Meet the 2021 SCALE Fellows

2021 SCALE Fellows Group Shot

2021 SCALE Fellows:

Watch the 2021 SCALE Showcase | 2021 SCALE Showcase Team

Chandra Rhyme

Chandra is a Pittsburgh-based artist who has built up a reputation as one of the city’s most captivating performers, bringing listeners into her multidimensional world. Chandra originally started her career as a professionally trained dancer obtaining her BFA in Dance. During her dance career, she began rapping and released her first single, “Sis Please,” in 2017. That single led to her first career highlight, opening up for Warren G! Chandra’s goals for her professional creative work includes: creating and releasing more quality content, expanding her brand and fan base, finding or working with a team to help increase her presence on a commercial level and working with new producers, writers, etc., to create more music.

Genre(s): R&B, Pop, Hip-Hop

Follow Chandra: Facebook // Twitter // Instagram | Listen on Spotify

Clara Kent | Photo by Evangeline M-A

Clara Kent

Photo Taken by Evangeline M-A

Pittsburgh City Paper’s 2019 “Person of the Year: Music,” Clara Kent is an independent afro-indigenous singer-songwriter, emcee, and a proudly self proclaimed Multidimensional Artistic Individual who hails from Homewood, PA. Clara is a jazz enthusiast, but her artistry extends into many genres. She is also a painter and uses both music and art to tap into deeper parts of herself to relate to the world around her. Clara would say her biggest career highlight was discovering the internal strength and wisdom she had with touring while battling a chronic illness. Clara told SCALE that, “Even with all the stages, awards, and achievements, that’s the most rewarding thing of all.”

Genre(s): R&B, Neo-Soul, Hip-Hop

Follow Clara: Facebook // Twitter // Instagram | Listen on Spotify // Visit Website

Dejah Monea

Dejah Monea, is a Pittsburgh native who was born with an anointed voice and a talent for beautiful songwriting. Her music creates meaningful and long-lasting connections with all who can relate. Dejah went to art schools for most of her life, which exposed her to the notions of freedom of expression, different styles, backgrounds and personalities. One of her biggest career highlights was being handpicked by Smokey Robinson to perform at The Benedum Center for Performing Arts’ 2014 First Night. One of Dejah’s goals is to communicate her music more effectively and intricately, by getting more involved from the instrumentation to the imagery, exploring more sounds and to also start producing and directing.

Genre(s): R&B, Neo-Soul

Follow Dejah: Facebook // Instagram | Listen on Spotify | Visit Website

D’Shay

D’Shay is a Pittsburgh-based producer, who creates productions that always have a story and every sound has a purpose. D’Shay’s tracks are alive and will take listeners on an experience that weaves through time and space. Every track created has a story and every sound has a purpose. D’Shay enjoys creating music that brings emotion to the listener and wants to create music for the soul. Through theatre experiences, D’Shay learned how to visualize music to see how it moves and flows, which helps D’Shay to guide where it wants to go. One of D’Shay dreams is to work with visual artists around the world to help curate the music that flows with their art.

Genre(s): Electronic, Pop, Hip-Hop

Listen on Youtube

Saige Smith

Saige is one half of the electrifying Pittsburgh duo, Samurai Velvet. With Saige’s mysterious and alluring vocals over hard-hitting electronic beats, Samurai Velvet’s sound is a beast all its own. Saige is a singer/songwriter from Pittsburgh, PA. Saige has always had a passion for music performance; From singing in church at 3 years old, joining the choir in middle school, and then studying Musical Theatre in high school and college. Saige started recording with her producer, Joe Chilcott, in 2017. About a year into collaborating, they formed the electro-pop music duo, Samurai Velvet, and began building their set and gigging while she finished up her Bachelor’s in Musical Theatre. Saige says a highlight of those gigs would be performing for Smokey Robinson in 2019.

Genre(s): R&B, Electronic, Neo-Soul, Pop

Follow Saige: Instagram | Follow Samurai Velvet: Facebook // Instagram | Listen on Spotify | Visit Website

INEZ

INEZ is a multi-faceted artistic Renaissance woman. Named “Pittsburgh Music Artist of the Year” for 2020 by Pittsburgh’s WYEP 91.3 FM, INEZ is a musical polymath for singing, music production, arranging, songwriting, drumming, and audio engineering. Hailing from Homewood, PA, INEZ graduated Cum Laude from the Berklee College of Music in 2018 with a Bachelors in Music Production. While she is a lifelong artist, INEZ released her first record “Voicemails and Conversations” in 2018 and has seen a fair amount of success since then. She has been on the cover of the Pittsburgh City Paper, featured on NPR Weekend Edition with Ned Wharton, headlined her own 90 min. drive-in show via City Theatre’s Arts Festival, won the 2021 Carol R. Brown Emerging Artist Award and became the first black woman to headline the City of Pittsburgh’s 2023 First Night New Year’s Celebration. INEZ wishes to break the glass ceiling of Pittsburgh and be an international recording and touring performance artist. INEZ wants to be an advocate for Black women and femmes in audio engineering/production. INEZ also co-created with fellow SCALE Fellow Clara Kent, BLKNVMBR, a platform highlighting the artistry of Black R&B and R&B-adjacent musicians in Pittsburgh.

Genre(s): R&B, Soul, Hip-Hop

Follow INEZ: Facebook // Twitter // Instagram | Listen on Spotify | Visit Website

Diarra Imani

Diarra Imani is a Pittsburgh-based artist that is dedicated to truth-telling in her work. Whether it be a song, poetry, or painting, Diarra’s work is centered around her story of becoming and the truths of the journey. Diarra finds that a lot of music and entertainment centers on a false life. She believes her role as an artist is to tell the truth to her listeners, to her comrades, and to the folks who are witnessing her without her knowing. Diarra’s artistry is multidimensional. She uses paint to illuminate a vision, poetry to evoke feeling, and song to reflect and create moments in time. Diarra realized how much she loved bringing music to people in masses around 15 years old, when she played Solomon Steel Pans during the Christmas parade of 2012 for the Urban Pathways Steelpan band. Diarra has since been granted travel to Ghana with the Teaching Artist Institute and performed during the Ghana Music Awards.

Genre(s): Spoken Word

Follow Diarra: Facebook // Instagram | Watch on YouTube

Sierra Sellers

Sierra Sellers was dubbed an “artist to watch” in 2020 by NPR Music. Sierra’s live performances are described as dynamic and smooth, where she delivers lyrics of empowerment that reach across a room, into your soul that picks you up from right where you stand. Sierra’s desire to become a singer has been brewed inside of her since childhood. From singing into her block toys in preschool, to joining the children’s choir at church, music has been a part of Sierra’s life very early on. Sierra spent quality time with various family members during her childhood, where she was exposed to many genres of music. Neo-Soul has inspired her lyrics, appreciation for musicians, and how she carries herself as a black woman. She walks with pride, speaks with confidence and intent, and loves herself just the way she is. Sierra also has a degree in Early Childhood Education and Special Education as children are very important to her. Sierra will always make a space and time for them in her life and music.

Genre(s): Neo-Soul

Follow Sierra: Twitter // Instagram | Listen on Spotify | Visit Website