Ravinia 2026 Issue 4

go to the best public schools,” she says. “My mother, who was president of the local PTA, emphasized how extremely important education was.” “I loved reading and writing since I was a very little girl. I journaled a lot and I would read every single book on any shelf; I was just so curious about ev- erything. Books were a source of infor- mation. They allowed my imagination to soar. I just thought that journalism was going to be the way that I would make a difference in the world.” But while at Berkeley, she found herself hanging with musicians. When she confided in a bassist friend that she wanted to take up an instrument, he told her that she walked and talked like a bass player. She had that vibe. She immersed herself in the music she had grown up listening to, playing along with the records, asking questions to musicians she met. One, Jermaine Rand, an electric rock guitar player out of Atlanta, gave her a Victor Wooten CD and said, “If you really want to play the bass, listen to this.” “My mind was blown,” she says. In October 2000, she applied for and attended Wooten’s summer camp for bassists near Nashville, TN. “I was nervous out of my mind,” she says. “I was at that time playing pretty frequent- ly in Atlanta clubs, playing live under rap battles and poets. I had learned how to improv based on listening to what somebody said and how they said it. So, when I had to introduce myself at Victor’s camp, I asked him if I could rap one of my songs because that was what I was the most comfortable doing.” Wooten called her after the camp was completed and asked if she wanted to tour with him. “He asked me if I had more songs like that,” she says. “I told him I did, even though I didn’t.” She toured with Wooten from 2000 to 2005. Her father and uncle attended her first show. “Nobody in the audience knew that that was my dad,” she says, “and he told me that everybody around him was saying, ‘That girl can really play.’ And he just sat there proud as he could be.” In an email, Wooten tells Ravinia , “I knew Divinity was a shining star when we first met. Divinity is a positive force for the world.” In 2006, Roxx learned that Beyoncé would be touring with an all-female band. “I was extremely nervous when it came to the audition,” she says, “but my parents taught me that if I was going to do something, it had to be done to the best of my ability. My dad never let me quit anything.” Her experiences as an MC also helped prepare her for a gig that would eventually take her around the world, playing at the White House and per- forming for such luminaries as Presi- dent Barack Obama and Oprah. “Your confidence as an MC is what shapes how people perceive you,” she says. “You can’t be a timid rapper. That translated into how I play the bass. When I’m on stage, there is no second-guessing. You go with it and allow the spirit to move you.” Roxx toured with Beyoncé for five years. “It was amazing,” she says. “Be- yoncé is the consummate professional and treats everybody with respect. I remember asking her why she chose us, and she said it was meant to be.” Her work ethic dovetailed with Roxx’s own. “She goes harder than ev- erybody,” she says. “I remember we were in an elevator after a long, long, long day. It was me, Beyoncé, and Miss Tina [Beyoncé’s mother]. Miss Tina said, ‘Are you tired?’ Beyoncé looked at her and said, ‘I could run a mile right now.’ ” Roxx is drawn to create age-appropri- ate music for children that can be their own. She wrote a children’s song in the 1990s for a record that did not come out, but then, during the COVID pandemic, she created songs for an online project in collaboration with Scholastic. “I write from my heart,” she says. “I wanted to recapture early hip-hop music that was positive and inspiring, filled with messages of encouragement, love, and growth like my mom instilled in me.” Joy, positivity, and empowerment are three prominent themes in Roxx’s music for children. One of her favorite songs to perform is “Be Yourself ”—“cuz you can’t be nobody else.” “I just love that message for children,” she says. Roxx is working on a one-woman show about the origin of a superhero named Divinity Roxx. What does she consider her superpower to be? “People have expressed to me that I have the power to inspire them,” she says. With great power comes great re- sponsibility, it is said. When told we’re fortunate she uses her superpower for good, she responds, “That’s the only way to use it, man—it’s the only way to use it.” Donald Liebenson is a Chicago-based entertainment writer. His work has appeared in the Washington Post , Town & Country , IndieWire , and on VanityFair.com. The first Ravinia concert he attended without his parents was Procol Harum in 1970. RAVINIA.ORG • RAVINIAMAGAZINE 15