Makeda Iroquois Continues Evolution After Return to Charlotte
Singer to debut new single at upcoming Petra's show
On Makeda Iroquois’ alluring single “Diamonds,” crystalline chimes cascade into a staccato orchestral stab that smash cuts to her powerful yet caressing vocals: “Diamonds are forever/ They are all I need to please me/ They can stimulate and tease me/ They won’t leave in the night/ Have no fear that they might desert me…”
Iroquois cites old school R&B and ’90s hip-hop as her musical influences, so her sultry cover of the James Bond theme song “Diamonds are Forever,” originally sung by jazz-pop chanteuse Shirley Bassey, may seem like a startling change of pace for the Long Island-born, Charlotte-raised singer-songwriter. But Iroquois’ inspiration for her 2023 single places the tune’s mix of hip-hop and orchestral pop in context.
“I didn’t realize [the song] was from James Bond,” Iroquois says. “Kanye West was my introduction to [it].”
In 2005, West released ““Diamonds from Sierra Leone,” a rap rumination on the blood diamonds that fueled a decade-long African civil war, on his second studio album Late Registration. The propulsive song sampled the John Barry-composed “Diamonds are Forever.”
“I didn’t know at the time that this sample was a Black woman singing,” Iroquois says. “The richness of her voice really impressed upon me [that] I have to cover this song.”
Likewise, the drama inherent in Bassey’s bold yet tremulous vocal appealed to the musical theatre kid in Iroquois, just as the hip-hop beats in West’s cover of the tune appealed to her experience as a professional dancer.
Makeda Iroquois will perform a selection of her meticulously crafted R&B pop at Petra’s on Dec. 14. She’ll share the bill with Alex Aff, who’s celebrating a new album release, as well as DamarTheEmcee and Chelsea Inspire.
A dance career cut short
Growing up, Iroquois fell in love with the rhythms of hip-hop and R&B, which spurred her fledgling dance career. Before she turned 10, West African art and music were added to her influences.
“I would go with my mom to Spirit Square, and there would be a lot of African dance classes and drum workshops,” Iroquois says, referencing the since-razed Blumenthal campus.
She started singing and developing her voice while attending drama classes at Piedmont Middle School in the Belmont neighborhood just east of Uptown. At the same time, Iroquois dabbled in songwriting, writing and recording her own lyrics to the melody of Alicia Keys’ serpentine and soulful “Diary.”
Attending Harding University High, Iroquois performed in school talent shows and danced with an after-school ensemble, but it wasn’t until she graduated that her songwriting blossomed.
“I got my first laptop, discovered GarageBand, and … discovered I can … make a song, and put it on YouTube,” Iroquois says. “That was the moment I [realized], I can make something and it can be mine.”
At UNC Greensboro, Iroquois pursued a degree in music, theatre and dance, with the focus on dance history and choreography. A pair of pulled hamstrings brought Iroquois’ dance career to a premature end, so she channeled her creative energies into music instead. Self-taught in the art of production, she learned to sample and make loops.
In 2010, Iroquois started a long-distance collaboration with producers in Atlanta like Keith Charles and Ethereal (Obie Rudolph). Iroquois contributed three tracks to a mixtape released by the two producers.
Other projects followed in 2012: Atlanta producer Alkebulan’s moody nocturnal Panther and Fox EP and the Aporia EP, a collaborative mixtape that paired Iroquois’ songs with Charlotte rapper/producer Jopedo’s organic J Dilla-style beats.
“That one made the most impact in Charlotte,” Iroquois says.
She remembers meeting local rap royalty Lord Jah-Monte Ogbon, who told her that Aporia was his favorite project. In the meantime, Iroquois played her first live Charlotte show at the Evening Muse with Jopedo in support of Aporia. Subsequent gigs read like a list of illustrious Queen City music venues past and present — The Chop Shop, Tremont Music Hall, Snug Harbor and Petra’s.
Released in 2013, The Red Reserve EP marked Iroquois’ conscious decision to move into a more soulful and R&B-inflected pop direction.
“A lot of people knew me for old-school ’90s hip-hop beats like [MF] Doom and Nas, but I wanted to make something of my own that could reflect a more feminine side,” Iroquois says.
Iroquois graduated from UNC Greensboro in 2014 and by 2016 was ready to move beyond Charlotte. She was working a retail/repair day job at the Apple Store in SouthPark Mall and lobbied for a transfer to the company’s Soho store in New York.
“I came to New York to explore being an artist,” Iroquois says. While working for Apple in the Big Apple had its perks — a large stage drew celebrities, hosting in-store performances — Iroquois says living in New York was a challenge.
“I was struggling to have the energy as a creative on top of making enough money to sustain myself,” Iroquois says.
She decided to concentrate on songwriting, particularly for other artists. Iroquois worked a few connections with people that had the ability to get her material placed with established artists, but in the end those plans fizzled.
Writing and releasing the spectral yet sassy single “After Party” in 2019 proved to be the creative high point of Iroquois’ New York sojourn. She planned to get the song to Ashanti, but when that strategy fell through, Iroquois and her friend and colleague from Atlanta Que hosted a single release party for the song.
The soiree lifted Iroquois’ spirits, but the next year COVID came and shut the city down.
A girl’s best friend
Returning to Charlotte, Makeda Iroquois reinvigorated her career as a performing and recording artist. “After Party” became one of 13 tracks on the Demo LP that dropped in July 2021. Although the eclectic songwriting collection contains tunes meant to be pitched to other artists as well as material earmarked for projects that didn’t come to fruition, it is an emotionally complex and satisfyingly consistent listen.
Iroquois followed Demo with the single “New Earth,” which debuted on New Year’s Day 2022. Propelled by producer Rashaun Hampton’s sprightly insistent keyboard loop, the song suggests a smooth Sade tune produced by Todd Rundgren and sung by Eartha Kitt. Contrary to her usual process of writing lyrics before composing the music, Iroquois laid down the song’s music first before letting the uplifting lyrics flow:
“So pure to let the light shine through/ And everything be made anew/ Await the day when I/ I enjoy the view at mountain high…”
The spangled sample that kicks off the follow-up single “Diamonds” is from the Boybandmoney song “Jesus Piece,” co-produced by Hampton. Iroquois plans to perform “Diamonds” and material from Demo at her upcoming Petra’s show as well as a new unreleased tune that she describes as more upbeat but still in the R&B pop lane.
If a message can be found in Iroquois’ career and muse, she says it’s hard work and persistence.
“People in Charlotte have seen me doing this for a very long time, and doing my best at it,” Iroquois says. “I really hope to show people how much you can grow something … if you don’t give up.”
But for the most part, Iroquois is content to let her music do the talking, allowing an effortlessly classic and contemporary track like “Diamonds” to weave a sparkling spell on listeners — like the aurora borealis casting its shimmering starburst upon the nighttime sky.
