I met Kamasi Washington on twitter. When being told about Guest Professional day the night before, I was not feeling the whole concept. Being a journalist at Grammy Camp, we were focused on documenting the camp, so while other tracks were given guest speakers, we were spread out to cover them. Steve Baltin, my awesome teacher and legendary journalist, gave us the opportunity to pick which guest professional we would cover. After hearing 2 sentences of Kamasi Washington’s bio, I jumped at the opportunity. My interest was jolted when I heard that he had worked with Erykah Badu, but I knew that wasn’t going to be a good basis for an interview.
The next day, I would have to review his conversation with the instrumentalists and then interview him after the panel, so I decided to do my research on the dude. Basically, he’s pretty cool and he worked with Kendrick Lamar on To Pimp a Butterfly. What I really found neat about Washington was his debut album which arrived in May. It was a jazz album (and I like jazz believe it or not), but there was something really special about it. Finishing at 3 hours long, The Epic is aptly titled and not something that you hear every day. I did some more internet snooping and discovered that his album was a triple disc. I’m not going to lie: I’m a CD enthusiast, and I’m immensely intrigued by album packaging and double CDs. Never before, however, had I heard of a triple CD. From that point on, I knew that I had to own Washington’s album.
While I was coming up with questions for our interview, I decided to be slightly unconventional, so I tweeted him. It was harmless and completely clean; I simply asked if he would bring a copy of his album with him for me to purchase. About an hour later he replied with a yes, and I lost my mind. I was going to own my first triple disc album, and possibly my last. Then I decided to give it a spin as I went to sleep.
The next morning didn’t go exactly to plan. Before going to review the small sessions with the professionals, it was stressed that the journalists were not to say anything at all. I was cool with it though because I was more excited for the interview anyway. However, Washington was not present for the panel following the small sessions. I searched the room, but I was sad to see that Washington was nowhere to be found in the audience. Long story short- I didn’t get my copy of The Epic.
For whatever reason, Kamasi Washington left early and I never got the opportunity to interview him or get my CD. I was persistent though and continued to tweet him. Kamasi being the cool guy that he is responded, and let me know that he was gonna bring it again as he was attending the Grammy Camp Launch Party.
Fast forward to the last day of camp, and I was at the El Rey Theater in LA for the Launch Party. The time had finally come to purchase the relic from Kamasi. I saw him during the show and waved. Although he waved back, I could tell he didn’t know who I was, so I waited until the show was finished to see if he had remembered the album. I don’t know what it is, but the “It’s me from twitter” line totally sparked something in Washington’s head. He then pulled out his CD and handed it to me. While trying to get my money prepared he waved it off, telling me not to worry about it. KAMASI WASHINGTON WILL ALWAYS HAVE HELLA COOL POINTS WITH ME JUST FOR THAT. After getting it signed and getting a picture with him, I decided I should probably leave him alone.
The moment was amazing. After a week of cyber communication, it was cool to finally talk to Kamasi face to face. That’s the power of a tweet.
MY KAMASI STORY