This month has been a big one for local rising star Black Buttafly (aka Kayla Childs). Earlier this month, she played her first New York show as a solo artist alongside KeiyaA and Cleo Reed. She shared music she’s been working on through the Black Music City grant she was awarded this year. Later this month, she opened up for the one and only Meshell Ndegeocello at the Ardmore Music Hall. accompanied by Steve McKie and Nazir Ebo and most recently, she played BeardFest in Hammonton, NJ. We got the chance to ask her some questions and hear a bit more about her roots as an artist.
PSN: Where are you from, Kayla, and how did you get started as a musician?
KC: I was born and raised in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Not a small town but not really a big town. It’s got Rutgers University there, so lots of cats in New Brunswick come from an academic musical standpoint. But I was born and raised in church. I was heavily involved in the choir, had to be an usher… all those things, you know? When you go to a Baptist church, that’s what you do. And I went to Paul Robeson Community School for the Arts from kindergarten up until about fifth grade, where they used to have this program through a grant with George Street Playhouse, a theater right next to the State Theater downtown in New Brunswick. They gave me a scholarship to go and take acting classes every Saturday, since I was maybe in like, the second or third grade – so I did that up until my junior year of high school. I did summer camps there, we used to write our own musicals, I did it all. They really helped me develop my creativity as a person, taught me not to be shy about performing and just like, how to be goofy, how to be myself and have an outlet. And I didn’t realize this then, but I was so grateful to have that opportunity because I was exposed to a whole different way of life; my dreams, you know, the things that I wanted to do, they felt possible in those spaces because they allowed us to be children with imaginations. So yeah, between there and church, you know, I feel like that cultivated a lot of the artist I am today.
PSN: What did it mean for you to grow up in a school named after Paul Robeson?
KC: Oh, I learned a lot about him. Paul Robeson’s from New Jersey. He went to Rutgers so he lived in New Brunswick. One thing that definitely stood out to me was that he played football, he sang, and he was an activist. Like, he was not playing out here. He’s a serious guy. But people really tried to silence him, because he was so powerful. He was so special. He could move into any lane he really wanted. Like he literally stopped playing football so he could go sing. That’s kind of crazy. Learning from somebody like Paul Robeson at a young age definitely affected how I move in music now.
PSN: Wow, that’s amazing… So how and when did you first move from Jersey to Philly?
KC: I went to Rutgers, Camden, and started off as a social work major because everybody was asking me, “Well, how could you possibly make any money in music?” And I was like, “I don’t know…” But then I figured it out for myself, and I switched my major and started studying music performance. I don’t believe that you have to go to school to study music personally, but it did help me learn a lot about what I need to do professionally on a high level. And the department there is really small. I was like one of the only black women in the department who played an instrument and had her own music, you know? So, I think finding Philly while I was there was one of the best things that could have ever happened to me.
My professor, JoJo Streater would just keep saying like, “Oh, you need to go to Philly, you need to go to Philly.”The first time I came to Philly was May of 2019 for a jam session, and I kid you not, I met all of Omar’s Hat that night. Orion Sun was there, who I ended up going on tour with. Pretty much everyone I am close to right now, in music and in life, I met that same night.
PSN: That’s really wild. Since then, you’ve moved officially to Philly and have been gigging all over the city, you’ve gone on multiple national and international tours (as a supporting artist for Ivy Sole, Orion Sun, and KeiyaA). How do you reflect on these first experiences with touring?
KC: I’m fortunate to have toured only ever with all black women. That’s crazy. And queer black women. Which resonates more because it helps me see that there’s a space for all of us. To be different, to be who we are, and make the kind of music we want to make.
PSN: You’ve also been recording, performing and beginning to release your own music as a solo artist. Do you have any plans for releasing new music in the near future?
KC: I feel like as an artist, and a musician, you have to have more to offer than just what you physically do. So I can’t just drop a song and be like, “Yeah, my single is out.” You know? No. This is an experience, because there’s only one of me. And there’s only ever going to be one of me. As an artist, as a musician, as a black girl, I want to be real about shit and actually put the time and effort into making something really special every time. It needs to be memorable. It needs to almost feel like you can hold it or take it, keep it, have it, you know? I was getting pressed about dropping music the past two years since I’ve been here, with people asking me “Oh, when you dropping something?” I’m like, man, it’s not time yet. My ducks got to be in a row, you know? Like, I’m not just any girl. My shit is just not going to come out because it can. I’m trying to make a time capsule with my music, you know? Like really make it special. But we all have opinions…
PSN: Well we cannot wait to hear what you’ve got in store for us whenever it’s ready Kayla, and thank you so much for talking with us!
Black Buttafly’s next show will be alongside Cisco Swank at World Café Live on July 19th. For more on Black Buttafly, visit www.blackbuttafly.space and follow her on Instagram at @blackbuttaflyofficial.