I'll be Home for the Holidays...Lips Cafe Edition

Peace Peace…

The time has come…

S/O to Brooklyn, and the ‘West Indies’ for this one.

Growing up in Brooklyn, I’ve lived throughout different neighborhoods. Cool thing about Brooklyn, it’s a giant melting pot of culture within the neighborhoods you pass through. Right now I would like to take a focus on one particular neighborhood that raised me, Flatbush, Brooklyn.

If your family is from the Caribbean, there’s a strong chance they’ve made their way to America through or with some affiliations to the streets of Flatbush. Once you cross over Empire Blvd, you enter what gentrification has now coined " The Little Caribbean”. Within these parameters, you’re engulfed with pleasant aromas from spices used to bring together cuisines from all 13 countries of the Caribbean. Native instruments like steel drums make an occasional appearance to liven the sounds in the streets. Dollar vans zoom past looking to lend a helping hand in your daily commute. It’s a community, a system that’s embraced my family, myself, and other families who have found themselves on American soil.

Fast forward to present day, Flatbush is being ‘touched’ just as other neighborhoods throughout the borough, but the most important part of the change is the celebration of the local heroes who serve their community all while keeping up with the times. Establishments such as Lips Cafe, located on Nostrand and Martenese.

As the tables turn, Brooklyn has a way of bringing tribe together as always. Jamane the owner of Lips Cafe, is a follow Brooklyn Knight who attended the same high school as my first shawty love, Selina, also mutually knowing the same people from growing up in Brooklyn, and NYC streets. Through the arts and passion for what we do on a day to day, Jamane caught hold of my work through word of mouth and our good friend, Flop, and it wasn’t before long I was being reached out to by Karin and the Art Mavens to get this instillation going for the end of the year.

It’s an honor to be from this land, even more of an honor to host my first solo showcase in an area that raised me. It’s only right to be partnered with like minded establishments. People who understand and respect your vision and open their arms for you to share with a greater audience, Lips Cafe is one of those establishments. Staying true to the motto'; “Spread love it’s the Brooklyn way…”, Jamane and the Lips Cafe family have cultivated another motto. One deemed by one of their daily ‘cafe’ians’ which speaks highly of the atmosphere, which goes, “they don’t just serve coffee at Lips Cafe, they serve the community as well.”

Here are some more details about the 42 pieces up for sale at Lips Cafe this holiday season…

S/O Jamane and The Lips Cafe family, Karin and the Art Mavens conglomerate, Flatbush, Brooklyn, and everyone who stops by, flicks up, and sends a follow. I appreciate your support. This one is for the home team! Be sure to stay tuned for an artist talk before the showcase ends in January 2022.

Music By:

Ralphy London - Cap’n Crunch