Next week, Roanoke poet Matthew Mosley will debut his second album, “In Places Where Black Skin Grows” at the Melrose Library. The 35-track album is a mix of spoken word, testimony, storytelling, hip hop, and ministry that features the voices of eight to 10 local artists.
Mosley will tell you that he was born in Bluefield, WV. He thinks it is important to pay homage to your roots, he says. That’s a trend that keeps coming up as he speaks with you, in fact – where he was, and the growth process to bring him to where he is now.
He moved to Roanoke City when he was four. He started writing poetry at 14 and then put it away for 20 years. At 45, Mosley is now a regular writer and performer at Soul Sessions and other poetry gatherings around town.
“My writing has gradually progressed and I still write [some poetry in the] traditional style. But I do more free verse and spoken word now because it is performance poetry,” he says.
“In Places Where Black Skin Grows” follows a character named Genesis as she is taken from Africa and is forced into slavery. The narrative then moves into the present as a professor delves into researching Genesis, her genealogy, and the mystery of her death, Mosley says.
The title, “In Places Where Black Skin Grows,” pays homage to all the places where African American people are from, Mosley says.
“That title, ‘[In Places] Where Black Skin Grows,’ is the culmination… it encompasses pretty much everything. I love that title so much because that’s inner city African Americans and African Americans that are in Africa, Jamaica, wherever… France… wherever we are,‘In places Where Black Skin Grows’ encompasses all,” Mosley says.
“Everyone has their own story. Just because someone lives beside someone, in the same neighborhood, they don’t even have the same experiences of being an African American,” Mosely says. “And that’s the beauty of finding out these testimonies, and finding out everybody’s story, allowing other people to talk. Finding out their stories that you’ll find there’s – there’s no real balance. Just the unbalance is the balance.”
Mosley started working on “In Places Where Black Skin Grows” last May, he says. He began with the first poem and then started matching his writing up with various artists’ voices. He says he wrote about 70 percent of the album.
The album was recorded entirely at the Melrose Library, using that library’s equipment, he says. He and his team met at least three times a week for several months.
“Some of this needed to be edited, right, because it wasn’t right. And you think you got a good cut, you think you got a good track, and you get home and you’re sitting there and … you’re like, this is terrible. So you’ve got to re-record,” Mosley says, regarding the process.
“Even my characters that I play on the album, I probably had to do about 40 to 50 cuts on my own. And then on the other artists, they’ve had six to seven apiece. So we’re looking at 300 tracks,” he says.
Mosley had a great team behind him, he says. He and Grammy award-winning producer Rayshon Lamont Cobbs Jr., also known as 808-Ray, worked for countless hours to make this project come together.
“We’re gonna make mistakes. So that’s all a part of the journey. My pastor has always said, ‘The joy is in the journey, not in the getting there,’” Mosley says.
“What we have to do is stretch our legs on our own. If we have to do 10 things on a project, that’s just the way it’s got to be because no one is going to just hand it to you either,” he says. “There’s a purpose behind the struggle.”
According to Mosley, the work was divinely-inspired. God helped him match the right voice actors up with the right pieces of poetry, song, or testimony in creating the album.
“Every person that reads the pieces… when you hear it, [it’s] just like it was meant for them. And there’s no way I can just take credit for that,” he says.
Nine times out of ten, the person Mosley chose to read a particular track was the right voice for the track, he says.
“It’s amazing. That doesn’t just happen,” he says.
The very first track begins with a deep voice, beckoning the listener to draw closer, to breathe deeply and sink into the story.
“Let us start close to the beginning for these are the places where Black skin grows,” the voice declares. The effect is spellbinding.
The voice actors on the album are local to the Roanoke region, Mosley said. For him, it was important to use this project to highlight the region’s talent. Through this piece and others, Mosley hopes to begin to build connections between the region’s actors and creators.
As for his next projects, Mosley plans to release a third album this September, and a follow-up album to “In Places Where Black Skin Grows” next February.
How does Mosley hope to see Roanoke’s arts and culture scene grow in the next five years? He wants to see more arts coming together, to see Roanoke, Salem, and Vinton to become more connected, he says. He wants the region to have even more venues for people to come together to see a show or performance, or to have a place where they can perform themselves. And he wants to give folks more opportunities to express themselves.
“If we can get [people] to express themselves through the arts, maybe we can stop a lot of violence and stuff… if we can get them to express themselves. That way, it won’t get to that point where it’s already the volcano, where it’s already at a tipping point. When you reach them early, and when you say I care, I love you, I’ve seen it just make a difference,” Mosley says.
“In Places Where Black Skin Grows” will premiere at Roanoke City’s Melrose Library (2502 Melrose Ave., Roanoke) on February 28 at 5 p.m. Refreshments will be served. Admission is free.
