DJs TO KNOW: WOMON OF BLKPPLCHURCH
WOMON// BLKPPLCHURCH
Mo Nikole (she/her, performative name WOMON), DJ and creator of the party concept BLKPPLCHURCH has created an environment that is more than just a party– it’s a spiritual experience and a chance to give thanks to what music can do for our souls.
By Jade Mpeye
All photos captured by photo artist @troyezeq.
“blkpplchrch is a functioning fellowship experience where all points of spiritual and secular expression can emerge and collectively take shape. blkpplchrch celebrates the oral history of traditional black gospel prose while challenging us to re-imagine black healing aesthetics through a post-modern lens. We dance, we praise, we discover, we expand. In movement, blkpplchrch is mindset, sound is spirit, and design is demonstration. We look to the hands, the spirit, the bodies to form the rest of the story.”
Based in Houston, Texas, BLKPPLCHURCH was started out of necessity. Mo quotes Toni Morrison saying, “If there’s a book you want to read that has not been written, you must be the one to write it”. After a period of life changing events in her life, she found herself listening to lots of old Southern Gospel classics and finding redemption through the music tying her back to her upbringing in the church “it wasn’t religion based, it was spiritual once I started to remove some of the religious teachings of that music, I was like damn… this is really redeeming!”
Cue in some Bounce music from NOLA and Amapiano from South Africa, Mo realized,“Black music is church music.”
Alongside a team of creatives such as Ruby Amare, Michswork, AstoldbyBrandi, and Troy Ezequiel, the first BLKPPLCHURCH service was held for the public in October 2022. Entry for each service is aligned with the idea of tithing for entry, and people give what they can for the experience. This decreases the pressure on people to live up to the often expensive unspoken “requirements” of nightlife.
Some challenges that have arisen with the formation of BLKPPLCHURCH and Mo’s vision have been the demand by society’s rapid appetite for anything they are meant to enjoy. It is difficult to satiate “the need to always make things make sense. Within seconds, we’re expected to be able to communicate something whole.” With that rushed mindset, society can and will miss out on the value and the instruments that make a gem such as BLKPPLCHURCH a special, liberating experience for any person stepping into its doors.
As for any DJ, there are go-to songs people can expect to hear during their sets. At a service, from the hands of multiple guest DJs and WOMON herself, one can expect to hear a melange of Megan Thee Stallion, Drake, OdunsiTheEngine, Afro Gospel, Blaq Pages, Santi, and Amapiano artists like Kabza de Small, DJ Maphorisa or DJ Moma, and Mas Musiq. In regards to Amapiano specifically, Mo Nikole says, ”that just opened my world up completely! I don’t need to know what they’re saying lyrically… it’s what you feel. It’s an experience.”
For some, there may be a blurred line between BLKPPLCHURCH’s “why” and whether the concept is tied to the church as most know it today. BLKPPLCHURCH is not for religious purpose but instead aims to “[amplify] Pan-African eclecticism across the African Diaspora experience”. It is a gathering to honor the healing aspects that are present in Black music and celebrate what that may physically appear as in all forms.
“Houston for me is DJ Screw, slow music, candy paint, cars switchin’ lanes… Black people creating community where they weren’t supposed to.”
This is just the beginning for BLKPPLCHURCH, but the goal in its growth is to maintain authenticity and the creation of community. It is a space for fellowship and uncensored joy and being which is a takeaway message that is planted into guests as they leave for the evening.
There is enough room for everyone. - Mich Stevenson
“I want people to feel good enough about who they are. Collectively we’re stronger than if we’re apart.”
For people that have never heard of BLKPPLCHURCH, remember to come into the experience as your entire self, have grace for yourself and others, and for the time you spend in its company, do what makes your cup feel fulfilled.
“spirit is coming Black.
we welcome u
blessins’.”
FOLLOW & SUPPORT BLKPPLCHURCH BELOW
〰️
FOLLOW & SUPPORT BLKPPLCHURCH BELOW 〰️
ABOUT JADE MPEYE
Contributing Writer for SHEER
Jade Mpeye is a Congolese-American woman and freelance writer based in the Houston/Dallas area with an interest in bringing the stories unheard or undefined to light.
Photography by Nabila Wirakusumah
I first stumbled across Nia Winslow’s work, totally by accident, and there was a piece titled “Secret Keeper” which I couldn’t believe was entirely paper because of the intricacies and detailing of the bobos and barrettes that took me back to my childhood. While digging deeper into her catalog I was shocked to realize her art is entirely collage and paper-based. The level of detail and intention behind her work is so incredibly impressive and even more so once I learned she was self-taught and only started making art in 2019!! Nia’s collages connect the Black and African diaspora by portraying our shared experiences from the seemingly mundane to the more poetic while simultaneously using unique strips of paper to also highlight we are not a monolith and to honor our diverse range of cultures.