Talk to Sa-Roc and Her ‘Talk to Me’ Tour

Assata Perkins, known as Sa-Roc, will be bringing her empowering and inspiring lyrics through her Talk to Me tour to Santa Barbara’s SOhO Restaurant & Music Club (1221 State St.) on August 24.

Like most musicians, Sa-Roc grew up surrounded by music, and being a female rapper was something that was always in the cards. Coming from Washington, D.C., Sa-Roc’s musical career began with a heavy influence from the unique musical style she had seen her entire life.

“The nature of D.C. is very interesting in that we have our own particular style of music called gogo that pulls its influences from a number of sources from funk to West African drums to even hip-hop,” she said. “I think that all of that eclecticism kind of worked its way into my expression as an artist.”

Inspired by artists like OutKast, Lauryn Hill, Nina Simone, Fugees, and even Jimi Hendrix, Sa-Roc’s emceeing is reminiscent of these influential and iconic Black artists. (See video here.) Combining this with her early years in D.C., her lyrics are flowing with culture and underlying messages about spirituality — for Sa-Roc, music is a healing method.

I had the pleasure of getting to speak with her on a quiet Tuesday morning, in a small time frame when she wasn’t occupied with the buzz and chaos of the life of a touring musician.

“Music has always been an emotional escape for me. That connection to emotion and real feelings kind of inspires the way that I write as an artist, imbuing a lot of vulnerability and thoughtful reflection in my music and using it as a modality of healing. And hopefully by opening up in that way, I can inspire others to do it as well,” Sa-Roc said.

Her last album, The Sharecropper’s Daughter (highly recommend listening), confronts and discusses the healing process, generational trauma, and self-harm. As music is healing for her, spirituality, gods and goddesses, mediation, and everything under that umbrella seems to make its way into her music, whether intentional or not. The musician studies Eastern philosophy, constantly surrounding and grounding herself in the belief that God is all around us and inside us always.

“It’s been so historically intentional in my life through affirmations in my own personal practice, it becomes an automatic thing almost when I’m writing…. Part of that [healing] process for me is powerful affirmations that encode and embed in me the strength I have to conquer personal battles both internal and external and find beauty and value and triumph is my story. I’m not burdened by them or buried in these things.”

And this is where the audience comes into play. Sa-Roc, and all her complex and deep issues her music brings to light, is able to connect with a variety of people from across all walks of life. Whether it be the Black community in general, women in general, or Black women, it is easy for people to feel heard by her music and inspired by her lyrics.

“A lot of the social justice issues, I’m speaking directly to Black people, in terms of being very intentional about using my voice to amplify the things that are happening, to make people more broadly aware about the experiences in our communities,” she said. “That is very important to me, to tell our stories. I’ve been so inspired by other artists who have done the same, and I think that’s a part of the artistic legacies.”

But her music is also universal, as all music hopes to be. Her music talks about trauma and self-love and self-worth — something all humans have felt or hope to feel at some point in their lives.

“I think that people feel like they can’t relate if something is specifically addressing a topic that largely affects one specific group but I think that is the beauty of art. To be able to dig deeper and see at the heart of this: How can I pull from this message? How does this resonate with me as a human, as a life being?”

If you are over 21 years old, have $20 to spare, and have no calendar itinerary for Thursday, August 24, at 9 p.m., spend a night at SOhO with Sa-Roc. You have no excuse for not being able to connect to her lyrics and music (it is universal, after all).