Super Fly
Black Buttafly
Feature Interview
In the last column, the words read, “Vintage-sounding tones,” with the keyboards listed as “Rhodes, Organ and Clav.” The bass is instructed to carry a “4-string sound,” and the guitars are directed to have a “rhythmic, ’70s feel.”
These are the session notes of artist, producer and keys player Kayla Childs, professionally known as Black Buttafly. She’s typed out these references for her band for Everybody Needs Love, the instantly catchy, Wonderlove-like first single from her debut solo EP, Fly Free. Privy to a Google Doc Childs created for the session, the table headings are colour-coded and feature a descriptive brief, including YouTube links to performances by masters such as Earth, Wind & Fire, The O’Jays, Stevie Wonder and Erykah Badu. The preparations are meticulous, and the requirements exacting.
“I took my whole band on a retreat,” says Kayla on Zoom from the campus of her old college, Rutgers University in Camden, New Jersey. Now based in Philadelphia, Kayla had returned—not far from where she grew up in New Brunswick—to vote in the US election for Harris, not Trump (“Yeah, fuck that guy,” she says). The plan was to rehearse the band in Delaware before heading to an already booked studio to record the EP.
“I raised about $15,000, paid everybody to be there, and we set up the house like a studio—just hunkered in and started making music.”
At 27, Kayla already looks every bit the early ’70s soul heroine, with a red scarf, a denim jacket, the tip of her tortoiseshell glasses holding up a bucket hat, and a waterfall of vine-like dreads tinted aqua green at the tips. She came up with the name Black Buttafly while listening to the Deniece Williams song of the same name—albeit with the Kerrygold-style spelling of "butter.”
“It came on in the car (a grey Charger) one day; I was rolling with my homie, Austin Marlow (of the band Omar’s Hat) and I just felt very emotional. I resonated with the song because, like a butterfly, I wanted to fly free and play music at the highest level. It was like, ‘I’m a Black Butterfly. I can do this.’”
“We started rehearsing, and it sounded so good. I was like, ‘Man, can we not just record here?’”
A wunderkind at college and sought-after pianist, Kayla moved from New Jersey to Philly to pursue work on the professional circuit. There, she began collaborating with artists like Lauryn Hill, Pete Rock and RES, both in the studio and jet-setting around the world. In such esteemed company, it’s no surprise to learn the EP was recorded at the home of hip-hop legend DJ Jazzy Jeff.
“Jeff’s studio in Delaware is called The Hamptons, and it’s really dope,” says Kayla, smiling. “We started rehearsing, and it sounded so good. I was like, ‘Man, can we not just record here? It would be crazy to leave—we’re not going to get this down like this again.’”
The venue was suggested by drummer and producer extraordinaire Steve McKie (Jill Scott, Jazmine Sullivan, Bilal and Vivian Green), Kayla’s mentor, who inspired the first single to be recorded in one take. “When you record with the right people, you can nail it first time,” she says, quoting the pearl of wisdom he bestowed.
In this case, the “right people” for the EP include a crack team of up-and-coming Philadelphia-based players, several of whom form the nucleus of funky soul collective Omar’s Hat (check out their gospeldelic On My Way and live EP Omar’s Hat Selections from the World Café Live). This includes saxophonists Eric Sherman—who co-wrote Everybody Needs Love with Childs and McKie—and Yesseh Furaha-Ali, as well as trombonist Michael Spearman. Also contributing is Brandon Woody from Upendo—another band Kayla plays with—on trumpet, rounding out the glorious-sounding horn arrangements. When McKie’s not behind the kit, Black Buttafly invites one-man rhythm section Nazir “Naz” Ebo to play drums tight and funky. Guitar virtuosa Keyanna “Key Hutch” Hutchinson is directed to layer guitar parts—rhythmic and lead—using distorted tones with flanger and chorus pedal effects. The rhythm section is completed by 13th Law (Evan Jelani Lawrence), who played bass on a cover of Lenny White’s Universal Love and the first single.
“I fully recorded everybody and we just kept rolling. Everybody showed up.”
The genesis of the single came three years prior. “Me and Eric worked that out in his basement. We went on a hike, came back, and I just started playing those chords.” Knowing she had something special, Kayla wouldn’t share the song with anyone.
