[Music]
[Craig Arthur] There we go good evening everybody, how are y'all? Super quiet. I said how are you doing?
All right so my name is Craig Arthur, I'm a librarian here at Virginia
Tech, also a DJ for about 20 years now. Getting old but um so I want to tell you
a little bit about where you are right now. So Digging in the Crates is a monthly
program, and we started here back in February. This is actually our sixth
monthly program and I think probably about our tenth event in general.
So what it is is a program that hopes to foster a sense of community among hip-hop
artists and fans on campus. We hope to model the student's personal interests
are worthy of their academic study and further institutionalize
hip-hop studies presence on Virginia Tech's campus. By a show of hands, how
many people knew that Virginia Tech has been offering hip hop studies classes
since 2003? Abraham, my man over there, Kwame might know for a particular
reason I don't know all right so what we're doing is we're trying to celebrate
hip-hop scholarship via community creation right so we try to send our
artists voices-- practitioner voices, student voices, not just make this like
strictly scholarly, academic, you know like actually talk about people that you
know people that do this every day get their perspective on things right?
So real quick I want to give a little bit of time to some of the sponsoring
organizations. We've got a whole bunch of sponsoring organizations but we've got
WUVT 90.7 of them right here Molly yeah and we also have Aaron Liu who's the
president of VT Flowmigos I guess Virginia Tech breakdancing club right so
I give them a just a couple minutes to talk about what their organization does
on campus and how to get involved in that sort of thing and then we're gonna
hop into to the program.
Hi I'm Molly and Stephanie we're really proud to be a part of this event. We're a student-run
organization we're on the air 24/7 and we have broadcasting that you never hear
anywhere else. Craig actually is a DJ on it. I got asked a few days ago someone
was like who is this playing [sound effect] great thanks for having us and we're glad to have you all here.
What's up everyone my name is Eric Liu, I am the president of the
Flowmigos and we are the breakdancing club here at Virginia Tech so we have
practices and you know weekly workshops every Monday and Thursday
so Mondays is from 6 to 8 p.m. and on Thursdays are from 7 to 9 p.m. so if you
got busy Monday Wednesday Friday classes just come out on Thursday they're always
held in Johnson Student Center room 100 if you'd like to find out more
information we have Instagram we have Facebook if you just look up
Virginia Tech Flowmigos spelled FL o W is flow migos you can always check us
out for more information. One of the biggest things that we do every year is
that we host Give me a Break. Give me a Break is a 3v3 break dancing competition
last year was hosted right here in the library. It was a really awesome event we
had around 300 or 400 people come this year we're gonna make it even bigger so
we're hoping to make it like a nationwide event we're already in the
planning process of that. That's on March 17th in 2018 so that's for next year if
you'd like to get in you know if you're already interested in like what I'm
saying with the event or if you'd like to get involved you could always hit me
up because we're always trying to get more people involved with hosting this
big event we also have someone from SOHHL today willing to speak about
students of hip-hop legacy. What's goin on y'all know Sejong I'm the president
the student of hip-hop legacy here Virginia Tech we try be the umbrella for
everything hip-hop on campus marketing these guys are doing to love the events
like these we actually have one of our biggest events of the semester tomorrow
7:00 where the concert will the rapper and Amanda Graham
with an effort is a local DC artist at the vended rim is a rising El Paso Texas
star so please come out and support it's free 99 yeah that's price possible so go
out it's a a market leader at a squash teen center from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. seven
Spence of seven yeah definitely come check us out
you know hip hop at Virginia Tech needs the people and we definitely want
everyone to come out and support so hope you guys have a good time today.
That takes us basically into the panel discussion we're gonna do. I'm gonna kick
it over to Kwame, hopefully he's got a mic in the golden crate yeah do you see
the golden crate they do work yes you gotta turn them on.
