What’s in a name? A lifetime worth of art, if one asks La Keasha Selman Wright, who has taken a unique approach to both the creative and the business ends of self-expression in the upcoming release of her debut album “Kiki Charisse Radio.”
Wright has been involved in the Augusta’s arts community for over 15 years, alongside her husband, spoken word artist Travis “Brotha Trav” Wright, producing and performing live shows, often soulful variety events featuring spoken word, poetry and music.
The spoken word — lyrical verse written to be performed spoken rather than sung — and poetry have heretofore been her key mediums of expression, but her passion, however, has always been music.
“One year for my birthday, my father bought me a small pink boombox, and I couldn’t play it as often as I wanted,” Wright recalled. “What I would do was I would put the boombox under my pillow and turn it down really low and sleep on top. And I would pick apart the song and start creating melodies.”
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Wright also remembers singing, clapping and making all kinds of noise with her brothers during road trips.
“And (we) had fun with it. We didn’t really know what we were doing, but that’s what we did,” she said. “And everybody else in my family were musically inclined, as far as being a vocalist or playing an instrument, and I kind of went the other way… I was the athlete of my family and all my cousins and everybody else were just doing music. And so I kind of felt like, ‘Okay, well, maybe that’s not my thing, because I don’t sing like them, right?’ So I would still create melody and write poetry.”
Wright’s roots are in the Garden City, as that’s where her parents met. Before her family settled back in Augusta, however, her father’s military assignments often moved them back and forth between the U.S. and Germany, where she was born.
During this period, Wright, born La Keasha Charisse Selman, earned the nickname “Kiki” from her grandmother, a moniker that followed her through childhood until she enlisted in the Air Force, where she served until 2002.
“As I exited the military, I was like, ‘Who am I?’ You’re in that space of trying to find your identity, because you’re shifting gears and transitioning to another world, from military to civilian life,” she said. “ My name is La Keasha… but no one wanted to call me La Keasha. They wanted to call me Keasha, or try to find a nickname in there somewhere. And I was like, ‘no, if you’re not going to say my name, right, just call me La.’”
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She and her husband garnered a strong reputation in the local live performance community as the duo “Brotha Trav and Sista La.” The name Sista La became associated with Wright’s role producing shows, planning events, promoting and advocating for other local artists and even performing. When she decided to record her own music album, however, she felt the name had to speak for itself, rather than for what most in the arts community know her for.
“I played the background a lot under that name, right, under that persona I want to say, and I enjoyed that, right?” she said. “I lived for helping others like others, providing platforms for other artists to come and just display their art, whatever form that was in. And so I had a different role, and I felt like becoming a solo artist, that I needed to bring something else out and show people another side of myself, and I figured I could do that through music, but I needed to change my name.”
The album’s name takes her childhood nickname and her middle name to refer to her new stage persona, while the addition of “radio” refers the idea that the soundtrack is a kind of playlist.
The album, produced by local DJ and music producer Scott “Bizzo Beats” Walker, is comprised of songs that are polished or revamped versions of poems and other pieces that she has performed — sometimes improvised — on stage. While the styles range from dance to R&B to hip-hop, ultimately, Wright says, the project is a soul album.
Wright, who is also the executive producer of the album, also opted to start her own record label, also called Kiki Charisse Radio, to publish it herself.
“Today, in 2025, I guess things need to be different, right?” she said. “Because we know there’s a lot of stuff going on in the music industry with artists, as far as then having control over the work, having to follow trends to get some attention.”
The release event for the album is as much another example of creative expression as it is of unique marketing. On April 8, Wright will host a silent listening party, where attendees will listen to the album on headphones for an experience more focused on the work, potentially interspersed with live performances and followed by a discussion.
“I’m going to stay right here, and I’m going to create, continue to create my lane. I’m going to continue to learn and grow as much as I can, because I want to be a catalyst and change when it comes to the music industry,” Wright said. “Right now, I’m focused on what I what I’m doing, but I understand how this could be something for other independent artists as well.”
Skyler Andrews is a reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
