Born in Seattle, WA and raised in San Diego, Choklate has always in one way or another been involved with music or dance. Her career began at the age of 23 in Seattle at one of it’s most famous live music nights, Jumbalaya. She was raised on Gospel, but was introduced to hip-hop by DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince’s “Parents Just Don’t Understand”. Beside the gospel, it was hard for Choklate to hear much soul music at home, so when finally out on her own, she recalls having her ear to everything from Bach and Yo Yo Ma to Brotha Lynch Hung.
Her brother produced and engineered her first record, “Sound Sessions Vol.1”, which she claims was the incubator for her craft. During the recording of that album, she was introduced to punctuality, professionalism, and the politics of the game. Her brother Mike D made sure, musically, that she had a canvas to discover and work on her voice.” She later met Jonathan Moore of Jasiri Management and he introduced her to the three most happening hiphop producers in Seattle: Bean One, Vitamin D, and Jake One. Her follow up album “Choklate” was one of the truly organic, R&B records to come out of Seattle in a long time.
As spring blooms into summer, along comes the birth of a stunning new soul artist. The debut full length by Choklate is equal parts soul, gritty hip hop and a sound and songwriting standard that we all wish commercial R&B would have grown up to be. |
