(dramatic music) - [Matt] Create art with vine tendrils in the studio of Russell Serrianne.

Albany artist Ke $upreme talks about her creative journey and performs tracks from her LP "Enough."

It's all ahead on this episode of "AHA."

♪ Yeah, let's go ♪ - [Announcer] Funding for "AHA" has been provided by your contribution and by contributions to the WMHT Venture Fund.

Contributors include the Leo Cox Beach Philanthropic Foundation, Chet and Karen Opalka, Robert and Doris Fischer Malesardi, and The Robison Family Foundation.

(energetic music) - Hi, I'm Matt Rogowicz, and this is "AHA!

A House for Arts," a place for all things creative.

Speaking of all things creative, we've seen a lot of different artistic mediums on the show throughout the years, but I don't think we've covered anyone using vine tendrils until now.

Russell Serrianne is an artist based in Glens Falls who uses vine tendrils on paper to create suddenly complex compositions.

(bright music) - My artwork is drawing with vine tendrils, three dimensional drawings.

It's like using a 9B pencil for thick line and a 2H for a thin line, but I'm doing it with these natural pieces.

(bright music) It really started when I saw a few vines and the tendrils in the backyard.

See, this is what you'll find if you, you know?

The tendrils are always looking for something to hold on to.

You look at that.

I mean, that's a lot of determination to wrap around that.

(bright music) And I clipped them, just maybe three or four of them, and I put them on the windowsill.

I didn't know why I was doing that or what it all meant.

My background was in graphic design and printing, and everything was flat.

So when I saw these lines on the windowsill, I saw it as a three dimensional line and I started putting them together, and then they made those shapes similar to calligraphy.

- [Interviewer] The light bulb moment.

- Aha!

The work started out being literally interpretations of, you know, like asemic art, making language out of them.

It had nothing to do with knowing the language.

It was always about the shape.

I knew I wanted to expand that and make more shapes.

The characters started to open up and fall, and then that moved me on to more dense artwork.

(bright music) I realized that I could make different tones in the drawing by how thin I make the lines or how thick and dense I make an area.

Each piece moves me on to the next piece, and it truly is about the process.

They start to get separated, whether they're a reddish color or a dark brown and how thick they are, and then I need these hair thin little pieces, too.

I buff them with steel wool to get the dirt off sometimes, and then you snip the stem so that it'll lie flat and hold glue, and then they're shellacked.

Otherwise the bark, the little thin bark, will decompose at some point.

I don't rush on these.

I use tweezers.

I have to put glue with toothpicks and then place them where I want them on the paper.

There's a point I want to reach with what I'm trying to say with it, and I'm not trying to say a lot.

I just want someone to be able to just take a second look, "What am I looking at?"

My goal is to be satisfied with the piece and see where it takes me for the next one, and there's no hurry to get there (laughing).

- Albany Artist Kemiyah Griffin recently released her first full length LP titled "Enough."

Jade Warrick sat down with Kemiyah, who performs under the name Ke $upreme, to learn about her creative journey behind her album.

- Hey, Ke $upreme.

How are you doing today?

- Good, how are you?

- Doing amazing.

Glad to have you on "A House for Art."

Ready to talk everything that you love, your passions, your album, and all your music endeavors coming up.

For a person who may not be familiar with your work, how would you describe Ke $upreme?

Who is Ke $upreme?

- Yes, well, I'll say Ke $upreme is someone that's versatile.

I'm very versatile.

I feel like I'm someone that makes uplifting music.

I love to inspire others, so I like to incorporate that into my craft as well.

So I would say, yeah, you'll have some fun listening to me, you'll get some conscious sides, you'll just get a full range.

- Yeah, and does that mean with genres as well?

Do you bounce between genres, or?

- Yes, absolutely.

I don't just stick to one thing.

I like to challenge myself, so I like to go all around.

Even to pop, they got me into pop this year, too.

- Oh, really?

- Yeah.

That one was hard, but I did it.

It was fun, though.

- What was your foundation?

What type of genre or vibe did you start with?

- Hip hop and rap, for sure.

- Nice.

- But my dad, my dad really, it started with 50 Cent, and he was working out to that album back then, so ever since that, we would exercise together and things like that, and from that moment I knew.

"Yeah, no, this is my life."

- That's what I want.

- Yes.

- Nice.

So, I know you released an album recently called "Enough," but before you released that album, you were maybe releasing maybe, like, one song or two songs a year, so what changed from you going from one or two songs a year to releasing a full album?

Like, what changed for you?

- So, with doing one song a year, I wasn't really believing in myself to that extent.

I felt like I wanted to really push myself, and I knew I could release 22 songs.

