Introducing Morgane Prejean
Morgane Prejean also known by her stage name, Kween Mo, is a Hip-Hop artist and creative based in Lafayette, LA. At her creative core, she is a lyricist and singer with a very unique sound that carries an overall positive vibe and message but her craft also extends to instrumental production, graphic design, film, visual art, audio engineering and more. Mo has been sharing her gifts and actively pursuing her career as an artist for about 15 years and has a multi-media arts company, Southpeak Arts, where she offers services that allow her another outlet to put her unique skills to use. Mo is most widely known for making up one half of Lafayette based Hip-Hop duo, Armed Rhymery, with her partner Edward X. Together they have released several bodies of work and have made a major impact on the Lafayette Hip-Hop and music community through hosting countless events that created opportunities for hundreds of artists over the years. In 2020, the group was hand selected by major music platform, Soundcloud, and multi-platinum selling award winning artist, Pharrell Williams, as part of a collaborative compilation album to highlight black voices in the hip-hop community. Most recently, they created a viral sensation in the form of a narrative rap skit that generated 10 million views total across platforms. The group has also performed at Lafayette’s two largest festivals, Festival International, Le Festival De Mardi Gras. Outside of Armed Rhymery, Mo has also used her creative gifts to branch out into the educational performing arts world, being invited to participate in inspirational programs that raised awareness about bullying, gun violence and Hip-Hop history alongside members of TMM Project, formerly known as Kabuki Kru, for thousands of students across Louisiana. Mo is currently in the process of gearing up to release Armed Rhymery’s next EP, “Zen Garden” which was produced entirely in-house.
View some of Mo’s work here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1D_JbgSVY_qeuXK2t89jK_ssYaIOISy3S/view
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hFhv1_8PLU75CCq_RvfYBdENANaecV1L/view
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ARkPosqepAF9GUHMWPdi5211zRAZCbx1/view
Who makes up your art circle?
On an immediate basis, my art circle is relatively small and includes Edward X, who is my groupmate in Armed Rhymery and also my partner in almost every other artistic aspect. We also work creatively with Devin “DLP” Parker who runs the label we are signed with (The Future Will Bang) and is also an amazing producer and audio engineer who plays a big part in getting our songs to the perfect place sonically. Our circle also includes several other producers we work with regularly such as P.Soul, Yung Na and Nathan Raffel who is also our manager. On a larger scale, our art circle is very large because we have been blessed to connect and create an amazing network with tons of creatives over the years which extends to the majority of the local Hip-Hop scene, other areas in the state and in more recently years, the local scene in cities like San Diego, CA and Denver, CO.
How do you expand your art circle?
As a creator I try to remain very fluid and I do my best to immerse myself in my art as much as possible. This means not being afraid to step into new opportunities or step out of the box of what I’m comfortable with. Having that mentality leads me to meeting new people all the time, adding to the network of people I can work with artistically. I find that making creative connections is always a chain reaction where connecting with one person normally leads to connecting with several others and so on. For me, expanding my circle has been done with a combination of in person and online networking with each one having equal importance.
What value do you see in having a creative community?
Having a creative community takes some of the weight off you as an artist and opens up a world of possibilities because it allows you to have a network of people you can call on whether that be for creative critiques, ideas or needing literal resources they can help to provide. In my case, working with a partner makes things much more tangible and convenient for me and allows for most of the work to be done in-house with a split workload and without having to solely rely on outside sources. Recently, I even helped to put together an entire show in Denver, a place I don’t even reside, because I was able to use the creative community I’ve built to make things happen. One of the most valuable things you can have as an artist is when you can just make a few phone calls and get things in motion, even if it’s just someone pointing you in the right direction.
How does your artistic approach contribute to your community?
I think my artistic approach contributes to my community by inspiring people and giving them a chance to feel something positive while experiencing my music and other forms of expression in whatever way it connects with each individual person. I’m very intentional about making things that will have a positive impact and I think having a positive experience with art often leads to inspiration. To me is the ultimate contribution because it helps to keep the world moving and has a domino effect that leads to others doing great things. On a deeper level, I think the passion that I have for what I do has always contributed to my community because those who have watched me work and progress can be reminded that it’s okay to take risks or take the road less traveled if you know that’s what your calling requires. It’s a reminder that perseverance does pay off.
Our weekly Art Circle series profiles artists throughout the community and is sponsored in part by Lafayette Visitor Enterprise Fund managed by Lafayette Travel
