Kay Cola Releases "Lucid Dreams" EP & "Good" Video
Grammy nominated singer, rapper, songwriter Kay Cola, who has collaborated with superstars Eminen, Charlie Wilson and Jhene Aiko, released her fifth studio album "Lucid Dreams" and the "Good" music video (on her birthday May 7th), on Lucid Dreams Music Group LLC / EMPIRE.
Kay gets her grown and sexy on in the music video for "Good," an ultra funky electronic mood produced by D Tonez. In observing California's COVID-19 Stay-at-Home order, Kay shot the video in her home. "We used a very small production crew of two people," she says. "They wore masks and we practiced social distancing."
"Good" is one of the 10 songs on "Lucid Dreams" that Kay wrote or co-wrote. The set features self-production ("Hopes N Dreams," "Interstellar") as well as contributions from Trackademicks (E-40, Mistah FAB, Kamaiyah), THX (Snoop Dogg, Jay Z, Chris Brown), D Tonez, J White (Cardi B, Gucci Mane, Megan Thee Stallion), DJ Dahi (Drake, Dr. Dre, Kendrick Lamar) and Avenue Dave (Lil Brother, Pharoahe Monch, Talib Kweli). It also includes a special guest appearance from Kay Cola's father, legendary, Grammy nominated jazz flautist Hubert Laws, who has been sampled by, and produced with or for J Cole, Jay, LL Cool J and Mary J. Blige. Laws appears on one of the standout tracks, "DreamGirl," a hypnotic, soulful, 1970s-styled ballad with congas and electric bass.
Despite having a rich and famous father, Kay never received his financial support or access to his network. She sings about overcoming hardships on the booming, jazzy hip hop record "Natural Selection" with Raj Will and produced by Avenue Dave. "A lot of people who grew up with wealthy fathers, they kinda had a silver spoon and that wasn't it for me," she says. "I endured a lot of hardship and I wasn't given anything. So, at the same time, I think it made me angry that I had access to certain things and wasn't able to have benefits from it. It actually ended up helping me because it taught me how to be self sufficient and self reliant. It also helped me realize my dad was a human too. Maybe he couldn't love me the way I needed because of what he went through as a child." These experiences along with watching her single mother work hard to take care of her, motivated her to achieve.
Kay's singing and songwriting talents helped her find her own success in music. She worked with the likes of Dr. Dre on his unreleased album "Detox," Eminem on his Best Rap Song Performance Grammy winning "Not Afraid" and Charlie Wilson on "Musta Heard." She toured with Eric Benet and Eric Bellinger and released several albums independently. She later launched the successful OrganiGrowHairCo and OrganiGlowSkinCo natural hair care and skin product lines.
The "Lucid Dreams" album title explains Kay's outlook on life. "Lucid dreaming means that you're awake during the dream and you're aware and so therefore you can manipulate the dream and change it if you want to. That's kinda like my philosophy for life," she says. The concept is heard throughout the album. "A lot of the records are about love or the challenges or hardships that we go through as human beings," she says. "So we have to learn how to be alchemists and change the outcomes of our lives because things are always going to be thrown at you and that's kinda how that relates to that."