And I feel like everyone too, they were all, you know, a lot of people, we're in a single era.

Everyone's saying, you know, "You gotta push singles, push singles, push singles," and as very true as that is and as cool as it is, I wanted to be different.

I'm like, I wanted to challenge myself.

Let me see if I can do 22 songs.

Out of people my age or people, my peers, that have made music, they have a catalog, or they're probably on their fifth or sixth project, and then there's me.

I'm like, no, let me just go with a bang and just do what I do, and I had to just drop it so I could see what I even liked or what it was going to do in the first place.

So, it was just about believing in myself and doing it, to be honest.

- Yeah.

Would you say it was also kind of experimental and kind of like seeing again, like what kind of stuck with you or what, you were like, "Oh, I'm actually am really passionate about this."

- Yes, absolutely, because it took about two years to even come up with all 22 of those songs.

Experiencing life is what made those 22 songs come to life.

- Oh, I love that.

Now I know you also spoke about how releasing this album was also vulnerable and a little bit uncomfortable for you.

What made it feel that way and how did you overcome that?

- Yeah, so I don't really share a lot of myself with anyone.

Now I do in more of a sense, I was very a private person, so this was like letting people see the downsides of my life or the ups, just seeing all around and those things that I don't normally share, so it made it very scary for me because I'm like, I don't even share with one or two people, let alone to share with the world.

So that was definitely very uncomfortable, but it also was something very fulfilling in a sense because I didn't realize too, I inspired so many people with dropping this project.

And so many of my peers, so many people that I didn't even know were going through things felt comfortable to now share their things, so that's what I realized that's really what it's about.

I just wanted to connect with everyone on another level and just show I'm not just this hardworking girl who's just always just a militant robot or something.

That's it, really.

- Was the title, "Enough," being like, enough to the anxiety, enough to this, or where does that title come from?

- Yes, so it stems from basically the three things I had coming with it.

Basically it goes, I've had enough, enough is enough, I am enough.

Enough of people taking advantage of me, enough of being afraid, I am enough, like just stop-key, you got this, and just go out there and do what you're made to do.

- Yeah, and that's something I think we all need to hear right now, you know?

That nice little boost of confidence.

And a lot of people in general, you know, we do have a hard time finding the value within ourselves or within our work or et cetera, and I do like that strong feeling of, like, enough is enough.

We got this, you know?

- Yes, exactly, yep.

- So, I know with your current endeavors right now you're kind of switching it up a little bit and doing a lot of, or focusing on some music and some Afrobeats or Caribbean-based beats.

What made you decide to kind of pivot in this genre or this stylistic change?

- So yeah, with my project "Enough," I was very versatile with this.

So now I'm like, okay, I touched on everything.

Everybody can enjoy that stuff now.

So now I'm like, let's get into the summer vibes.

I wanted to really get into the feel-good feeling, all right?

I've already gotten to the enough, you know, I got through my sadness or got through those growing pains, I would say.

So now it's just like, let's have fun and let's enjoy life, because that's where I'm at mentally now.

I'm at such peace.

I just got my first apartment.

I just hit a year at my photography studio.

So it's, like, it's so many things that's going great.

I want to rather focus on the good right now and I want to express that into my music.

- And do you think the Caribbean, Afrobeats, kind of supports that?

- Absolutely, yes.

I just took a trip with my sister to Jamaica, and that's the roots, that's where my family is, and it just, it's like piss paradise.

That's all I can say for it.

That brings me paradise, and I'm like, nah.

We gotta bring that to the music.

- We gotta put that out.

Yeah, I gotta put that on some songs.

- Exactly.

- Oh, I love that.

So, you and I kind of briefly spoke about how difficult it can be as a musical artist to handle the business side.

What is something that you wish you knew sooner that's on the business side of music, and what's something that you think emerging musicians should know about?

- Yes, so when it comes to the business side, I definitely wish I knew sooner as far as how much it would cost to invest into everything.

It's not just getting to the studio, you know, hear a cool beat, you know, you can find on YouTube.

Now we got a hit, drop it, and now everything's, et cetera, et cetera, no.

You need to invest into knowing who's the producer, buying the beat, making sure samples are cleared if samples are on the beat.

Making sure, even just as far as promoting it, like with DSPs, you know, DistroKid or United Masters.

Knowing all of those things and layers, that's very important, I feel, especially as we were saying on our prior combo with younger artists.

They need to know these things, I feel, off rip so that, not saying you can't just make music and have fun, but if you want to really go far, develop a career into this, you need to invest.

You need to know where you need to invest at as soon as possible, because it's gonna make or break you and it'll take away the fun if you don't know the business side.

