Keipeki Sessions

In this moving episode of Keipeki Sessions, host Nicole speaks with Camille Alcasid about her essay, "The Year Happy Became Sad," which chronicles the unexpected loss of her sister, Giselle, to cancer. Camille opens up about the deep bond they shared, the shock and complexity of grief, and the challenges of navigating everyday responsibilities while mourning a loved one. Through an honest and vulnerable conversation, they explore how grief changes over time, the importance of allowing space for sadness, and how friends and family can offer meaningful support without trying to fix the pain. You can find the full essay at the title link above and other stories on keipeki.com — Click for more.

Billy Johnson Jr. has had a long, storied career in music journalism. He joins us to share what it takes to write about music and musicians.In 1998, Billy began an 18-year run at Yahoo Music as a senior editor and content producer, where his duties included shaping the site's Hip Hop and R&B coverage, programming online radio stations, and securing music video premieres. More than 500 of his articles appeared on the Yahoo homepage, including his piece on the Kanye West–Taylor Swift incident at the 2009 VMAs, which drew more than 40,000 comments.As managing editor of Rap Sheet Newspaper from 1994 to 1998, he assigned and edited articles and wrote major feature stories on artists like The Fugees, Too $hort, and A Tribe Called Quest. He served as a contributing reporter for Entertainment Weekly's coverage of the deaths of Tupac and The Notorious B.I.G., and wrote concert reviews of Erykah Badu, Run-D.M.C., and Gladys Knight for The Hollywood Reporter. He wrote Chris Brown's first cover story for Vibe magazine and penned features on The Neptunes, Eminem, Snoop Dogg, and Nate Dogg for The Source. He has documented Hip Hop/Rap and music in general, writing about music and the people who create it takes a special skill, and he shares what he believes makes for a good storyteller in music.You can reach Billy on his site https://www.mediaandrepertoire.com — Click for more.

Visit Us — What if an album could be read like a novel? In this episode of Keipeki Sessions, we explore the literary architecture behind three landmark albums: Marvin Gaye's What's Going On, Lauryn Hill's The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, and Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly. — Click for more.

Visit Us — Exploring the literary architecture of rap music. Where rhythm, repetition, memory, and resistance become storytelling. Bars as poems. Hooks as refrains. The culture as the canon. — Click for more.

Visit Us — The message in "The Message" — Click for more.

Visit Us — Sam Cooke's "A Change Gonna Come" became the anthem of the Civil Rights Movement. In this discussion we pay tribute to Sam and the literary genius behind a song that reads like a freedom memoir personal, painful, and full of a hope that refuses to die. — Click for more.

This session explores why we tend to tell our own stories only when crisis forces our hand. Inspired by an unexpected exchange at a graduation party that turned into something far more personal, this episode sits with a simple but loaded question: why do we wait? — Click for more.

Read Here — Maisha is discussing her essay "The Plaza and the Panopticon", where she discusses her very personal journey of motherhood, the lure and failure of social media, and how very tiresome it all can be. — Click for more.

Read Here — Many people mistake usefulness for love. The real villain is not other people, it is the belief that you must shrink to belong. Spiritual awakening often begins with disgust, exhaustion, and betrayal. Boundaries can feel like violence to people who benefited from your lack of them. Power is not becoming someone new, it is understanding who you are at your core and embracing it. These are the themes found in Naomi's Reclamation. — Click for more.

Visit Us — Keipeki is a boutique publishing house dedicated to stories that enhance the human experience. We celebrate bold writers, diverse voices, and the power of storytelling. — Click for more.