Mykki Blanco: Part Two
The noirish return of Michael Quattlebaum Jr.
The second part of our conversation with performer, poet and Madonna collaborator Mykki Blanco, whose forthcoming album Cafe Paradiso unfolds in a fictional eatery between afternoon and dusk, and feels spiritualised from the sketchbooks of David Lynch and Derek Jarman. Read the first here, and stay tuned for more from Obsessions Index.
Salad Nicoise at Lucien, East Village, Manhattan.
I lived right around the corner from Lucien when I was recording this album. The nicoise there is a combination of boiled potatoes, carrots, anchovies, sometimes tuna, and beets. It’s a salad that feels very refreshing, and filling, and it’s healthy in that way. It’s not healthy eating for the sake of it, it’s a real meal. I read that the first version of the salad was created in the 19th century and was a combination of tomatoes and olive oil, and then there were various ingredients added. I’ve never had it with artichoke, but that already sounds too vinegar-y for me. I live in Tangier now, and you can order it at most restaurants. It’s the perfect summer food.
Young Boy Dancing Group
My number six would be Young Boy Dancing Group, who choreograph these incredible, transgressive, almost acrobatic movement pieces. I’ve been a fan of theirs for about two years, but I finally got to work with them in February when they choreographed the music video for my song “Little Feet.” The ideas they brought to the table were so amazing. We wanted to make a twist on an after-party or house-party music video – it’s a concept that’s been done a million times, but they worked with me and the director to make it feel completely original. I haven’t seen that level of freshness in a long time. They later ended up collaborating with someone I’d also collaborated with, though I never would’ve expected the connection: Madonna. Obviously, they had to keep it under wraps, so I didn’t know any of this until I saw another one of their videos last month. It was a really funny coincidence, and anytime I get the chance to shout them out, I will.
Still a Brother: The Negro Middle Class (documentary)
It’s a civil rights documentary from 1968 narrated by the legendary actor Ossie Davis. It features Black middle-class professionals from a wide range of careers and touches on discrimination, Black nationalism, and the rise of Black culture in mainstream America. What really blew my mind is that while there are a few scholars, professors, and younger people who speak from this emerging “I’m Black and I’m proud” perspective – which became such an important part of Black identity in America – the majority of the people interviewed belong to a Black bourgeois class that seems very focused on preserving its own status. When you listen to them speak, you can tell they’re comfortable remaining within this upper-class enclave. At the same time, I think I relate to a certain kind of aspirational exceptionalism because these are people who owned sailboats, had homes on Martha’s Vineyard, and lived lives that American history often glosses over. History tends to present the era as though it wasn’t part of the Black experience. When you listen to them, you can hear the seeds of a conversation that’s still happening today. It’s now 2026, and there’s an ongoing debate in America about how many Black billionaires don’t really do much for Black Americans as a whole, and more broadly, how they wield very little political power despite their wealth.
Gratitude lists
In 2025, I went through a rough patch. The album was finished, but it wasn’t going to come out until this year. I hadn’t released any new music since 2023, and I felt like I’d DJed everywhere I possibly could on Earth. It was just this really trying period where I had an existential crisis a few different times because I kept asking myself, What do I do? What am I working on? It’s interesting how certain small decisions you make in your career can lead to a period like that. During that time, I got into the habit of making gratitude lists. I’d heard from some spiritual, woo-woo source that gratitude is its own kind of energy — that it can be harnessed and used. It’s separate from simply being a good person, wishing someone well, or having good-will. It’s a completely different frequency.
You can be grateful for the most trivial thing or the most deeply cathartic thing, but I began writing (lists) every single day, and I still do. I was traveling over the last few days, so even though my routine was disrupted, I still made time for it. And if I ever miss a day, I make up for it afterward. I can genuinely see a shift. It’s been over a year and a half now, and it’s added a whole new dimension to my character. I think I can always find something to be grateful for in any situation. At that point in my adulthood, I needed something that felt solid — something I could control, something I didn’t need a therapist to do, and something that would genuinely produce positive change in my life.
