The Sunday Music Drop is a weekly radio series hosted by the KQED weekend news team. In each segment, we feature a song from a local musician or band with an upcoming show and hear about what inspires their music.
In this episode of The Sunday Music Drop, Oakland collective Kah Liberation share their song “Ain’t Gotta Be.”
“I just felt like the world, family, co-workers were trying to mold and shape me instead of me doing it,” said singer and band leader Yaadi Erica.
“Basically, I was irritated with people having expectations or an image of something they wanted me to be, from the government all the way on down,” she added.
The band’s members for this song also include Mike D., Danielle Wansley-Strong, Chanelle Ignant, and Lily Robinson. Erica describes their music as a fusion of soul, hip-hop, reggae and rock — with a dash of musical theater.
They have two upcoming shows: Dec. 1, 2022, at the SF Eagle’s Queer as F-ck Party, and Dec. 15, 2022, at the Continental Club in Oakland for the Small Stages Battle of the Bands.