cultivating community

Can you describe yourself or your personal identity with a five-word story? Why did you choose those words? 

Abundant Gods Healing Love Music.~. I have always felt such a deep of any lack of abundance. I remember adding extra circles on multiple choice tests because of possible variations to the situation. This has become a huge part of my art, I refuse to compromise when it comes to a projects completion. I personally think the world is far to abundant for any of us to need to make our vision smaller, if anything, we need just ask for help and share resources. Creating a collective space allows it so that everyone who is willing can Heal the wounds of ancestral \ this life’s trauma. I provide healing to my community and the global village through sound (MC\Rapping, DJing, & Composing).

 

How does this album, as a whole, or each song individually, represent the idea, embody, or visualize the essence of identity for you?

The first song Diaspora8 explains my awareness of my position within the Diaspora and reflects on the grief of not feeling connected to my African heritage due to being a first generation child. Flowing into Mahershala Ali track 2, I pay homage to the Black Father figures in my life that guided by, most of them artists or athletes. These men filled the void, each in their own way, and I learned from them how to exist as a Black Man. Raising the energy with Al Gaddafi Kuti track 3, I speak on how; had I been put in the house due to my skin tone during slavery I would have likely assassinated the slave masters family much like Django; how my mission is much like Malcom X but I have more life for than fear and standing by a window; & finally, Al Gaddafi had a brilliant plan to redistribute wealth to Africans much like Fela Kuti & by combining their names I cast a spell to fuze their spiritual intents into my art. Track 4 Afro Glow is about all of my curls & how shiny Afro’s are in the sunshine (the verse pays homage to black excellence in history). Black Excellence, track 5 is a prayer of both gratitude and curiosity. I created a mantra for all Black People to chant during the hook and in the verse asked if I can be more than my father (referencing Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart).This project is a complex layering of stories told by the youngest child, revealing the contradictions inherent in the lives of this never close knit family, and their subsequent “recovery” from extreme bouts of racism

 

In what ways has being bi-racial or, unboxable racially, in today’s society impacted your identity development? In other words, did you ever question, or have a hard time feeling authentic in your own shoes?

I did have a hard time feeling authentic in my own shoes. For years I felt out of place regardless of what I was doing or who I engaged with. Growing up in a home that violently suffocated emotional expression lead to a lot of internalized oppression. Anyway, In 2015 I embarked on a solo expedition out of the U.S for the first time and it changed my life forever. I had always identified with suffering from the infliction of thinking I was “not black enough”. As I exchanged time in different communities of color I began to understand that my Blackness, with respect to colorism and privilege, was deeper than my physical appearance. Naturally, my work began to focus on the racial tension between myself and my families history. I recall two highly influential moments with my Mother & father respectively. In my late teens my Mother taught me that when she was young she and her family referred to Brasil Nuts as “Nigger Toes”. My father from a young attempted to instill within me the ideology that all white people are dangerous (potentially still negotiable). During these times of awakening I began to unpack the grief and trauma, I think a lot of people aren't really aware of the incessant internal dialogue that plagues the mind of a mixed-raced person. The potential to take on traits like Bipolar disorder or schizophrenia are high and a lot of times it’s because of society continuously expecting us to code switch, shrink & expand, and influence yet submit. That being said, there is also a great mastery that can awaken within those of us who own our multi cultural identities. As the Global Village gets larger and larger cultures infuse themselves with each other and evolve. I believe that we mixed kids are the living, breathing, walking representation of this fusion of cultures and simply put all we have to do is be proud of what we are made of.

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Why do you create? 

Why was I created? I reap what I sow. The more I allow the downloads of creation to rush through me the more I flourish in the abundance of the multiverses gifts. It is the same for all of you\us\we\i. I create to inspire, like I always say… “If I can get the spot open enough for someone to say ‘wow, he’s going hard, I can at least open up a little’ then I have done my job”.

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Who do you create for?

• Mixed Race Families and kids, Urban Yogis, Feminists, Cannabis Smokers, 

• Nature Lovers, Consciousness Seekers, Fashion Lovers, 

• Africans (Diaspora & Native), English Speakers,  

• Black Upper Class Men Feeling social responsibilities for ally-ship,

• Polyamorous Lovers Intentional Community Members, Dancers, Revolutionaries, Water People, Athletes, The Gods(non gendered & gendered)

 

How has your locale informed your identity?

Water People. We are water people, fluid in nature and emotion and this has been something I must remember. Over the last six years I have lived in Santa Monica, South Central, Topanga & Hollywood. Currently I am living in Hollywood and preparing to transfer to a friends couch for a few months. It’s a weird feeling you know? Coming from having my own spot and really feeling in my bag to getting thrown into a loop that I thought I had promised myself I wouldn’t be in again. I think right now the multiverse is really demanding that I allow myself to be provided for because for the first time in my life I am completely committed to art and truly have all the bare essentials I need to live. My journey has always been less about the physical and more about how spaces influence my spiritual growth. I feel that right now life is preparing me for tour and staying on the go because a huge tour is what I am manifesting right now. I am really excited to teach my fans about regaining our nomadic ways and having steady home practices to maintain ones frequency when on the road. Hydration, adaptability, functional clothing & coziness, healthy diet & regular physical activity are all essential for navigating huge shifts in environments. We forget but every place is a different energy grid and so I am always paying homage to the spaces I’m in and like I said, I think it’s all training for tour.

 

Have you been able to find or create a physical community where you live?

Community is life to me. I have been very blessed to be a part of such a humungous interconnected community of artists and revolutionaries all around the world. I make an effort to remind my friends that the pictures we see of Basquiat & Fela or Madonna & Grace Jones and the level of awe we feel at the sentiment of them hanging together is the same level of awe that the world will feel when they see the photos of us in 2, 10, 555 years. I am grateful for the physical community I am a member of in Los Angeles.

 

How has the Internet expanded or changed your idea of and involvement in community exchanges? 

For me being such a hands on person, the internet has been difficult for me to navigate. I know we live in a psychic realm and I think we should evolve beyond using tech to communicate. There is a way for us to tune into the streams of prana and life on this planet and communicate in the same ways we do, but without the little box of a phone or computer. I feel as though I was born with one foot in the forest & one foot in a computer screen, never completely knowing how to navigate the world of nature or tech. In actuality I have come to realize that much like my racial identity, being born in my era has allowed me to remember the world of multiplicity we came from along with be deeply immersed into today's current wave of technology & monoculture. Personally, I feel exhausted and drained if I spend to many moments texting, scrolling, researching, or even face timing. I think this is in part because my frequency is not attuned to the low vibration that Apple Technology provides us with but I also feel that because I was homeschooled for my early years and didn't interact with technology, apps, and SEO’s I have not been acclimated to their vibration. I wish to live in a world where I can face time my friend who lives next door and ask if they want to walk a block to pick coconuts and go fishing in warm water. I see solar panels and sustainable energy being the power behind live streamed events. I see the World Wide Web really being Indra's Net or Anansi the Spiders web & all of us using this medium as a means for communication. Instead though, I fear that people have become more recluse than ever because of the internet's ability to hide us. I do not think the internet values honesty, accountability, or adaptability. Due to these fears, I have expanded by involvement within in my communities. I make sure to speak to people when I see them in person, I drop by friends homes without calling and knock on the door, I hand write thank you letters, & eat at the dinner table instead of watching a show. I believe these are some of the actions we can take generationally to ensure that we are using the internet instead of being used by the greedy corporations that lobby for the interests of their own pockets via the internet.