It’s been a minute
Behind the Glass Mixer 2024
I haven’t written a blog post in an extremely long time. Call it the longest case of writer’s block I have ever had. I truly have so much imposter syndrome surrounding my writing, but I realized it was once again time to walk into my purpose. As Sonia Sanchez said, “I shall become a collector of me/And put meat on my soul.” And thus, here we are with my latest blog post. This Blog features some of my takeaways from 2024, some albums that have been getting me through such a reflective time for me. This blog post also serves as a cry out for the Fascism that lurks on the horizon.
Takeaways from the first half of 2024
You cannot pour from an empty cup.
I know this one is said so much, but I have truly never felt that more than this year. For the past year I have tried to create so many opportunities for other people, sometimes having multiple events on the same day, and I can honestly say that I have been burning myself out more and more. I have been fighting sickness after sickness. While also trying to battle a depression that constantly lurks over the horizon. I spend so much time performing in front of people, that recently I feel I have lost track of my why. I have lost track of me. Who am I? Why do I do the work that I do? Through listening to my body and meditation I am finally beginning to locate myself in all of the confusion of being busy. Reader, I ask that you make time to sit with yourself and listen to your bones. Listen to your spirit and constantly pour into yourself. Make time for your own pleasure rather than simply the pleasure of others. As an artist and space creator, I find myself constantly in the “spotlight” and no one talks about how lonely and taxing that can be. No one explains how that light after a while starts to burn.
All opportunities are not for you. Say No!
This past summer I was working with this group of young creatives and I learned that you must do your vetting. Everyone does not deserve access to your energy, your space, your aura, and you must be careful when committing yourselves to others. Through my experiences with them, I learned that people will exploit you for their own needs without any consideration for your mental health, labor, and friendship. While I lost a friend, I gained so much clarity about conducting business with young creatives in the future. All opportunities are truly not for you. While they may seem good in the grand scheme of things they may be extractive in process.
What’s for you will come to you.
I’m finally learning not to rush what God has in store for me. All in good time. I have been working for communities for years, and finally beginning to see the fruits of my labor. What I am learning is that the journey will never be glamorous, and will always be hard work. As I continue to stand by faith in the divine, I know that what God has in store will come soon.
Ask for help and communicate what you need
If you know me this is extremely hard for me. I have been hyper-independent for years and it is finally beginning to take a toll on me. I am learning to ask for help from my community more and more every day. In times like this, it is becoming more and more pertinent. This will forever be something I struggle with being the Sagittarius and stubborn being that I am.
Artists Activism is the way forward.
Art has been one of the most healing things for me lately. This past year I began working with The People’s Party and Will the Poet. Made so many new comrades committed to both struggle and artistic expression, and I know that is what the new vanguard requires, revolutionary artists. Not just creating but experiencing other people’s art. Whether that be going to parties and hearing DJs rock out, to going to art galleries, and artists’ talks, art is continuously healing me. Art has brought me into so many new spaces, and I have met so many beautiful people through spaces like Smallworld, Sublvl, and Fortune House. Being on the Chicago art scene the past year has shown me that there is so much talent and beauty out there if only we can become the conduit for our own dreams.
Album Suggestions
I wanted to try a new column out. This one is just for album suggestions. This first set of albums challenges the ways that I look at art and aesthetics lately. Cleo Sol is one of my favorite voices of our time. Little Simz has been rocking out for so long, and I got to go to her concert this year, and it changed my world. I fell in love with Sade’s Jazzy vibes last year, and this remains one of the most iconic projects of all time for me. Willow has become one of my favorites in the alternative/rock world and I am so grateful that she continues to grow and walk in her purpose. Finally, Curtis Mayfield grew up in the Cabrini Green Housing projects in the late ‘60s, and his story of dropping out, starting his label, and having one of the most political careers of any artists in the 60s and 70s is jaw-dropping. I was fortunate enough to give a presentation on Chicago funk music history and his story unlocks so much for me. Today many albums have lost their ability to tell stories, but these projects tell a distinct story of Blackness, strife, joy, pain, and personality. Listen to them in their entirety. Music is the only thing that heals me in such turbulent times, so I ask that you allow the vibrations and energies to also heal you.
Fascism is on the Rise!!
I decided to dedicate an entire blog post to this topic. We are currently watching as multiple wars and genocides unfold. We are watching as the U.S. empire appears to be crumbling for the whole world to see. Don’t get lost in the sauce. Look up Project 2025. Look up the Black Alliance for Peace. Please don’t get so caught up in your personal life you lose sight of how this country is changing in front of us. The Supreme Court has gutted affirmative action, gutted climate policy, gutted abortion rights, made it legal to criminalize homelessness, and has given the executive branch judicial impunity. I would not be surprised if a civil war was on the horizon. Protect yourselves and get ready because a new order is coming, and it ain’t going to be pretty. Stovall told me last week, “we got fucking Hitler on the ballot” and the other candidate sleepy-genocidal Joe ain’t no better. More to come. Below see a poem I wrote about Black faces in high places. It’s 2024 and we still celebrating 1st???
Too many 1st
As if being the first is something to be accomplished about. First marking the beginning of the battle. The beginning of isolation. First, usually translates to only. First like Gabii Starr. Criminalizing dissent and having students arrested for peacefully protesting at Pomona College. First like Obama. First Black man to bomb the Middle East. First, like Lori, the First Black queer woman to protect the property downtown and criminalize protestors for their dissent. First like Kamala, first Black AKA to be vice president to a US Regime hell bent on destroying and incarcerating Black and Brown bodies whose own arrest record would set half y’all AKAs for shame. We gotta eventually start seeing it for what it is first in fascism. As if leaving your communities behind is something to be proud of. Feeding the machine with its optics of progress. A stand-in for your race. A credit to your race. A testimate that you are “one of the good ones” one of the Uncle Toms. One who resisted by playing by the rules. The good slave. Just because my new overseer is Black does not mean slavery has ended. Faces that destroy our community and smile on our faces. You know like that fake ass cousin that everybody got. Those that declare cries for peace when our underworld has never seen it. A world where Black boys become martyred for reparations and representation. Diversity be the way our interests converge. The systemic adjustment where niggas begin to use the master’s tools becoming puppets and jesters standing in as the Master’s fools. Fascism in the Black face is still fascism.
