A new year of monthly live musical presentations began Feb. 7 in the Arts & Science Center for Southeast Arkansas’ Catherine M. Bellamy Theatre.
The initial Live@5 offering for 2025 was a trio by the name of “MCE.” As part of the group brand mystique, the members have adopted unusual stage names: Obafemi, Ced Adamz and Eshmelek.
Prior to Obafemi changing his stage name from “Magnum,” the letters represented the first initial for each member’s name, Magnum, Ced and Eshmelek. The initials now stand for “music, culture and evolution.” Eshmelek was unable to be present, so the trio performed as a duo for the evening.
Before the show, MCE shared some of their philosophy. The 45-year-old performers are married with children. They expressed how they no longer try to keep pace with younger hip hop artists of today.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“A lot of people talk about rap music being vulgar,” Obafemi said. “Our music is about changing the narrative of hip hop. We are more about family, community, individual empowerment and awakening consciousness.”
Since the Pine Bluff natives formed the group in 2008, they have taken their act on the road to places like Little Rock, Memphis, Dallas and Jackson, Miss. In 2022, they did a residency tour at Indigo Blue coffee shop on Barraque Street.
“That was a beautiful time,” Obafemi said.
Beyond performing, they put their “empowering family and community” philosophy into action with a community garden that now occupies three city lots, two at 13th Avenue and Alabama Street and a third at Fourth Avenue and Levert Blunt Jr. Drive.
“We grow 90 varieties of fruits, herbs, flowers and vegetables,” Ced Adamz said.
The trio conducts garden tours and horticulture workshops. Along with their children and kids from local neighborhoods, they grow a surplus of produce that they distribute through a mobile farmers market as well as occasional grocery giveaways.
In addition to the headlining act, the sister to Ced Adamz, Natasha Adams, opened the show with two songs followed by hip hop DJ Cyletha Marcelette performing a pair of numbers.
When MCE took the stage, they began their portion of the program with a prayer and west African custom of “pouring the libation.” The ritual included thanking the creator and remembering ancestors by pouring water into a potted maze cane plant resting on a centerstage table. With each dose of water, the audience responded with “Ashe,” a word with multiple meanings in the Yoruba language: “power,” “authority,” “command,” “energy,” “life” and “agreement.”
Setting the plant aside, Obafemi and Ced launched into an hour of hip hop, occupying the entire stage with their movement through the audience. Midway through the show, the duo was joined by a third performer, Sol Speaks, on a number titled, “Out of the Mud.”
Details: MCE SolMuzik.
The sister to MCE member Ced Adamz, Natasha Adams, opened the first Live@5 for 2025 at the Arts & Science Center for Southeast Arkansas. (Special to The Commercial/Richard Ledbetter)