If you know it too last minute, it's just gonna make you say, "I don't even care about this probably," and like, "I don't even want to do music anymore."

- Yeah, the burnout.

- It's gonna be an extensive burnout, because I feel as artists we have to put, everybody has to put something in, but we have to put so much in before we even make money, so that's the biggest thing.

Everybody thinks, they see people viral online and stuff and think, "Oh they making hundreds of thousands."

It's not like that, babes (laughing).

- [Jade] Not at all.

- I just wanted to be straight up with that.

So yeah, that's really what I would say with it.

- And how did you find support within this?

Where do you go to even learn these things to support yourself and protect yourself?

- I went to YouTube University.

- Okay.

- But other than that.

- Same here, I love YouTube University.

I learned so much.

I learned about graphic design, everything.

- Exactly, yep.

I learned literally with mixing myself, engineering my own self.

I learned all those things on there.

And besides that, my cousin Ace, Ace and my bro Jay, they're engineers, and they're deep into the craft themselves.

I think they learned from YouTube, too, so I might as well just say we all learned from YouTube.

But yeah, I would say just a simple Google search or asking people that's already doing the craft.

Just ask.

You've got to ask people, and don't be afraid to ask, because that's the only way we're gonna all grow, really.

- That's true.

You gotta have that self-starter mentality, really.

- Exactly.

- So, I know you're a videographer and a photographer as well.

That's another part of your artistic life.

How does that intermingle with your music?

Do they build off of each other?

Does being a photographer and a videographer help you tell stories through your music or vice versa?

- Absolutely.

This question the other day stumbled me, but I was like, I had to take a deep look.

But no, when I really sat and processed that after you and I got off that call, photography, to me, it really encompasses what music is in a photo.

It's like it freezes it in time, basically.

And so, photography and videography is just like the visual representation of what music already encompasses.

That's really it.

I feel they go hand in hand and that's how, I mean, look at the reels.

Reels right now are like an insane thing.

Even us right now, we're filming this right now.

Everything just goes hand in hand, just a visual to the auditory representation of it.

- Just like another way to view another piece of art.

- Exactly.

- Awesome.

Well, thank you so much.

Where can people find your work?

Where can we listen to you?

- Yes, you can listen to me, I'm Ke $upreme.

So, K-E $-U-P-R-E-M-E on all platforms, Instagram, everything.

Follow me out, check me out.

"Enough" is out everywhere.

- Yay!

Well, thank you so much, Ke $upreme.

I appreciate you, and thank you for stopping by the studio to talk to us today.

- Thank you so much.

It was awesome.

- Thank you.

