CUFFIN’ SEASON | Dakari Eli

INTERVIEW XPONENTIAL CURVE PHOTOGRAPH Dakari Eli

Divine as a honeycomb with the vocal drip to match, San Francisco native, Dakari Eli, has organically established her presence in the industry via her strong sense of self where feminine expression takes center stage. As a multi-talented, multicultural feminist, Dakari shares her perspective on the variety of platforms she curates. She currently holds many roles as a creator, being Editor in Chief of ‘Urban Magazine', Host of ‘The Bigger Picture Podcast’ as well as an Author and Singer/Songwriter with the photographer poetisas literary debut, ‘Guess it Wasn’t Love’ taking us on a reflective journey into the complexities of a love story.

Dakari’s new single "I Guess it Wasn’t Love,” shares the title of her self published poetry book and dives into the shared vulnerabilities and recognized strengths we experience, falling in and out of love. From the butterflies to the bittersweet end when we’re left to question, “Was it even love to begin with?” Flexing her lyrical prowess, ‘Cuffin’ Season’ is a labor of self love showcasing Dakari’s many abilities having arranged, performed, produced and recorded the neo-soul nuances that brings her sultry vibe to the mic.. Dakari’s art conveys all things cerebral and sensual.

Validated: So you are an Executive Director of the “Bigger Picture Picture” Podcast,  where you touch upon societal issues, psychology, spirituality, and culture.

Dakari: Yes. Everything. Yes, it's all part of the “Big Picture”. You can't have one without the other, right?

Validated: I totally agree. Now being a woman in podcast journalism, How do you feel about womens true voices being represented on the airwaves?

Dakari: I mean, I feel like we are charging through right now. Our voices are being recognized and respected more and more than they were, let's say maybe 10-20 years ago, of course, as far as radio is concerned… and journalism. I think that you know we have come into a space where women are just more conscious and we're just not taking no for an answer anymore... Society expects us to constantly be a walking contradiction. They want us to be sexual and they want us to be Mother Teresa…It's really tough to balance. Everything that we are…  We are Mother Teresa but at the same time we do have this sensuality that permeates through everything  we do and it's not necessarily sexual, it’s just the way we create life in every facet.

Validated: And we inspire through that sensuality. That's when the lines can be blurred… Where sexuality becomes the sole base of expression. This can create static. Men are naturally drawn to a sexual woman yet most eventually have a problem with wifing a woman who's sexually empowered and simultaneously respects herself. It almost seems like some are still struggling to accept the concept that a woman can be both.

Dakari: Right. I wish more men would get on board honestly. We're still fighting that patriarchal kind of nonsense. I mean, it's getting a lot better but we still have so far to go. It's very interesting the dichotomy of it all is that you know men - and I don't wanna make generalizations - It's not all men - but the men that seem to have an issue with where women are today are men that don't look at facts, meaning men have been making the rules for a very long time, and if we as women decide to use those rules to our advantage - meaning like, you know, there are a lot of women that are dressing,very seductively, right - and use it as part of their image and marketing. And it's, you know, there are a lot of men like,  “Oh, why do women have to dress this way?” Well first of all, you're not gonna pay attention unless we do. I mean, if sex sells, then I mean what are we gonna do, right? You're not gonna listen to me unless I have my boobs out. You know. So it's just like I didn't make the rules this way. You did. So you know it's just a contradiction and we women have moved within those confines.  We're very fluid that way and I love where we are right now. They're still some bumps along the way, you know but I do think sometimes we can get a little carried away… I will say.

Validated: There's always a fine line we’re expected to tread... There's always, you know, that whole lady in the streets, a freak in the streets ideal where they need to see a certain level of self respect for it to be acceptable.

Dakari: I think about what it is and where we are right now. We are of course - and this is how human nature is - We are going to go all the way left before we balance out and go straight - that's just the way it is. So there are times where I feel like we are going all the way left, men and women and I feel like we're just trying to find our balance and it's going to take.Time because societal norms as far as gender roles have changed. I mean, it's completely changed. So, you know, I think it's gonna take a generation or so.