“I just wanted to wait for the right time. Wait until I had the right situation and resources to record it how I wanted. I listen to a lot of the greats. I really wanted that sound.”
“I’m from an inner city. A lot of young girls my age weren’t into this shit.”
As a wee caterpillar, Kayla learned to play piano at just five years old by watching her mum perform in church. Her dad played bass, and she fondly remembers him rocking the live album Gratitude by Earth, Wind & Fire on cassette. Stevie Wonder stands as her number one influence, with As proving pivotal to her early development.
“Those heavy harmonies at the top of the song... When I hear music like that, I see colours and feel overwhelmed in the best way. As feels like a hug, y’know? Stevie just knows how to express himself musically. A free feeling. His imagination is wild, and no one’s around to tell him he can’t do something. I’m trying to lean more into that space where I can fully be myself.”
The lyrics to Everybody Needs Love display vulnerability, acknowledging Kayla’s struggles with loneliness when she moved to Philly. “I’m just a lonely girl,” she sings. The second verse, with the lines, “People say that I seem mean,” and “The truth is, I don’t always want to fight,” reflects perceptions of her personality.
“People are always calling Black women mad,” Kayla explains, her voice calm and collected. “Calling us angry, y’know? Nobody ever asks how we’re doing. I’m just here taking care of myself and trying to be the best I can to help other people.”
It wasn’t easy being a working musician in a male-dominated industry. Not being from the area, Kayla had to work hard to find her way onto the scene.
“The experiences for me were not always the most pleasant. You have to do a lot to show people you’re competent, that you can work at a high level. But sometimes the men judging you don’t operate at the highest level themselves.” Kayla laughs. “But I always want to collaborate and work in a way where we all feel safe enough to be ourselves.”
Her individuality stood out from an early age, not just professionally but also socially in her neighbourhood.
“I’m from an inner city. A lot of young girls my age weren’t into this shit. The people running around in the streets... a lot of my friends have kids, are in jail, or dead. And, you know, here I am just living this magical life right now—releasing music and making opportunities for myself, which I really don’t take for granted.”
It took time to find her crew. While studying for a degree in Jazz Performance and Music Technology, she found that her talent and abilities weren’t being stretched enough.
“I was trying to meet people who really do this shit, because that wasn’t happening here [at university],” says Kayla, matter-of-factly. “I was like, ‘I’m paying for this education. I need someone who can teach me how to do something, how to mic things, what gear to use.” That’s when a friend (artist/saxophonist Hiruy Tirfe) put her in touch with McKie.
“Musically, Steve saved my life. He’s one of my best friends, like a big brother. He produced this whole EP with me.”
“Musically, Steve saved my life.”
The first cut a nervous Kayla played for McKie was a tune called Over & Over.
“I had so many fucking plugins on this session that when he opened the program, it, like, shut down!” Kayla laughs. “Steve was like, ‘Yeah, never do that again.’”
Kayla tips her bucket hat to Patrice Rushen and Herbie Hancock for influencing the title song Fly Free. Patrice Rushen connected Kayla with Lenny White, whose jazz-fusion classic Universal Love she covers on the EP, supercharging the funk.
“Lenny is a friend. I’ve played with him a bunch of times, and I told him, ‘Whether you like it or not, I’m going to cover your song!’” Kayla laughs.
EP release party
With vocal arrangements inspired by Earth, Wind & Fire, Jermaine Holmes—best known for his work as one of D’Angelo’s Vanguards—added stanky low-end harmony parts.
“Jermaine and I are both from New Jersey. I wanted the song to sound real funky, like Shining Star. I wanted everyone to sound real close. How people mix records now... they take the life out of everything. You don’t hear people breathe in, y’know? I wanted it to sound like humans were in here doing this together.”
Now that Fly Free has been released, Black Buttafly is ready to take flight. She plans to release a second EP (with additional songs from The Hamptons sessions) later in the year and go on tour.
“I’m just ready for other people to hear it and see what happens,” she says with excitement. “At this point, that’s all I can do—just let it go.”
“Fly Free”
is available to Stream Now.
Words by Dan Dodds | Art by Longnose
EP Photographer Tshay Williams
Live Photographer Bob Sweeney
Originally Published on this site Jan 5th, 2025