♪ Yeah, enough is enough ♪ ♪ I'm on, I'm on, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Taking a second I ♪ had to go switch that ♪ ♪ Then show 'em the get ♪ back just all in my zone ♪ ♪ All of these people ♪ they tryna be something ♪ ♪ Get benefits, now they ♪ just call on my phone ♪ ♪ I was just all on a mission ♪ I had to get reinstated ♪ ♪ Taking off on the road ♪ ♪ Now they see how its ♪ just black on black ♪ ♪ Peanut butter interior ♪ ♪ I ain't feelin' like myself ♪ ♪ Feeling like I need some help ♪ ♪ Need to check on my health ♪ ♪ Working all towards my wealth ♪ ♪ Them cards I'm dealt, yeah ♪ ♪ Had to get it all just by myself ♪ ♪ Just like my momma did for real ♪ ♪ I gotta show them I ♪ ♪ Take a minute catch a vibe ♪ ♪ All ya life you been wanting more ♪ ♪ I been feeling like I'm losing ♪ ♪ Stuck and lied to, I lost control ♪ ♪ Feeling bad because I been numb ♪ ♪ Just like Lord renew my soul ♪ ♪ I never liked this feeling ♪ ♪ Cold hearted ♪ ♪ Now I'm just all alone ♪ ♪ Just takin' it steady, ♪ I'm ready, you ready ♪ ♪ Takin' it steady know that I'm ready ♪ ♪ Know that I'm ready ♪ ♪ Knowing I'm ready, come on ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Yeah, it's Ke $upreme ♪ ♪ I got Swing with me ♪ ♪ Let's go ♪ ♪ Check it, the life ♪ I'm living is reckless ♪ ♪ And walking all out on faith ♪ ♪ Because the vision can't ♪ be neglected on the mission ♪ ♪ A marathon but sometimes ♪ we be sprinting ♪ ♪ 'Cause there ain't no time to waste ♪ ♪ 'Cause these curses gotta be lifted ♪ ♪ From these generations ♪ ♪ Went to school to study, ♪ figure out your occupation ♪ ♪ The next move, never ♪ known was the destination ♪ ♪ On the east side, yeah, I'm chilling ♪ ♪ Road the well, them real ♪ need a spiritual healing ♪ ♪ Remember them cold nights, ♪ barely gettin' sleep ♪ ♪ Trying to crack the code on the light ♪ ♪ 'Cause family gotta eat ♪ ♪ Was really just throwing the dart ♪ ♪ Just have the thoughts, ♪ the needle we start ♪ ♪ Pray the Lord the men ♪ to fall to pieces to my ♪ ♪ I take it easy baby ♪ ♪ Now they comin' through ♪ trying to believe me baby ♪ ♪ But they don't understand ♪ just how I be, see ♪ ♪ Crazy 'cause I'm so humble ♪ ♪ I'm gonna show 'em, let ♪ the whole world rumble ♪ ♪ We taking over like ♪ ♪ Lonely road, you think ♪ you know me but you don't ♪ ♪ Leave me alone, now I got it on my own ♪ ♪ I was in the cold and I ♪ didn't ask God for a loan ♪ ♪ Sleeping on the floor in ♪ dark, cold and lonely roads ♪ ♪ On my own and now ♪ they're asking me a favor ♪ ♪ As I'm all in my zone and ♪ I'll be looking at my phone ♪ ♪ Like, I wish they would ♪ just like, leave me alone ♪ ♪ Yeah, leave me alone ♪ ♪ Most these people, ♪ they really be close ♪ ♪ They see Ke in the zone ♪ ♪ Now they want hit up my phone ♪ ♪ But they just gonna get the dial tone ♪ ♪ 'Cause I don't answer ♪ ♪ Make it slither and shake ♪ 'em just like a black panther ♪ ♪ In the section you see 'em and ♪ now they got their hands up ♪ ♪ They feel the rhythm and now ♪ they say it's the next thing ♪ ♪ Flipping the mold and making them go ♪ ♪ And show him how we are ♪ ♪ Always knew that I'd make it ♪ ♪ Just had to get out my way ♪ and see how far I can take it ♪ ♪ I had to practice some patience ♪ ♪ To figure out what I'm chasing ♪ ♪ 'Cause I wasn't happy ♪ ♪ With how I was waking up on the daily ♪ ♪ I'm just waking and ♪ baking to my mission ♪ ♪ Whoever thought that I ♪ would ever be in somebody ♪ ♪ It's different ♪ ♪ I thought I couldn't do ♪ it but look, I did it ♪ ♪ Same ones I want to spy with ♪ ♪ Was the one who told me to quit it ♪ ♪ Listen, I know my daddy ♪ this got the path I found ♪ ♪ I know I'm far from ♪ perfect but I'm learning ♪ ♪ I ain't crushing out ♪ ♪ I know made mistakes, I ♪ sit and pray, Amazing Grace ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, go ♪ ♪ Lonely road, you think ♪ you know me but you don't ♪ ♪ Leave me alone now I got it on my own ♪ ♪ I was in the cold and I ♪ didn't ask God for a loan ♪ ♪ Sleeping on the floor, the ♪ dark cold and lonely roads ♪ ♪ And now they asking me a favor ♪ ♪ As I'm all in my zone and ♪ I be looking at my phone ♪ ♪ I wish they all would ♪ just like yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Lonely road, you think ♪ you know me but you don't ♪ ♪ You think you know me but you don't ♪ ♪ You think you know me but you don't ♪ ♪ You think you know me but you ♪ ♪ Leave me alone, on my