December 2014

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As always, this is kind of a journaling space for me. I’m not here to break down everything that was important in 2014, just sharing some of the stuff that I got a chance to be a part of this past year. It’s a way to both celebrate some victories and be accountable to myself and others.

(photo by Monica Rivera)

1. STANDING UP IN FRONT OF STRANGERS AND TALKING

Most of my time and energy this year was spent performing at colleges, conferences and other spaces in every corner of the country. I feel honored to have been able to connect with so many people in so many different places this year. And that’s all on top of local shows like the “Shut it Down” night of speaking out against street harassment, the “Let the Bars Breathe” poetry-of-rap show, the “Page, Stage, Engage” show which sold out the Whole at the U of MN, and other shows I organized or helped organize. Booking for 2015 now.

2. SIFU HOTMAN (Guante, deM atlaS & Rube): EMBRACE THE SUN
My last year-in-review also kicks off with Sifu Hotman. But where last year’s three-song suite was a fun little side project, this extended version is one of the best full albums I’ve ever helped create. With support from BBC Radio, Ego Trip, Amazing Radio, Bandcamp’s “New and Notable” feature, and more blog write-ups than I usually get, it also became one of my more successful projects. And with Josh’s new success as part of the Rhymesayers family, I’m hoping even more people discover it; get it here.

3. DUNGEONS
I released this way back in February with no media campaign, no physical copies, no release party– just a mixtape for me to get some stuff off my chest. Over 9 Dungeon Family instrumentals, it’s a concept album about bullying, identity, activism and more. The second verse on “Chain Lightning” is one of the best things I’ve written, as is the song “Greater Shout,” though I think the whole project has its moments. Oh and all of the song titles are level 1-9 D&D spells. And it’s all one 30-min track. And it’s free.

4. MORE SEMI-VIRALITY
I was on Upworthy twice this year, back in January for The Family Business, and again in October for Action (which was also featured on Everyday Feminism and the NoMore Project). Between my own YouTube account and my videos on Button Poetry, I reached well over a million views this year. Obviously, the numbers aren’t everything, but when you write sometimes-challenging poems about social justice issues and people actually pay attention to them, you have to celebrate those little victories.

5. NEW SPOKEN-WORD VIDEOS

Via Button Poetry, a poem about the iconography of the Twin Cities, and the importance of digging deeper:

Via Button Poetry, a poem about the “continuum of action” involved whenever we witness injustice; this was written after Ferguson, but relates to a lot of different issues:

A poem about the weight of history, and how that weight can be a burden, but it can also be a source of tremendous strength:

This poem was actually an assignment for class; it documents my experiences with education and systems of education:

6. OTHER NEW MUSIC AND MUSIC VIDEOS

Here’s the video for “First Ave. Funeral” from the Sifu Hotman album. This is one of four videos I’ve been involved with shot by Adam J. Dunn:

We shot a video for everyone’s favorite song from “You Better Weaponize,” the one that talks about whiteness in hip hop. Directed by Patrick “PCP” Pegg:

Here’s a random song about nihilism, aliens and Burger King, produced by the great Katrah-Quey. It’s a free download:

Producer Blamsiss remixed one of the standout songs from the Dungeons mixtape; it’s also a free download:

I’ve worked with Ganzo on a handful of songs now; here’s his remix of “Limb from Limb” from the Sifu Hotman album:

7. Writing (Online and In Real Paper Books)
I wrote a ton of essays and op-eds in 2013; some of them got a lot of attention. But I made a point this year to write less and signal boost more, whenever possible. I tried to only go into “thinkpiece mode” when I felt like I had something unique to contribute. A few things I wrote this year:

8. TEACHING AND FACILITATING + TRUARTSPEAKS
As much as I was on the road this year, it’s also important to me to be building something here at home. 
  • It was incredible to work with TruArtSpeaks again this year on the Be Heard youth poetry slam series plus all of our ongoing programs, both in-school and out. Next year is going to be even bigger. Lots of news coming soon.
  • I’m also thankful to COMPAS for hooking up a number of in-school residencies this year. Working with them has taken me out of my urban comfort zone into the suburbs, into rural areas and beyond, and it’s always been a great experience.
  • I finally started my video series sharing tips, tools and tactics for aspiring spoken-word artists. We are three videos in, and more are on the way!
  • Also facilitated classes or workshops at what feels like a million different conferences, summits, activist events, etc.: Department of Justice conference on preventing gender violence, ACPA national conference, Overcoming Racism conference, the Safe Schools youth summit, TC Daily Planet media trainings, and much more.
9. GRAD SCHOOL

Yeah, I also finished my first semester of grad school at the U of MN. It was a busy year. I’m studying intersections of critical pedagogy, social justice education, and social media, all through the lens of hip hop and spoken-word.