My name is Kwame Harrison, I'm the Gloria D. Smith Professor of Africana Studies here, and I am moderating this
thisexcellent panel today on digital literacies. I'm really excited because
for two reasons, one because we have such a great and we have an outstanding group
of panelists, and two because I'm about as digitally illiterate as you can get
so I'm just really kind of throwing questions out there I'm still I'm still
rocking a cassette tape anybody who knows me so too is that it's a great
opportunity for me to learn and for all of us to learn what I'm really thrilled
and happy to have these great panelists with us so I'm just going to so I'm just
going to go actually I will go across the room starting from my immediate left
and then go up going farther over right here on my left we have Nathan Zed.
Nathan is a content creator and a Virginia Tech student the third year
marketing major currently has four thousand six hundred four hundred and
sixty thousand subscribers to his YouTube channel the third pew and four
hundred and thirty thousand followers on Twitter amongst other accomplishments he
is responsible for creating the hash tags trap covers movement and recently
started his own clothing line I hope he brought some of his clothes
I heard it was okay okay next to to to Nathan's left we have AD Carson.
AD Carson is a performance artist and educator from Decatur Illinois.
He received his PhD in rhetoric communication and information design at
Clemson University, doing work that focuses on race literature history and
rhetorical performance. A 2016 recipient of the Martin Luther King Jr. award for
excellence in service at Clemson, Carson worked with students staff faculty and
community members to raise awareness of historic entrenched racism at the
University through his see this breaks campaign which takes its name from his
2014 poem. His dissertation owning my master's the rhetorics of rhyme and
revolutions is the digital archive that features a 34 track rap album and was
recognized by the graduate student government as the 2017 outstanding
dissertation. Carson is currently assistant professor in hip-hop and the
global South at the University of Virginia. To AD's left we have Rashman
"Sum" Patton and he is an Independent Music Award nominee with regular song
placements on high-profile television shows films and video games his band the
Milky Way was featured in the 2015 toyota camry national ad campaign he has
worked with legendary producers including needles
Jesse shackin and the late Mikey Owens always looking forward he found in his
own subscription-based content service ten years before title has overseen
creative direction for his own mobile app experience and serves as founder of
digital action committee a loose collective focused on education and
creative tools for social justice and to Sum's left we have stimulator Jones and
stimulator Jones as a DJ producer songwriter singer multi inter
instrumental is born and raised in Roanoke Virginia just down the road he
was recently signed to Los Angeles ledgendary label Stones Throw Records and if
you're into hip-hop and you don't know about Stones Throw Records you should check them out
they are one of the most important independent labels of business this
century so can we have a round of applause we have a a series of organized
questions that together the VT diggin in the crates group has put together that
it kind of scripted questions if we're gonna start with but I know that
sometimes these events are really exciting once they open up to the
audience as well so please I hope to get to your questions as well but I just
want to on we have about five questions that we're gonna begin the conversation
with that I will pitch to each of the people maybe starting with stimulative
Jones and we can kind of work our way back this way and we'll figure out a
sort of round-robin a way way to keep it going but to begin with could each of
you talk about how you got started doing what you did did you have any mentors
and influenced you early on and what role did communities either in person or
online play and developing your craft I know that's a lot go with it as far as
playing music and writing and singing and all that stuff I started out as a
kid because I grew up in a musical household with parents that played older
brother that play uncles so it was just everywhere like from the time I was a
little kid so I had no escape from biggie so I ended up playing and
learning different instruments and as far as mentors I would say my family
especially the my older brother was probably the biggest one for me he's
three years older than me and he got a drumset when he was like four full size
drum set that he had in his room we were played all
the time and eventually I would start sitting down and messing around with it
and from there I you know picked up guitar and keyboard and but you know
definitely having a big brother is is a huge influence so as far as mentors he
was probably my biggest one and as far as community community in person is is
really important because if you're not
interacting with other musicians and artists then the you're missing out on
knowledge that you can gain and and share with people so community in the
flesh has been pretty important to me in that sense just as far as being around
people in picking up things like almost through osmosis in a way just kind of
you know watching somebody do something and then internalizing that and then you
know maybe putting your own spin on it and then as far as online communities
that's been hugely important for me being a artist from a small town like