own ♪ ♪ You think you know me but you ♪ ♪ You think you know me but you ♪ ♪ You think you know me but, nah ♪ ♪ You think you know me but you don't ♪ ♪ You think you know me but you ♪ ♪ Leave me alone ♪ (dreamy music) ♪ Yeah, go ♪ ♪ Blame on, blame on ♪ ♪ Put the blame, put the blame ♪ ♪ You put the blame on ♪ me, the chains on me ♪ ♪ Wouldn't let me be ♪ and you shoved me down ♪ ♪ Then you hear my screams ♪ and you linger on ♪ ♪ Watching every move, ♪ bodies hit the ground ♪ ♪ All things don't last, memories ♪ stay whether good or bad ♪ ♪ Just want to keep my heart in tact ♪ ♪ Moving on before they're ♪ stuck on the path ♪ ♪ Fell love a few times, ♪ now I got the moonlight ♪ ♪ Know my life in due ♪ time ain't from the Lord ♪ ♪ Fell in love with your presence ♪ ♪ Dreamin' I thought we were ♪ destined, part of my essence ♪ ♪ Thought we were really progressing ♪ ♪ Guess I just didn't get ♪ the message from the start ♪ ♪ Fool me with the melodies ♪ ♪ Never taking accountability ♪ ♪ Heart strings, you played ♪ them all out of key ♪ ♪ Drained me of all my energy ♪ ♪ Give me your love and you take it away ♪ ♪ Look off the back, ♪ let it all just fade ♪ ♪ You won't stay around ♪ 'cause you love that chase ♪ ♪ No way, ain't tryna ♪ fall back in your game ♪ ♪ You want more time but ♪ I need a little space ♪ ♪ Yeah, let's go, Lace ♪ ♪ You put the blame on ♪ me, you changed on me ♪ ♪ Wouldn't let me be ♪ and you shut me down ♪ ♪ Now you hear my screams ♪ and you linger on ♪ ♪ Watching every move, ♪ bodies hit the ground ♪ ♪ You put the blame on ♪ me, the chains on me ♪ ♪ Wouldn't let me be ♪ and you shut me down ♪ ♪ Do you hear my screams ♪ and you linger on ♪ ♪ Watching every move, ♪ bodies hit the ground ♪ ♪ Want to put the blame ♪ on me when it's equally ♪ ♪ You know what it was with me ♪ ♪ Why you wanna tell lies with me ♪ ♪ No one ever saw me ♪ ♪ You say I lie, I don't make time ♪ ♪ You always assuming, you just got sly ♪ ♪ You just want control and it's my life ♪ ♪ 'Cause the things you ♪ do, you don't like ♪ ♪ It's you projecting ♪ ♪ Ain't interesting, ♪ ain't learn your lesson ♪ ♪ You need to slow down ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ It's Ke, let's go ♪ ♪ Let's go, let's go ♪ ♪ What they want from me ♪ I get dough, you see ♪ ♪ Diamonds all we seen ♪ ♪ On the road, the team ♪ ♪ Don't need no receipt ♪ ♪ On my phone, it ring ♪ ♪ I need all the green ♪ ♪ I need all the green ♪ ♪ I need all the green ♪ ♪ I need all the green ♪ ♪ I need, yeah, let's go ♪ ♪ Get in the stadium ♪ when it's jam packed ♪ ♪ And we get finish, ♪ just make it go dong ♪ ♪ The pressure that we're ♪ applying, there ain't no denying ♪ ♪ That this ain't really what they want ♪ ♪ Ride through the city ♪ late night on the coast ♪ ♪ People be talking, ♪ they hate on the low ♪ ♪ Wrist with the diamonds ♪ be dripping this row ♪ ♪ Only the family, you know how it goes ♪ ♪ Fight night, shaking ♪ making, cruise control ♪ ♪ Tight night, get you on the microphone ♪ ♪ Hype night, just go ♪ ahead and lose your dome ♪ ♪ I spy anybody who gonna ♪ phone, what they want from me ♪ ♪ I get dough you see ♪ ♪ Diamonds all we see ♪ ♪ On the road, the team ♪ ♪ Don't need no receipt ♪ ♪ On my phone, it rings ♪ ♪ I need all the green ♪ ♪ I need all the green ♪ ♪ I need all the green ♪ ♪ I need all the green ♪ ♪ I need all the green ♪ ♪ I need the green ♪ ♪ You bring it back in the day ♪ ♪ I'm breaking the safe ♪ ♪ Got them wondering what I ♪ be doing stacking my chains ♪ ♪ You know how I rock with the game ♪ ♪ I made up my mind, ♪ I'm telling the time ♪ ♪ I know what I'm losing ♪ ♪ How to get it together ♪ and stay in my grind ♪ ♪ 'Cause life is so mental ♪ ♪ Let's go, let's go ♪ ♪ What they want from ♪ me, I get dough you see ♪ ♪ Diamonds all we seen, ♪ on the road, the team ♪ ♪ Don't need no receipt ♪ ♪ On my phone, it rings ♪ ♪ I need, yeah, all the green ♪ ♪ I need all the green ♪ ♪ I need all the green ♪ ♪ I need all the green ♪ (soft music) - Thanks for joining us.

For more arts, visit wmht.org/aha, and be sure to connect with us on social.

I'm Matt Rogowicz.

Thanks for watching.

(gentle music) - [Announcer] Funding for "AHA" has been provided by your contribution, and by contributions to the WMHT Venture Fund.

Contributors include the Leo Cox Beach Philanthropic Foundation, Chad and Karen Opalka, Robert and Doris Fischer Malesardi and the Robison Family Foundation.