Validated: So getting back to the podcast ‘The Bigger Picture’ podcast, who would you say was your most memorable guest? I know you’ve had a few celebrities on your show such as Nick Cannon, Omar Epps, The cast of Power… I mean, like that's huge.

Dakari: It's funny because when you say all those names I remember every interview for sure. I would have to say Raheem Jamal was funny. He's a singer and he spoke very freely and I loved Actress Stephanie Charles. I've interviewed her twice. She is a sweetheart. Then you have people like London Brown. I mean, I sat and talked with him for nearly an hour and I swear if the hour hadn't run out, I would’ve probably stayed locked in… I very much enjoyed a lot of my interviews. I mean it's not just one note, right. You know it's more of an in depth analysis… a lot of dissecting. That’s the art. It's really important that I find out who they are because I feel like we always kind of skim the surface.

Validated: Lets talk about ‘I Guess it Wasn't Love.’ That is the name of your self published poetry photography book, and I'm going to assume that that comes from a painful experience?

Dakari: A learning experience.

Validated : Yes. A learning experience... So what does it mean for you when you make that sort of realization… like, ‘I guess it really wasn't love?’

Dakari: I have a question for you. How many times do you think you've been in love?

Validated: Everytime I’m in Love, I think I’m in Love

Dakari: Right. You think you're in love when you're in love, You know what I mean? When you find yourself over sacrificing, you have to ask yourself - well after you get beat up a bit - “OK, Who do I love more? Can I really love them? I need to love myself more…” So that's what led me to ask, “Was that really love?” People fall in love and grow out of love, right?  You can be in love and then grow a part. You’ve changed.. You’ve evolved. Maybe you don't love them anymore. So actually, was that love or was that just me learning about myself so I could love me more?

One of the many thought provoking points Eli made during our interview. As a Biracial woman who identifies as Black,  Dakari balances her innate softness with resounding strength fortified by her studies in Multicultural Feminism. She champions Angela Davis' perspective on intersectionality and Author Mikki Kendall who wrote the book, ‘Hood Feminism’ on diving into the differences between white feminism and that of Black Brown people which further lends to her contribution as the Editor In Chief of ‘Urban Magazine.’

Dakari: Black women always worked… we didn't have the luxury of not working. I mean we look at movies like ‘The Help’ there's no balance and until I feel like white feminists really get on board with intersectionality and they really look at just, I mean simple stuff like, we black and brown women - we are looking for health care for our children, we are looking for education for our children we are looking for the basics. You know, white women are fighting for other things, you know, and that's the difference between being a Multicultural Feminist as opposed to just being feminist. You know, the fight is different.”

Validated: Tell me about your role with Urban Magazine. You’re the Editor in Chief… so This is your baby?

Dakari: Our baby. Be’n Original and I. He's the publisher. It’s his original baby. I can not take all of the credit. I just happened to come in and was like, “Hey, you know, you should do this. Hey, you know what? You should do that…. Oh, It’d be really great. If you added this…” It had a lot to do with feminism. It had a lot to do with the empowerment of women. It had a lot to do with not putting naked women necessarily in the issue… and not to discredit women that like to be naked because, you know, we all lik e to be naked at some point but it's more or less why don't we celebrate women in all their beauty with their clothes on, you know?, I brought the ‘Women's Issue’ to the table every March and he said. “Why don't you curate the issue?” And then it kind of snowballed from there and I became Editor In Chief… it's just been, you know, the process. We've had our adventures ever since. It's been a process putting together issues and remaining balanced because we want to make sure we have cultural integrity. We want to make sure that we have fun…. We want to make sure that we incorporate all facets of who we are as a people, black and brown, right? We're not monolithic. And you know it's been beautiful. You know, we've had issues where we’ve featured photography and painting and instrumentalists…we’ve incorporated cooking as far as a culinary section and it allows us to just put our whole being, you know, spirituality, everything into it. It allows us to feel whole. I feel with ‘Urban Magazine’ you get it all. You get meat, potatoes, vegetables, fruit and dessert, You know what I mean? You're full. When you're done, you don't feel like you're missing anything. It really is for the culture and for the people and people who can relate to it.