Roanoke Virginia you know I had to in order to be recognized outside of you
know the relatively small town I had to you know get online and and make sure
that I was interacting with people on there and that way they could interact
with me and so yeah
check one two there we go can y'all hear me oh how I get started
well I'm a writer so and I was showing an aptitude writing from a very young
age and uh you know my mother picked up on it and I come from a family of
educators so they made it a point to once they saw that I was you know kind
of had this natural gift then they would go to great lengths to reinforce it and
every given opportunity you know discipline and punishments for me you
was like writing essays about what I did wrong and you know write letters to my
grandparents when I messed up and telling them what I did and you know
she's slowly like honing my gift or you know what she saw is you know my gift it
probably may be a way for me to pay for college down the line of being a single
mother so she was like yeah we gonna go ahead and you know juice this part up so
uh so that's that's how I got started and then once the music bug hit and it
was just a rap from there once you know hip hop into my life and it was that was
the marriage of something that I was naturally prone to do anyway and then a
culture that I loved and something that you know my big brother is my big cousin
it's just it was just so fly and everything I was listening to and
everything I was growing up watching and hearing who was just so dope I just want
to be part of it so uh so that's how I got that's how I
got started him in you know later on getting older it was just more about
probably avoid responsibility you know adulthood and rap was a way for me to
explore my bohemian side and it was you know something that I didn't have a lot
of examples of this far as like artists in my life so I was kind of on an
unbeaten path so so it's you know largely me trying to figure out where I
fit in in the world you know as as a writer community is an interesting
thing for me because my my life and my career as a writer kind of took me a lot
of different places and I was in the very early days in my professional
career which I spare you all the boring details from my bio but and the early
days my professional career you know his music journalism and then I kind of like
transition into online community management so I'm very early on got a
taste of what web 2.0 was gonna be like and when 3.0 is now like a long time ago
and the kind of behind the scenes aspects of those things and what
community the digital community actually meant to the people who spend the money
to learn from it um you know which eventually led me to the digital action
committee which will talk to lick will talk to a little bit later but
community's always been an interesting force in my life because I was you know
to speak to mentors I was taught by my mentors early on I went to Morehouse
College in Atlanta they still to me the importance of giving back to the
communities that raise you up and building a community of your own so that
was instilled in me and then you know it's starting to understand how that
translated to digital and you know being an artist and you know so on and so
forth it's played a pivotal role and my understanding of how things work me
being able to plug into a community online as a whole nother issue you know
it's something that is kind of an ongoing challenge and struggle you know
and probably at some point I'll speak on that too but about covered all the bases
how y'all doing um so the the first question how did how did I get started
doing what I do I think similar to the whole lot of people who wouldn't see a
thing my desire was to write and it wasn't that I thought that I was going
to be and I didn't have any like visions of doing anything like particularly
special it was just that I mean I remember being in fourth grade and being
asked to to write a paragraph as we're doing you
know your grass to do very often and in asking the the teacher if if I didn't
find that interesting enough could I make it run and and the teacher said you
can and so I did and I remember writing this rhyme it was like teach us good
teach us well teach us how to write in spell is there something I can do school
is special and so are you and yeah bars and fourth grade the fourth fourth grade
me was like this is this is how English class should go every day and my teacher
agreed and I think that that was extremely important that the teacher
agreed with that because then it made me realize that I had some kind of agency
in my education because I had the opportunity to to modify the assignment
that I was given because it was not interesting enough to me and I think
that I kept that so that when I had a teacher who didn't really feel that same
way I'd give myself the headed incentive of being able to do something that was
creative that the teacher might not allow but I could still get away with
which you know like probably points to the whole dissertation thing you know in
attempting to do something that that fits within the boundaries but you know
you kind of have to squint in order to make that happen and through that I
think that mentorship then came in the form of people like that teacher and in
other individuals who when I saw it fit to push back against the things that I
was being told they saw that as creativity rather than seeing it as
rebellious Nisour seeing it as disobedience or seeing it as something
that was entirely negative and then they reshaped that into the motivation to
