Men” in my life. I wanted people to be able to see them the way I see them… as music Icons and Legends. All it takes is for someone to witness one of us in action once! I knew that I had to create that perfect environment for us…. with no outside “industry” influences, and no political bullshit. I knew that as long as I was able to maintain creative control… I would always make sure that the true essence of my event stayed alive. It’s some feel good shit, reminds me of being in the south at my family reunions…the music, the love, the laughter, and the soul food!! And this is why The Crockpot is not like any other live music event in LA… hell anywhere for that matter! It’s not about none of that trendy, customer bullshit. Our motto is to ‘Starve the Ego, Feed the Soul.” and that’s exactly what we’re doing.

{The Story}

Now keep in mind just because someone is talented… doesn’t mean they are popular, have a name, or will draw a crowd. And keep in mind that 9 times out of 10…. sponsors don’t give AF about no damn talent… if the names aren’t easily recognizable or won’t draw a huge crowd…they not giving you the coin… which led to and still leads to some of my many meltdowns tryna get this shit off the ground.

I had an idea…. since I had shot Bobby Church for the cover of Twenty7 Magazine I figured I should have them headline the 1st Crockpot. You see… everything that I am doing is connected in somehow. I’m trying to SHOW people that I have this 6th sense about shit…and if I write about it…whatever it is… I’m damn sure gonna be able to back it up. I had this whole…I’ll show you better than I can tell you mentality. The only issue was that two of the members of Bobby Church didn’t live in Cali so they would have needed to be flown out. Mind you…. this is my 1st attempt at this… AND … I’m a struggling artist lol

I knew I wanted The Komposers to be the heartbeat of the whole thing so I wanted them to be the house band that played for everyone. A way to showcase their skills as musicians, and show people how incredible and how versatile they are. See I’ve been around and influenced and inspired by these cats for years…. all those rides on the back of the tour bus connected us like crazy. My whole team is like my family…. and we are riding TF out for each other. What we are building together will live forever…. I get chills just thinking about it and just watching how it is all slowly but showly coming together.

I knew I had to have Sabi do some of the new music that she had been playing me…. it was like the vision was just getting clearer and clearer each day…. but…. I didn’t have the funds to buy plane tickets, get a venue, get the food, etc.

I tried to reach out to sponsors…and I tried to explain to them how powerful and beautiful this event could be for people..and how we could HEAL people with music, but I failed to give them a celeb they felt was credible…or names they could recognize for the lineup so nobody was really fucking with me. It didn’t matter that I knew for a fact I was putting healers on the stage… and if nothing else… when we all live in a world where we all are hurt and suffering from depression, stress, anxiety, and financial burdens… I was providing an escape.. through music, through love, through spirit and with free soul food. I wanted to feed people’s souls… but none of that was good enough for sponsors. I was already …before I even started…faced with the bullshit idea to add celebs to the line up so I could get sponsorship money and support. Just that quick I was supposed to compromise my vision so so I could get it done …

I refused…..I had called all kinds of favors… I called friends asking to borrow money and some of them didn’t even take me serious… some even laughed and talked shit to each other about me calling asking for money. I guess it just sounded like me begging for money for my “lil show idea”… I bet they asses wont be laughing a few years from now when The Crockpot is bigger than Coachella and making millions! lol

anywho… back to the story…. I was harassing people about old make up invoices and everything… just trying to get enough money to fly Bobby Church out and get a venue… and again… no one was fucking with me.

I cried so much during this time yall…. I felt so broken… so discouraged… like it takes money to make money… and it seemed like the people who wanna do shit for all the right reasons don’t ever have no damn money smh.

So I literally just said fuck it… and I gave up…..

A few days later I got invited to go on a camping trip for Sabi’s birthday. We went to the Redwood Forest for 3 days. During those 3 days we all had our own spiritual experiences out in nature… but the one experience that inspired me to write this long ass post was the one with THE KEY.