Validated: I love how you put that. So I really want to talk about your music. You definitely have more of a conscious melodic flow.  It's reminiscent of the rhapsody found in Jill Scott’s music. Sultry in nature…

Dakari: Wow yeah, I mean like,  that's a huge compliment thank you. So she's absolutely influenced me. I would say that whole Neo Soul Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill… that whole vibe.

Validated: Definitely. So your song is entitled ‘Make Me Feel Correct,’ but the album itself is ‘Cuffin Season”?

Dakari: So there's a story with that… ‘Cuffin’ Season,’ I released in January of this year. ‘Make Me Feel’ is actually a remake. I originally recorded that in 2019 and released it on an EP called ‘Black Dove, Blue Song.’ That’s where ‘Why him?’ came from too. Now because of the distribution platform, they changed ‘things’ and I was supposed to be grandfathered in… I was not and what they did was, they took all my music off all the streaming platforms that I had in 2019-2020.

Validated: Now did you have your rights to the song?

Dakari: Absolutely. I absolutely did. I have all my songs right now. So what I've decided to do is - and mind you they just took them off in 2022 - So what I decided to do is let ‘Cuffin Season’ rock the way it is and slowly just release songs from ‘Black Dove, Blues Song’ as singles. So that's what I've been doing. I did ‘Why him?’ I did ‘Make me Feel…’ The next song I release is going to be completely new, but that will be in 2024. I will be releasing singles that are actually from the ‘Black Dove, Blue Song’ EP

Validated: That's your own label correct?

Dakari: It's from ‘Black Dove Studios,’ correct?... I engineered all my songs for ‘Cuffin’ Season’ ‘Make me Feel’ was done in my own studio. I engineered that as you hear today.

Validated: So when you say you engineered it, you have no formal training you just kind of went into this with the feel?

Dakari: I just went ahead and went in with my own intuition and knew what I liked as far as sound. ‘Make me Feel’ is a track that I did mix & master on my own as well. ‘Cuffin Season,’ I engineered the whole thing I did.Have help with mixing and mastering. Great dude. DJ SpinDoc.

I sent him the reference tracks. I told him, “look, this is what I've done here in my house. I've mixed it and mastered it as best I can.” And he went ahead like a jigsaw puzzle with his, you know, because we had two different softwares. Yeah. And he was able to make the master for me. Then with ‘Make me Feel’ I said “I think I've got this”, you know, So that's what I did. I mixed and mastered it after engineering it. I was working with the different applications on and off for a while when I finally just said, you know what, I gotta take the bull by the horns. I can't wait for other people. I can do this and I think that more women are doing that and they need to do that. I know as a woman, for a long time, I always felt uncomfortable going to studios because I felt like a lot of men, you know, they would make passes at me. They, you know, they want, they want “things,” you know

Validated: Ah yes, They want ‘That Thang…’

Dakari: That's right!  So, you know, I had to kind of work around that and it kind of deterred me.  I'm not gonna lie, for years it deterred me and made me feel kind of like I needed to crawl into my own shell because I was uncomfortable but I'm past that. And now like I said, “...Bull by the Horns” I'm gonna do it myself. It's all a learning process… If I don't create music, or if I don't write poetry or songs or etcetera I feel empty, you know? I feel like. It's our responsibility as artists to make people feel… or to make people feel as though they're understood. That's what’s truly so beautiful and unifying about music.

Fueled by applying an esoteric approach to her interviewing style, Dakari Eli’s rising star continues to amass major recognition. Engaging and insightful, she is mastering her ability to transmute pain into self love, extending cultural roots to bridge the collective experience with a determination to unravel the common threads that seemingly bind. She is an example of how pouring into oneself can help us surmount any self imposed and or worldly hurdles we may face. One artistic expression at a time.

You can find her on instagram @DakariEli or visit her website to hear the entire ‘Cuffin Season’ EP on DakriEli.com now streaming on all major platforms.