Hey girl,

What are you doing? Are Simone and Speedy staying out of trouble? I miss you and think about you a lot, especially these days. A few updates: I'm still a photographer and back to being a pescatarian, but I'm doing it healthily this time. Malik and I are much closer these days—I guess COVID-19 brought some families together but destroyed many. Oh, I'm a coffee roaster now. I'm trying to brand the #coffedaddy vibe. But I’m not sure if it’s fully landing.

Anywho—I’m not sure if you all go on walks in heaven, but if you need a moment to immerse yourself in nostalgia; while getting a taste of what’s hot right now. I’ve curated a playlist for you. I curated this because Diddy went on Instagram Live [a social media photo/video sharing app] and said, “R&B is muthafuckin' dead as of right now.” I found that to be incredibly goofy and such a harmful thing to say. Yes, R&B is much different than when you were alive, but those beautiful lyrics of Black liberation remain.

// The Guide

I’ll make this brief and only mention some highlights. Each song is curated in a timeline that reflects an era in my life. I’m not sure what happened with Tiny Harris, but her work with Xscape is truly iconic. So, you must start here and let shuffle do the rest. However, here are a few songs that I had to include. You Bring Me Joy by Anita Baker. I was displeased to hear that she was having issues obtaining her masters from her record label. But I believe Chance the Rapper is helping her solve that. However, I’m not sure if you remember, but that was the first CD I ever owned, and it was because of you. You and Anita Baker changed how I view music, and I’m happy to announce that I’m finally working in music, naturally. Second, As We Lay by Kelly Price. This song makes me think of love—I believe it was the first time I experienced romantic love—but when it was over, something broke in me. But this song reminds me of what was. Next, Colors Change by Tank and the Bangas. This song helped me understand how fluid and vast love was. Also, they’re from our home—you loved every musician from New Orleans. And, finally, Over the Rainbow by Ms. Patti LaBelle.

It was this year—at age twenty-eight—that I learned of another musician named Patti; all these years, I thought Patti LaBelle was the only Patti that existed in music. You should know she’s still alive and has her own line of pies. These days my prayers are in Arabic but take this as my prayers for you.

Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un // To God we belong and to Him we return.