The morning we were supposed to leave…. we woke up… cooked breakfast in the RV, meditated by the river, and came back to the camper…. ready to rock and roll…. but the damn key to the RV was no where to be found. And when I say NO WHERE… I mean No where to be found.

We were spazzing!!! We looked all through that damn RV, …we even went looking in the river to see if it somehow got stuck in there. We looked all over the camping grounds… even in places we knew it wouldn’t be. We searched every crack and crevasse of that RV and still nothing. We all had so much shit to do the next day that we all started stressing…. after about 3-4 hours of looking and stressing we had just decided to accept the fact that we lost the key and just call the RV ppl to figure out how to get another key made. We had to call this place that was like 40 miles from us…they told us they could make the key… but we would have to drive to get it and we wouldn’t be able to go pick it up till the next day… Oh… AND it was gonna cost like a hundred and something dollars to have made.

We all had gotten frustrated… Sabi was shooting a movie and had set the next day… so her manager was even thinking about driving 3 hours to us and 3 hours back just so she could be on set. It was crazy… I was so frustrated and tired of looking I had just given up. I could feel my energy shifting and I didn’t want to bring everyone else down any more than they already were so… I went to sleep while everyone ate around a campfire outside….

When they finished dinner they came back in…. and it was Ryan’s idea to just pray about finding the key to the RV and the Keys to our lives and the desires of our heart. He asked that we all held hands while we prayed….

It was a powerful prayer…. but I still didn’t think we was gonna find that damn key because we had already looked everywhere in the RV…. and the sun was down by this point so looking outside was gonna be impossible.

I had asked Sabi to use her phone because I had no service…(sometimes when I’m sad I call my friends whose mere energy can pull me out of shitty moods…this time I was calling Matt from Bobby Church)….. while I was on the phone she asked me to get up so she could look under the couch I was sitting on again… I was like sure… although… me, Ryan, and Daver all have already looked under this couch a million times. I got up and walked to the back to talk to Matt… and in like 12 secs… I heard EVERYONE fucking screaming!!!!!!!

“We found the key!!!! we touched and agreed and found the fucking key!!!!” When I tell you we all screamed for a good 7 minutes lol. I mean guys…. we all were literally crying it was so crazy!!!

I especially cried because she found the key… right up under me. It was right there… where I had been sleeping. I had given up… gotten frustrated, got discouraged…and gave up… right on top of the fuckin key!!! That to me spoke volumes….. and I felt like I experienced that whole trip just to reach that realization. I can’t fuckin give up… this vision was placed on me for a reason and it is my mission. The minute you get to feeling discouraged and think about giving up… you better think fucking twice!

When I got back I had 6 days until Dec 1st… which was the day I had picked to do the 1st crockpot. I’m all on this high… I’m all re-inspired and shit… so I’m putting energy into all of my ideas. I wanted to feed the homeless but I needed a spot for the volunteers to be able to prep the bags. I hit up Drue…who knew the managers of Rooftop 3100… he asked them if I could use their space to do a #hashtaglunchbag and they said yes. While there one of the managers said that he really loved my spirit and he would be down to help me with any ideas I had. I asked him if the club had the dec 1st date available… he said yes… I gagged!!!! Now all I had to do was figure out how to fly Matt and Pat out here. I got back home… and I called my mom, sister, and best friend Brandon begging them for money to get these plane tickets. My sister took her bill money and bought one ticket… and Brandon took his bill money and bought the other one…. it was on……

Dec 1st 2013…. pure magic happened…. what was only supposed to be a one time thing ended up being what is now our monthly event! This is a movement!!! A revolution!!! A safe haven for music lovers and creators…. it really is bigger than us. We are using our gifts and our voices to push culture and inspire the world.

If you have ideas guys… and you feel like the shit is your mission… your purpose…. #dontsleep and dont ever give up…. you’re probably right on top of the KEY

@melanesia_