help me be a better version of what they might believe that I could be because
that was something that we were shaping together it wasn't just me having an
idea that I was gonna be doing something particularly at some point later on but
them seeing that I should be knowing something I could be doing something
maybe not knowing what that is but then wanting to help me figure that out along
with them and I also have I have five brothers and two sisters and so
that helps being somewhere in the middle of all of those folks and when you want
to do creative things and you have that many siblings then they also want to do
those things you know the first rat that I recorded was like me and my siblings
and I think the name of the song was Glock on your block because we thought
that you had to rap about killing people and so I will not rehash that and
delivering that verse but I do know it but it was awful and a lot of people
died over the course of those 16 bars and I'm sorry I do apologize those
people anyhow we wanted to let we it was competition and that was my community
that my brothers and I wanted to go back and forth with with each other and then
you externalize that and so you know after we get to the point of you know
like we would say together like you know like say my brother is better than you
at school you know to other people and then like we would we would go back and
forth and I think that that carries over into the into the digital space in those
communities I think the competition happens differently but I do think that
we are definitely engaging in something that seems to be extremely competitive
and you know like like really curating a version of ourselves that well that it's
supposedly better you know or you know like worthy of being followed
and so yeah I don't know if I have any any answers about that I just know that
I engage with those in the ways that I can but I also see like both those were
those versions of me that existed in those places as kind of fictional or you
know like crafted in some very deliberate ways I'll stop now in my case
I started making videos like just a little types of videos before way before
up YouTube it was just like on my family's home
camera or like my mom had like a flip phone that could only record up to like
10 seconds of video and she has no memory because like you go and it's like
50 videos of me I mean so I can pour vine was even a thing I had mastered it
and like I was doing videos on YouTube like the Pat we're going into freshman
year and yeah there's like I always really liked film and comedy and like
try like I loved editing and stuff and when it comes to the role that
communities play the YouTube community a lot of people just make videos about why
should that does not matter so essentially like after a while of like
trying to do stuff essentially what you want to do is like you make a bunch of
shit that doesn't matter and you hope it's like gonna blow up and when that
doesn't happen it just gets discouraging so I started making videos about stuff
that like mattered to me when it comes to stuff like social issues mental
health yeah like just like the feeling like you're not ever gonna be good
enough stuff like that would like not sad all the time so I tried to do it
with like a comedic twist and it's like comedy based but there's stuff that you
could walk away with at the end and yeah basically that's what I'm doing right
now while doing school at the same time which is like difficult but I'm doing it
like I could do one great I could do another one great but I'm doing both
real average people like people don't really appreciate that like a lot of
people that I know personally encouraged me to drop out of school and like move
to LA and like try to blow up but it's like I kind of realized that I have my
whole life and if I'm here for the long game I don't have to rush myself
especially if I'm trusting in God like I know that these two years are not gonna
be the end of my career like I can go to college I can get this education I can
be a kid and then I'm gonna do this forever so okay alright this is great
thank you oh I wanna I want to know I didn't know
one thing that I didn't expect but I mean it makes sense is
all he talked about the importance at some point the importance of family and
happy either if it was starting out within the family
starting out with family became the question your family became that
important point where you hold your skills or or just kind of getting back
really that start in the introduction to working with a certain kind of kind of
technology I'm gonna combine a couple of questions right here and kind of take it
wherever you wherever you want because I want to keep things kind of losing we
have a book a few scripts scripted questions but one thing is can you um
describe a typical day in your life and around that if you can say a little bit
about particularly when your artist persona might enter into that day what
the relationship is between that artist persona and who you are and I know those
are two to join to think don't feel like you have to talk about don't good you
have to come along but if it works out that way okay we change it up through
the night as far as the typical day each day is different for me like I'm not the
kind of person who thrives on routine I like to do different things and so I'm
always like here there you know constantly changing especially in
artistic sense I'm always trying to push myself and and you know do different
things and be involved in different areas but I try to make music listen to
