Omaha's Marcey Yates to Release Self-Produced Album 'Chocolate for Water'

Omaha’s Marcey Yates set to release self-produced album, Chocolate For Water, on July 7th, 2023. 

Chocolate for Water is inspired by the Laura Esquivel novel turned Alfonso Arau film. Listen to lead single "On Display" below!

The phrase "like water for chocolate" comes from the Spanish phrase como agua para chocolate. This is a common expression in many Spanish-speaking countries, and it means that one's emotions are on the verge of boiling over. In some Latin American countries, such as Mexico, hot chocolate, is made not with milk, but with near-boiling water instead.

As the novel, Like Water for Chocolate, progresses, Tita learns to disobey the injustice of her mother, and gradually becomes more and more adept at expressing her inner fire through various means. Cooking through enlightenment she learns to express her feelings, and cope with her mother.

As Marcey has progressed in music over the years he has become more expressive with not only music but art and activism. He has become more adept at expressing his feelings through lyrics and visual art. Marcey learned to cope with the loss of his mother this past year. She always made anything taste good in the kitchen. Never mind the circumstances.

Some people can’t do what they actually love or even be around what feeds them creatively. This can lead to depression, mental health problems and ultimately cause resentment.

Cooking, which is a metaphor for creating, keeps Marcey close to the thing he loves about hip hop and the culture. He can share it with fans and family. His music is made with love and emotion you can feel in your body once you digest it.

“The novel reminds me of my mom. She was the youngest and the care taker of her mom. Until she died. She never remarried, also dying with a mental illness.

Emotions put into food affects how the body receives it. Same as music. What you think and the emotions behind it can come to or have an effect on behavior. I like to call it expressing suppressed feelings and emotions through music.” says Marcey.

The album art is a play from Common’s Like Water For Chocolate album, depicting someone in the 60’s during segregation and the civil rights movement at a water fountain that is labeled “white only or black only.”

Drinking the chocolate water represents a person can easily access the hip hop culture. Everyone can get a taste of the culture because it’s manufactured and direct to consumer. It once was not a popular form of music and was not accepted in eyes of the industry. But now it’s everywhere.