- The Californian artist delivers a dreamy slice of boogie.
- Moniquea, the California raised, Indiana born vocalist, sculpted her on-stage reps in a pre-Uber Los Angeles. At 15, she performed at The Rose Bowl. Who else can claim that? Moniquea makes songs filled with upper register, plain-spoken sensibility. Her neck-popping joints are worthy of a spot on the soundtrack for Insecure, Issa Rae's runaway HBO hit chronicling the daily travails of young Black Los Angelenos.
Moniquea embodies that Los Robles & Washington take. Los Robles & Washington is not just a location or the title of her album released earlier this year, it's where she came up. Simply put, it's that yesterday/tomorrow wave of Black music that you can glide to. Since linking up with MoFunk Records in 2014, Moniquea's tracks have popped like they're from a terrestrial radio fever-dream broadcast circa 1986. Go peruse the MoFunk catalog: Moniquea, I, Ced, Zackey Force Funk and label boss XL Middleton all subscribe to it, drawing heavy influence from '80s boogie funk & '90s West Coast hip-hop.
Filled with handclaps, vocoder, leering synths and a bassline that bangs, slides and drops through the floor, "Daily Thing," her recent single, is straight-up R&B. Moniquea's voice, over that dream boogie clockwork, is heavy, but still able to float.