music study I study other people's music other people's art I practice my own
craft I create things I love to record record music constantly or just write
write words and and then outside of music health is something that's very
important to me so you know I try to exercise and eat good and be active
breathe fresh air drink water you know let's read take care of myself you know
those kind of things
let's see oh and as far as my artistic persona and I'm I'm usually like pretty
laid-back until like in as far as like if you meet me in real life but I try to
set it up so like when I go to perform or whatever it can be a huge release
from that and I can just like go crazy what do you think the studio is a place
for you perform thank you spend time in every day it's it does yeah it can come
out in the studio and on stage and and they're both you know different arts you
know so but yeah it definitely in the studio I try to you know have it be some
kind of release for me because I try to you know all throughout the times where
I'm not playing or recording or whatever you know just kind of be absorbing
absorbing and then when it's time to release then you know you put that
energy out and and and then then you recharge so that's just kind of how I
like to look at it
um sorry I think probably most of us up here being creators will probably have
similar answers in that it probably isn't much of a typical day um I don't
think I'm unique in that sense um I has been a long time like design in
my life so that I have kind of complete independence and sovereignty and I can
kind of you know dictate the cycles of our life you know so there may be a
typical day for like a period of time for like maybe a two-week stretch or a
three-month stretch you know and then I shift modes you know so maybe you know
for two months I'm on you know kind of bandleader frontman mode and you know
manager agent Gaad and for another couple of months maybe I'm just digital
media writer dude in another couple weeks you know I'm in another mode you
know because I have kind of different buckets that I live in but that's how
one of my life to be and I pretty much had that now oh so the only things that
are typical about my life or I try to write everyday um usually you know it
ends up with a drink somewhere you know so that's typical you know I make time
for family I'm married so you know that's a huge part of my life and
tending to family matters and um like stimulative mentioned like health is a
big thing for me I take a you know great care and making sure that I'm in the
best shape I can't be for whatever stage performance or just to be of service to
my fellow my fellow human beings so that's you know that's typical but uh
you know other than that like it's kind of dependent on what the day calls for
if I have you know clients or projects whatever it's on the plate like you know
I have a regiment for how I go about my work and you know a certain strategy
that's typical but there's no routine you know not these days no way I think
that so to answer a question about the persona artist persona and
that relates to um the the person who you might be otherwise I think is really
really difficult for me to separate those because I well I do know that that
we are working you know like the the personas are at work they're just
they're so closely tied I mean at this point if I'm making music then like
while I might be attendant to develop a character for people to engage with that
character is still developed with the intent from me as an artist to give you
a certain kind of story and so you know my hope is that people
will engage that in that way though some of them may seem a feel controversial
they may seem even careless or tactless in in certain ways I would hope that
folks would you know we given given enough of a listen to consider that that
there is a purpose beyond simply offending people but sometimes that's it
you know like offense it's a place where you know like we start in order to get
folks to grow and I take that I think into my into account every day I'm on on
Tuesdays and Thursdays I'm up at 5:00 a.m. and I turn on some music and then I
go through you know like a morning routine and then I head over to the
campus and I sit in my office and I'm reading and so like every morning I'm
like taking in media for the most part it's just a lot of reading and then
something like hits me and then I'm writing and so that's just about every
day I'm reading something and I'm writing something on the days that I am
on campus then I'm interacting with my students and then we have a we have a
rat lab there and so then we create like we kind of build together whatever that
might be and then I go home and the times that I don't have to be on campus
and I'm not performing somewhere or speaking somewhere and on that home
because I don't like to go outside
I'll be doing shit there's really days like yesterday um I was like you know
November first it's a new month I gotta get out there like let me start getting
my life right and I didn't leave the house Paul a date like that's like just
and that's just because I mean like I'm in school so like a lot of the time it's
just studying like the toms between uploads I'm like notoriously bad like
this year I posted well I won't do like a rough time at the
beginning of the year but this year I pretty much post like 4 videos which is
like ridiculous and it's just like me focus on school and kind of just trying
to enjoy my life or like trying to do other stuff that it's not like I'm not
disappearing off the face of the internet or anything like that like my
