How a queer Black educator turned rapper discovered that true freedom isn't a destination—it's a daily choice to bet on yourself.
When the rideshare app pings, Takai Straw—known on stage as Madam—slides behind the wheel, doing whatever it takes to pursue her calling. But unlike many drivers grinding through the gig economy out of necessity, Madam has made a deliberate choice. Every mile driven, every passenger picked up, is fuel for a bigger dream: building a career as a rapper while maintaining the freedom to live authentically as a queer Black woman.
"I'm a hustler. I'm a boss," Madam says matter-of-factly during our conversation. "And I understand that right now, until I'm where I want to be, I'm not going to have a lot of time to sleep."
As we celebrated Juneteenth, Pride Month, and Black Music Month this June, Madam's story sits at the intersection of all three observances—a narrative of liberation that transcends any single identity or aspiration. In her journey is a profound truth about modern freedom: it's not about having arrived somewhere; it's about claiming agency over your path, even when that path looks unconventional.
The Space Between Security and Dreams
Madam's story begins in Orlando, Florida, where her first career aspiration was following in her father's footsteps as a football player. When she was told little girls can't be football players, she found other outlets for her talents—first as a poet and rapper starting at age 11, but like many young people, she couldn't envision making a career from her gifts.
"I never saw myself making a career out of that, even though that was my gift, my first gift," she reflects. Instead, she chose the "safe" path: education.
Madam graduated from Spelman College, then through Teach for America, she excelled in the classroom, achieving a 60% growth rate with seventh-grade students who entered reading at elementary levels. She even helped fourth and fifth graders become published authors. By all external measures, she was successful, but internally, something was missing.
"I was getting results, but I was compromising myself in the midst of that," she explains. "I was unhappy. [I’d go] home and just lay down in the dark until the next morning. That's not the life that I've decided [on]."
The Courage to Disappoint Others
Perhaps the most challenging aspect of Madam's transition from the classroom wasn't financial uncertainty—it was disappointing the expectations of others. As a masculine-presenting queer Black woman, she had already navigated spaces where she didn't quite fit conventional molds, but choosing to leave a stable teaching career to pursue music meant facing additional skepticism.
"I wanted security and community," she admits about why it took so long to bet on herself. "Nobody ever told me that I can be anything that I want to be. I think we say it out of rhetoric, but then we also come from spaces where they tell us we have to go to college, we have to get a job, we have to do this, do that; so we can have security, right?"
The breakthrough came when she took a closer look at her life. "If I had to live this life for the rest of my life, [would I] be okay with that,” she reflects. “No, I don't desire this life, and I'm unfulfilled. That's not an option anymore for me."
Redefining Freedom as a Practice
Instead of viewing it as a future state to achieve, Madam practices freedom daily through her choices—even when those choices include working long hours to fund her music career.
She's also building multiple income streams: trading in the forex market, developing a property management business, and creating a comic book about adulting with a friend. Each venture is a bet on herself and her ability to create the life she envisions. "Freedom, it's like a breath of fresh air," she describes. "I thought that I had to be wealthy right now in order to be free, but it's a mindset."
Building on that mindset, Madam has also reframed the uncertainty around her journey. "I've learned to see life as an adventure," she explains. "You think about playing a video game and about the challenges you have on a quest. It's not something that's going to be easy, but it's not anything that we should be intimidated by."
The Freedom to Become
As Madam continues building her music career in Atlanta, she’s living out a different kind of freedom story: the freedom to live authentically while taking practical steps toward your vision.
Her recent performances, including songs like "Rise and Grind," "Deja Vu," and "Ancestral Anthem," showcase not just her musical talents but her journey of freedom, authenticity, and wholeness. "I want to be known for speaking my language to people," she says about her work. "I want people to be inspired to be themselves and also inspired to heal themselves through knowing my story."
In this season of celebrating liberation, pride, and the power of Black music, Madam's story reminds us that the most revolutionary act might be simply refusing to trade your dreams for someone else's definition of success. Now, through her music and her story, she's showing that freedom isn't about having arrived somewhere perfect. It's about having the courage to keep moving toward who you're meant to become, one choice at a time.
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