TLC, Kehlani, and Lexii Alijai are just a few of the voices that have inspired Kala Lones, better known as the RnB artist, “poet 22”. While a lot of her family was raised in Chicago, she grew up in Appleton, Wisconsin. She explains how, in her household, her family sang about everything. It was just how they communicated. She distinctly remembers being introduced to poetry in fourth grade, learning what similes and metaphors were. She credits that early exposure as a “catalyst” to her songwriting. “Once I was able to understand there's a way to convey a message a certain type of way, it lets me know that my writing can be a little bit more creative. And I feel like poetry allowed me that freedom that standard type of writing didn't give me.”

It’s a sweltering day in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood, the mercury topping 95 degrees, and I’m walking with my son Tristan along the sparsely tree-lined street of Paxton Avenue, where the event is situated on Paxton and Oglesby Avenues, centered at 73rd and Paxton with a mobile stage. We’ve arrived just in time for the procession which opens each edition of the annual event, sponsored by Hyde Park Jazz and co-produced by residents Gail Mangrum and Zenja Vaughn, Jeannine “Katie” Sharpe, her sister, Jonita.