Hailing from Harlem NYC, rapper, activist and DJ LiKWUiD (Fay Grim), Zaven Embree, and Willie Green fuse the musical elements of jazz, hip-hop, and soul to create a new experimental hip-hop band called EllaMaeFlossie. As an act, the trio is the rebirth and celebration of South Carolina/Harlem hero and advocate of African American culture, Ellamae Flossie. The band is an understanding, a celebration of your home – your ancestry. It plants its foot in that location and examines the rest of the nation, giving its criticism of America’s mistreatment of African Americans, natives, women, the impoverished, and other marginalized groups. It realizes that the only way to heal these wounds is to reach – across cultures and back home – and hope that you stumble across the answer.

For their debut release EMF, the band explores these themes across an extensive nine-song album beginning with stunning jazz number “Prayer” and finishing with the quizzical spoken word poetry of LiKWUiD on “Tea Time.” To give a full window into the world of EMF, EllaMaeFlossie have created a jarring visual component for album cut “Ebony Stoned.” The aesthetically rich video hones in to examine the current state of the nation, giving its criticism of America’s mistreatment of marginalized groups, while showcasing the poignant rhymes of LiKWUiD with intimate detail.

https://open.spotify.com/artist/18Jy07ZS4no2Tj7A9c0O6P

In addition to the album and music video, EllaMaeFlossie will be performing a concert styled piece exploring the themes of the album with Tea Time – an audio-visual-movement journey in afrofuturism. Taking place June 1st at New York’s East Village Planetarium, the 3D experience symbolizes how women navigate every type of “ism” from today and yesteryear. More information and tickets here.

If this is your first introduction to EllaMaeFlossie’s vocalist and songwriter LiKWUIiD, as a DJ she has curated music for Photoville, the Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival’s Family Day, and is a resident at Silvana and The Shrine World Music Venue. As a songwriter, her film credits include placements with HBO Latina Films, IFC Films, Oxygen Network, and MTV. Her nationwide performances also prove more than credible and noteworthy, having shared stages with the music industry legends and talents such as Slick Rick, 9th Wonder, Matt and Kim, Lyfe Jennings, Jazmine Sullivan, Talib Kweli, Frankie Beverly and Maze, Bow Wow, Rah Digga, The Last Poets, DJ Evil Dee, and world-renowned comedian Cedric the Entertainer.