This past weekend’s Afropunk Festival in Brooklyn marked the third time The Skins performed at the annual arts festival. Last year the Brooklyn quintet released their debut EP, Still Sleep, confirming that no one should still be asleep upon listening. The 5-track record seamlessly blends together Hip-Hop, R&B, Rock and Soul to create a sound that is both fresh and vibrant. Out of the five members of the band, three of them are related: Bay Li (vocals), Kaya (vocals/bassist) and Reef (drummer) McKeithan, alongside guitarists Daisy Spencer and Russell Chell. But if you ask them, they are all family.
We caught up with the band’s lead singer Bay Li immediately after their electrifying Afropunk set to talk about the origins of Rock & Roll, The Skins’ evolution, self-love and a whole lot more
The Source: You’ve been doing music for a pretty long time now!
Bay Li: You know what’s crazy is that I feel seasoned and I’m still young as f*ck! I talk to my peers and mentors and other artists that have reached that level and they’re like we’ve been in it for 12 years, and we’ve been doing it for half the time. Six years!
How does it feel?
I’ll be very candid. When you are really passionate about something and really care about something you put in 1000% effort. It’s literally like a study. I study music, I study songwriting and it’s like on a nerdy level. It’s like a job, like a 9-5.
What is it like to do that with your family?
The most amazing feeling! Like I said before it’s like a job so there has to be some strategy if you want to have success, in addition to the fun, the rockstar life, and the partying.
So the fact that we are family, even Daisy and Russell, it makes it that much easier to be candid and open be like “look, you f*cked up.” Or that outfit you got on, it’s a dub [laughs].
Whenever I see Black artists in a genre that people don’t consider Black-
Which is crazy! Because everything is ours! Let’s look at the foundation of what Rock & Roll is, which is my band’s foundation. Classic rock actually. So when you look at Led Zeppelin or The Rolling Stones, that goes back to Blues. To Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters.
And then even after that people will try to argue “that’s a different genre” and it’s not! It’s just a re-appropriated genre. You could look at Little Richard or Chuck and the origination of Rock & Roll is very clear. And it’s more than the music. The energy, the vibe, Rock & Roll has always been something that’s rebellious and stands out and is anti-establishment. With Chuck Berry the start of Rock & Roll brought people together and ended segregation even in Bible states.
For us that’s how we got our initial buzz. We were outside of Bed-Stuy and you play rock! And we were way heavier then too.
You were. I found you guys a few years back on Tumblr.
What! Tumblr though?
Yes! And your style has changed since then.
I still love our old stuff! But as creative people, your art, your style, your work, it’s going to keep changing.
And we’ve been honored to be under the mentorship of people like Rick Rubin. Rick was really the one, even with my sister Kaya who raps in the band, who was like “Kaya your energy is amazing you should write some bars.” And just trying different elements. Hip-Hop with the Rock with the Metal with the Pop.
It’s always a journey. And I love evolving and not staying stagnant.
Music can be therapeutic as well, a therapy that a lot of people are calling necessary in America’s current climate.
It’s mainstream to be “woke” now. It’s socially acceptable to be conscious now. And my best friend is the one who really opened up my mind.
Even as a Black women this is how brainwashed we are. Up until high school I didn’t realize I was being disrespected. I didn’t realize I should be embarrassed to be embarrassed to wear my hair natural. I didn’t wear my hair natural until my junior year in high school. If I went to my white friends house I wouldn’t wear my headscarf, you know? Things that are me, my natural self! We’re taught to hide that away. To be embarrassed. That it’s lesser than.
And now that it’s in the mainstream, regardless of everything, I am happy that this awareness is happening. Educating the masses is everything. Once you learn other perspectives your whole world can open up and change. Because if you’re single-minded or narrow-minded of course you’re going to be racist. But if you go and talk to a person of color or a woman or a queer person, whatever it is, your whole word is opened up. And now maybe you don’t think we’re all evil.
Last year you guys dropped your EP, I loved the song with D.R.A.M.!
“Bury Me” yes! And we love him for jumping on that. He added such a positive light to the song because I was writing it from a really dark place. Being in a toxic relationship.
So you’re in this relationship, and you’re a smart, strong-willed woman like myself. And I know this is wrong but I still want it. And D.R.A.M. came and he made it more sexy and playful.
How did you escape it?
I ended it! It’s about recognizing your self worth. You stay in these relationships because it’s habitual. You’re used to it. You’re comfortable. But it doesn’t mean it’s right.
I recognized my worth and my purpose. It’s affecting my work. It’s affecting my relationship with my family and my loved ones. It’s affecting my self-esteem and how I see myself and that can’t be right.
You guys teased the crowd with some new songs today, when can we expect some new stuff?
Really soon, within the next couple of months. Maybe even early September!
