Claire Jemisin
Claire Jemisin – October 31, 2000
At the time that album came out, I was working the club scene for three or four years. I did spots at all the Pangea speakeasies and had a residency at Lucky Death. Every Thursday night when I went to sleep, the only thing I would be concerned with was performing at Lucky Death. At that point, I had a solid little reputation but I definitely wasn’t a household name. I pretty much had the same level of success in Pangea that I had when I was Sleep Walking. I was a soul singer that people respected and listened to but I was far from famous.
It all changed in the spring of 2000 when I met Kombo during one of my performances at Lucky Death. When I got off stage he introduced himself to me and said that he was a rapper looking to make a name for himself in Pangea. I thought it was crazy because he was already a big time rapper in real life. Everyone knew about Kombo in the UK, where I’m from. Even in Lucky Death, people kept looking over at our table while we spoke. They recognized him from their Sleep Walking lives. But here he was talking about starting a completely different career in Pangea and wanting to do that with me. He said he wanted the challenge of starting over musically in Pangea and wanted to form a group with me being the singer while he was the rapper. So not only was I completely caught off guard by meeting a real life celebrity in Pangea, I was amazed that he liked what I did and wanted to work with me. I actually thought it was too good to be true. We exchanged Sleep Addresses and he left. I didn’t think I’d ever see him again.
Of course, the next night he’s waiting for me in my dream and says he came up with some material to begin working on. We got started putting the album together that summer and ended up releasing it at the end of October. He was, and is, a complete professional. He’s easily the most gifted artist I’ve ever worked with. That album changed my life as you know. We became the talk of Pangea. We ended up winning all of those Phoenix awards, I even had to give up my Lucky Death residency because we got too busy from touring. It’s all been a whirlwind that I’m incredibly grateful for. I know people think I got lucky and was an overnight success because of Kombo, but like I said, I was working on my craft for years before him. I’m not jealous, I just want kids to understand that.
My hours on stage prepared me for the moment my opportunity came. When I performed in front of Kombo and was basically auditioning without even knowing it, I was ready. So when you ask me about that album and my relationship with Kombo, I have nothing but good things to say. That year meant a lot to me. And even though I was never as popular or successful as an artist when awake as I was in Pangea, it never bothered me. Because each night I got to live out my dream. That’s all I ever wanted.