10. NEW BOOK AND NEW ALBUM
Both of these projects will see a 2015 official release, but they’re both done. The album is a sampler mix of all of my best songs (plus some brand new tracks and remixes), and the book contains the lyrics booklet to that album, plus all of my poems, plus a bunch of my essays and other writings. They’re both called “A Love Song, A Death Rattle, A Battle Cry,” and will be available soon. I’ll end this with the video to one of the new songs on the album; thanks for listening. Let’s keep building.

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I made a collage of some of responses to the “but shouldn’t it be ALL LIVES MATTER?” crowd.

Because pointing out and organizing around the fact that black people are disproportionately targeted, harassed and killed by police does not take away from the fact that other people are also affected, that the recent murders of police are also tragic, or that other lives are not also valued.

If you’re more offended by the phrase #blacklivesmatter than the reality that prompted it, I would challenge you to reflect on that.

MORE:

Collier Meyerson at Fusion: A guide to debunking the need for “All Lives Matter” and its rhetorical cousins

Kevin Roose at Fusion: The next time someone says ‘all lives matter,’ show them these 5 paragraphs

And then there’s always this:

Related:

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That’s a good question. Let’s plan. Whether the end-goal is overthrowing capitalism and abolishing the police, or just getting more progressive people elected to office, the medium-term goal is the same: building a mass movement.

Like I say in one of those tweets, building a mass movement is everyone’s job, and everyone has to figure out how best to leverage their strengths, passions, resources, access, etc. to contribute to the larger struggle. I think of teachers calling audibles in their lesson plans in order to talk about current events. I think of religious leaders doing the same thing during their sermons. I think of workers organizing anti-oppression committees or even just book clubs in their workplaces. I think of athletes wearing #blacklivesmatter shirts. I think of online communities. I think of students. I think of young people. Everyone has some kind of power or access to space that can help this movement grow.

And for artists, I see a lot of potential. I’m not really interested in the “you have a platform so you HAVE to speak out” argument. For me, it’s more a matter of “you have a platform, so why not speak out?” Whether or not it is our responsibility, it is definitely an opportunity. Especially for touring artists– poets, MCs, bands, etc.– that have the privilege of regularly being up in front of thousands of people all over the country; that’s a platform with enormous potential.

We tour through blue and red states. We tour through cities of all sizes. We tour through colleges, big and small, public and private. We tour through communities that may not have the same kind of access to the programs, conversations, and movement plug-in points that other communities have.

Even beyond the geography, artists have the power to reach individuals who may have zero interest in activism or social justice. When I see five hundred (mostly young, mostly white) kids at a rap show, chanting along to anti-authoritarian lyrics, I see potential. The simple act of standing on a stage and challenging an audience to think critically is a good thing. It is the planting of a seed.

But I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the difference between planting wildflowers and planting crops.

As artists, it’s easy to plant seeds. If I play a hundred shows, and I know that my material is social justice-oriented,  or even just critical thinking-oriented, I know that I’m doing something good. I know that listeners will take these ideas and engage with them in whatever way makes sense to them.

But I think the question isn’t “is what I’m doing good?” The question is “is what I’m doing as good/powerful/transformative as it could be?” I obviously don’t have all the answers, but I am challenging myself to do better. Here are a few practical ideas for transforming artistic space into activist space; this is just where my head has been at lately– please add other ideas or thoughts in the comments:

1. Connecting the Audience to Concrete Actions and Organizations
One of the first steps, for me, is demystifying the idea of activism. You don’t have to a brilliant anarchist mastermind with a black bandana over your face to get involved. You do have to show up, though, and I think one obstacle to building a mass movement is that a lot of people just don’t know where or how to show up. Rage is valuable. Critique is valuable. Raising awareness is valuable. But we can do more. A few ideas:

  • Invite a local activist to have thirty seconds of stage time to talk about an upcoming event, or even just have a table by the merch table where they can hand out flyers and collect emails. It’s about specificity too; I don’t think we always invite every activist group to every show. I think it’s about making connections to what’s happening in the world right now.
  • If that can’t happen, one strategy I’ve been using lately is just taking a few minutes out of the performance to ask the audience for resources: what are links, organizations, events, etc. that everyone else needs to know about? Use the knowledge in the room.
  • Key word: specificity. Again, it’s cool to encourage people to “go out and do something,” but if there are opportunities to connect individuals to specific, existing movements, even better. And even if we don’t love a particular organization, knowing that they exist helps people envision what could be and build something better.
2. Breaking Out of the “Shut Up and Play” Mentality
You can do a lot with an hour of stage time. Most of us (including myself, for 90% of my career) just perform for an hour, maybe with some awkward banter between songs/poems. But what else can we do?
This may be easier for spoken-word poets, who more often perform in spaces that lend themselves to facilitated discussions or interactive stuff, but I think this is a good thing for all artists to at least think about. Some of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had on stage have been when I’ve decided to not just do my ten best songs or whatever and really try to connect to the audience, to have a conversation, to do something together beyond “look at me for an hour because I’m great.”

At one show, we took a big chalkboard and I asked audience members to write down actions they could take regarding police brutality and the prison-industrial complex. This was during those twenty minutes at every show between the listed start-time and the actual start-time. By the time we did start the show, the board was full of ideas:

I’m not saying that that’s the most transformative thing you can do on stage, but I think it is an example of how breaking the fourth wall and being more interactive can really add to the power of an event. Have a discussion. Play a short video. Stage theatrical disruptions. Be creative. We frown upon teachers who just lecture for an hour straight; I think we can hold performing artists to a similar standard.

3. Taking Signal-Boosting to the Next Level
Retweeting people who know what they’re talking about is good. Posting links to articles we think people should read is good. But I think a lot of this is done haphazardly– we happen to see something, and then happen to RT it.

I think there’s room for more intentionality here. And it doesn’t have to be any revolutionary reframing of how we do social media, just a little extra thought. A few tactics:

  • Make more of an effort to signal-boost on-the-ground activists and not just media talking-heads. The latter group can have some great analysis, but getting the voices of the people really in the trenches out there is important. This also relates to making sure that we’re signal-boosting the people who are directly affected by the issue.
  • Whenever an artist with a lot of followers speaks out about an issue, that’s good. But I also think that there is a continuum of value at play. Posting a statement or a rant is good. Posting a rant with a link to an article with more information is maybe better. Posting a rant with a link to an article and info on an upcoming action is better still. It’s all about making connections.
There are weeks when I don’t post anything self-promotional. Just links and resources. And yeah, I lose some followers who aren’t trying to hear that stuff, but I gain more. This isn’t just altruism. Especially with how Facebook’s algorithm works today (explicitly self-promotional posts are more likely to stay invisible to fans); posting about current events and struggles just makes sense.

A Million Other Ideas
Admittedly, these are pretty surface-level actions. There is even more room for arts spaces to be fully integrated into activist movements, and for artists to plug in in ways that are even more intentional and focused. But I think it starts here, thinking about space. Reclaiming space. Transforming space. Leveraging access to space.

I also think it’s hard to have a general conversation, since there are so many different approaches to practicing art. What works for some people won’t work for others. What is effective for an artist who holds one identity may not make sense for an artist who doesn’t hold that same identity, or live in that same community, or have access to that same fanbase. But there is always something that works. Beginning to think more strategically is a first step.

Finally, note that there’s nothing here about the art itself. I love explicitly political art, and I encourage artists to talk about stuff that matters in their work, but I also know that you do not have to make explicitly political art to engage with these practices. You do not have to have all the answers or know everything about every issue to engage with these practices. You do not have to make less money. You also do not have to radically change how you do business– a lot of the stuff here is really practical and easy to do.

We all plant seeds, and that’s good work. But while wildflowers are beautiful, crops are revolutionary. Art, by itself, cannot change the world. But art, as one element of a mass movement, absolutely can. Feel free to add more thoughts or ideas in the comments.

A few links:

This Saturday: Million March MN: Million Artist Movement: “Artists and Allies with Black Leadership who are committed to channeling and connecting people and organizations who are doing the work of social justice.”

Black Lives Matter Minneapolis: great central hub of local activity around police brutality actions.

This Is Not a Think Piece: Turning Outrage into Action from Ferguson to the Twin Cities: my piece collecting links, resources, and organizational info for people who want to plug in to the work being done here. Updated!

Jeff Chang & Bryan Komar: Culture Before Politics

Demetria Irwin at The Grio: Questlove is right, hip-hop is too silent on Ferguson and Garner

My poem “Quicksand” and some further thoughts on the “continuum of action”