Nina Simone said, “An artist’s duty is to reflect the times.” TK‘s lyrics combined with Khari’s melody reflects on the hypocrisy of asking Black and Brown communities to be peaceful when brutalized by police. After months of protesting the murders of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd and as a Black woman that has experienced her own disturbing encounters with the police —these words by civil rights leader John Lewis were a driving force behind the song: “Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.” “Fuck Peace” is about getting in good and necessary trouble.
TK and her twin sister, Cipriana Quann, co-directed the music video together as she felt it was imperative to have Black women directing as well as Black women that have experienced police harassment and brutality (Cipriana was wrongfully incarcerated by NYPD, sued the police department and won a settlement. TK was singled out by airport police overseas as the only person of color on a flight for a strip search that a male officer insisted on conducting. When she refused the U.S. embassy stepped in on her behalf) as Black women and their stories are often left out of the discussion on police brutality.
Listen to Fuck Peace here: Spotify / Apple Music
TK Wonder is a rapper, singer, writer, model and illustrator. Chosen by Q-Tip from Tribe Called Quest as first prize music winner for See.Me competition she has opened for Sting, Justice, The Prodigy, Erykah Badu, Nas, Lauryn Hill, Queens of the Stone Age, Talib Kweli and Franz Ferdinand to name a few.
Vogue has described her performances as playful and high energy and she has traveled the world (as lead singer and rapper for renowned Macedonian composer and electronic artist Kiril Dzajkovski) from East Africa to Europe to the Solomon Islands performing at electronic music festivals in front of audiences ranging from 10,000 to150,000 at some of the biggest festivals in the world such as Woodstock Festival in Poland and Exit Festival in Serbia. Very much like her lyrics her social media presence is a reflection of not just fashion and music but of activism pertaining to equality and diversity as a TED Talks speaker. TK honed her writing skills growing up in Baltimore, Maryland and then moved to NY where her interests in spoken word evolved into rapping, however, she has written and performed over many genres vastly different from one another such as songwriting for the m legendary UK electronic group The Prodigy and penning a rap for Climb Every Mountain, one of the iconic songs on The Sound of Music, where she received permission to write an original rap for the revamp of the soundtrack by Peter Kiesewalter from Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization.
Whether hip-hop, soul, electronic, pop, rock, jazz, classical or Balkan music TK has worked with many different genres and continues to explore the endless possibilities that music beholds. @tk_wonder
Khari Mateen is a composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist. Originally from Bakersfield, California, Mateen relocated to Philadelphia at 17 years old, where he began his career in the music industry. Khari’s first credits of note came at 19 years old with The Roots’ 2006 Grammy-nominated album Game Theory. Most recently, he wrapped up scoring Imagine’s documentary, Life Unexpected, profiling NBA superstar Dwyane Wade, Netflix’s limited series The Pharmacist, and Quibi’s IPromise, shining a light on Lebron James’ groundbreaking school in Akron, Ohio. @kharrari