“My whole mission in life is to get the fuck out of Texas,” Mecca said on the patio of Braindead Brewery in Deep Ellum. “It’s not even the fact that Texas is bad; I’m from Houston, I love Houston and I appreciate the culture. I just see bigger things and different things for myself. You got to leave.”
Mecca, who recently relocated to from Denton to East Dallas, says she has a love/hate relationship with the area. It's a starting point from which she hopes to grow into an international artist, one of many lofty goals the young MC has set for herself. But first she has a mission to fulfill in DFW.
“My mission in Dallas is for me to grow and for me to create this project that I’m creating here,” She says. “My mission in Dallas is to just to finish the shit that I fucking started, and I just think this is just the place that the most high placed me in to do what I’m supposed to do.”
For the past four years, Dallas-Fort Worth has been not only her home but also the birthplace of her upcoming (and first) EP, Fruittape. In the past eight months, Mecca, stylized as M3CCA for the stage, has started to gain some attention after being booked for radio station KXT’s Sun Sets concert series and having her song “Insecurity Blankets” played on the air."It's funny because that's one song I don't like the most. Like I like it, but I've been sitting on that song for about three years. I'm a very impatient artist; stuff gets old for me." – Mecca on "Insecurity Blankets," her song with the most airplay
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The track, which started out as a diary entry, is an easy starting point for newcomers to her brand of “galactic hip-hop soul.” But for Mecca it’s practically a relic.
“It’s funny because that’s one song I don’t like the most,” Mecca said. “Like I like it, but I’ve been sitting on that song for about three years. I’m a very impatient artist; stuff gets old for me.”
A self-described loner, Mecca says she finds it easier to connect with people from an artistic standpoint. Whether by collaborating with other local artists and producers such as Coach Tev and D. Woo, or by making the type of music that “people can live through,” Mecca says the creation of Fruittape has been a healing process for her.
She admits that her ambition can sometimes outweigh her ability to act. But with her first legitimate release on the way, so, too, comes the end of the artistic impostor syndrome she says she’s suffered from in recent years as she's taken interviews and played gigs without a tangible product.
“You’re your worst critic because you know what you want to hear. There are certain things that I want to do right now,” she said. “You got to just create with what you have.”
Mecca's creations thus far are impressive. She says people will hear tracks like the jazz rap inspired “Swoogie Woogie” or the hauntingly chill lyrics of “Saccharine” and want more — or at least recognize the massive potential Mecca has to achieve her goals, however high they rise.
But until then, Mecca’s main focus is content. She says music videos will come after the release of Fruittape, which is expected to take place in November at the newly opened Deep Ellum Art Company.
“Even when I’m scared, I’m just like, I’m just going to fucking do it,” Mecca said. “I appreciate all the positivity and all the negativity that has come along the way because it kind of makes the music what it is supposed to be.”
