My family, Kaiso, Calypso, Soca, Rapso, Bebop, Steelpan, David Rudder, The Mighty Sparrow, Lord Melody, Lord Kitchener, Machel Montano & Xtatik, Ras Shorty I, Brother Resistance, The Cure, Pixies, Sheila E, Radiohead, Beck, PJ Harvey, Meshell Ndegocello, ?uest Love, The Roots, M.I.A, Built to Spill, Sonic Youth, Mars Volta, Broken Social Scene, Bad Brains, Nina Simone, Gladys Knight, Al Green, Nostorious B.I.G., Tribe Called Quest, Dela Soul, Jimi Hendrix, Curtis Mayfield, Aretha Franklin, Michael Jackson, Jay Z, Gang of Four, Sex Pistols, The Clash, Q-Tip, Hot Snakes, Fela, Tony Allen, Mad Professor, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Lupe Fiasco, The Fugees, Funkadelic, Le Tigre, Arcade Fire, Mary J. Blige, The Black Keys, Cat Power, Erase Errata, The Gossip, Interpol, Zeppelin, The Police, Max Roach, Missy Elliot, Organized Konfusion, Lucinda Williams, Patti Smith, Charlie Parker, Art Blakey, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Thelonius Monk, NAS, OutKast, Portishead, Prince, Rage Against the Machine, The Shins, Sleater-Kinney, Bikini Kill, Bjork, Little Brother, Erykah Badu, James Brown, MC Lyte, Da Brat, Capleton, The Slits, R.E.M., Salt-N-Pepa, Queen Latifah, Smashing Pumpkins, Maggie Argyros, Hanna Klein
Nikkie McLeod (Riddle Out Rhythm) is a musician and writer (www.coceyea.wordpress.com). She began her musical career at the age of twelve playing the tenor-pan for the steel-band (drum) orchestra Panasonic Connection in Trinidad and Tobago.
At nineteen, she moved to the US for school, receiving a B.A. in English Literature and Caribbean Studies from Howard University, and a Master of Fine Arts for Creative Writing from City College of New York. After living in a pink stucco house in Maryland with a bunch of vegan, politically and socially aware DIY “punks”, equipped with a make-shift hand me down drum-kit from Atomic Music in College Park in the basement, she developed her love for playing the drums: incorporating the tones, melodies and rhythm from her experience playing the steel-pan.
Currently, she plays for the New York based indie rock band, Telenovela Star (TSTAR), who’s hit song off of TSTAR’s self-titled EP, The Car Song is the theme music for the teen surf drama Beyond The Break on The-N channel. One of Nikkie’s poems was turned into the song A Plum on the band’s EP.
She was a co-founder for the grassroots feminist magazine OutLaw Sister Riff which focused on issues affecting women and young girls, a recipient of Howard University’s John J. Wright Award for poetry, a finalist in the Hollin’s Poetry Festival, and a co-award recipient for the City College English Department Adrian Schwartz Award for Women’s fiction.
She’s also acted in the independent short film, Esme Seeking as the main character Esme, which has been recognized in a number of film festivals around the US and internationally.
Nikkie McLeod has worked with the “father of the modern steel pan instrument” Dr. Ellie Mannette, Trinidad & Tobago’s “foremost steel pan arrangers and composers” Ray Holman, and the steel-pan jazz musician and composer Andy Narell. She’s also worked with Black Arts Movement poet and writer, Sonia Sanchez; poet, writer of children’s books, and filmmaker Ruth Forman; and the poet, writer, actor, and musician Saul Williams.
Underneath the foreign stars In a foreign place where they don’t love you I do care, In the pale moonlight Your eyes are wide And the band plays… Everybody wants you
I wanted to stop by your page and show love...Your music is fuckin Dope...We appreciate the recent myspace connection...Please keep us in mind. We'd be honored to be your personal jewelers.
