Rightnowish: Honey Gold Jasmine's Superpowers of Balance

Note: This episode originally aired March 24, 2019

When I met emcee and educator Honey Gold Jasmine last summer, she told me she was about to drop an unusual project: an album combined with a digital comic book.

But when I saw her a few weeks later and asked about it, she showed me a teeny-tiny translucent jar. Inside of the jar there was a thin metal necklace with a precious stone attached. Atop the jar was a cork that had a USB device adorned to the bottom. I thought: What?

It turned out that this was the project Honey Gold had told me about, Supanova 7: Gold Soil, the tale of a heroine set to save the world through the power of music. But it didn’t look like I expected it to look.

After reading the comic and hearing her music, I noticed a trend: there was balance.

That was on full display the first time I saw Honey Gold perform at the Alena Museum in West Oakland. The Vallejo native took to the stage to perform some uptempo tracks that toed the line of hyphy music—and then doubled back with some sultry tunes that made me want to burn incense.

With the combination of crystals, comics and community empowerment, Honey Gold is a true Bay Area-based Libra. And on top of her stories about heroines saving the world and working as an educator at Bay Area based nonprofits, Honey Gold is a mother, as well—something she says provides her with personal superpowers, especially after being raised without a fruitful relationship with her own mom.

Hear my interview with the super-heroine herself at the audio link above.

Honey Gold Jasmine performs at the Alena Museum on March 30, and at San Francisco State on April 9–10. Details here.