audience is still getting some type of concept from me but when it comes to
like the persona well the question about the persona
again a little confused just one is how with your how does your perfect in your
performance persona different from and or has it manifest in your what
opportunities does that persona have to manifest in your daily life okay yeah
for sure I mean I'd be more just I'm usually just
more relaxed in real life in my videos like I got to keep people entertained
for like a couple of minutes so the attention span is low you gotta like be
jumpy and stuff so people would kind of expect me to do that in real life like
there's this one girl last year it was weird like she snapped
me like I was just studying and she was like fakest nigga on campus and she said
put that honest around and fall or anything and then my friend was like
like why'd you say that and she was like yeah I mean like he seems all happy and
positive like online person he's kind of like you know he's just not like that
like feel like he's two-faced it's like yo like I'd be depressed sometimes like
I'm really like just walking to class and like last year I was going through a
rough time like I said so that kind of just made me I don't know I really
pulled back and like I was kind of discouraged feeling like people expect
me to act a certain way and I'm not always gonna be happy and stuff like
that so but I kind of just was like scored like I can't expect everybody to
understand but um yeah I was gonna say it's amazing sometimes it I mean these
things happen when you when like folk interact with what you create in certain
ways and then like they see you I I cannot tell you how many times I've had
really uncomfortable conversations in front like in the freezer section at the
grocery store because somebody's like oh yeah I saw that video you did I heard
that song you did and you know what what do you think about the presidency and
I'm like yeah I'm really just trying to get and so I don't really want to have
this conversation right now but you can email me you can tweet me like you
tagged me online and then I will respond to you and do time but I'm gonna cook
this food first but I think folks don't really like because if you do that
though then folks it like that kind of thing happens and it's like are you fake
as hell and then you like you've lost someone because you didn't give them you
know 15 minutes and public's and and also if you do give them 15 minutes
people will gather round and then like you're performing in the freezer Island
public's pretty much I just want to say that again like he was talking about you
know being more laid-back like in everyday life but then when it comes
time to perform there's such a high level of energy involved so if you're
spending that amount of energy all day long like you're gonna run yourself into
the ground and so and I've seen it happen with
musicians too especially like rock and roll cats they think that they need to
be partying 24/7 because you know that's what you have to do but you will destroy
yourself if you don't give yourself a break like especially if you're on tour
like like do you know if spending that much energy night and night out like
that there has to be a balance like like I was saying like the time to recharge
yourself like because it's just like you know athletes or anything like you
there's such an expenditure of energy involved that you have to take care of
yourself in order to be able to sustain that if you want to have a long career
you know waiting it's time to party you're right yeah yeah and I you know I
live in LA which is is I see the tragedy of you know people blurring the lines
between their public persona and you know how they want people to perceive
them and they're you know private persona all the time so you got people
out there who are constantly on all the time and it's like yo man just you know
like fall back you know like and it's a lot of people like are already
established edified like stars you know understand and they still feel the need
to like impress upon you you know who they are
I've gotten like run up on by you know like guitar gods you know what I say or
like you you know who I am and I'm like yeah nice to meet you you know and they
feel this need to defeat to feed that thing but I think it also speaks to the
sign of the times that that barrier has been dissolved you know for better or
for worse between the the audience in it and the creators and a lot of times the
audience you know feels intimate experience I guess online for
them they feel that they can you know and they have such immediate access to
everybody you know they feel that that translates to offline as well you know
and it can give it can get it strange you know and it can get I luckily like I
don't you know I'm active online but I don't have a huge online persona most of
my work is you know like on the on the ground on stage or whatever you know
most people know me that way so you know we do away with any pretense kind of
like right there you know what I'm saying
so I don't have those issues but I do know people who have you know you know
kind of those massive online digital personalities and they have to deal with
those challenges and it sucks for them like you know well maybe maybe some you
can start the next question then and even it might not be the best most
appropriate question for you or you might not have the biggest answer maybe
you're doing you might surprise me I have the biggest answers answers of all
the answers best words when you're deciding what what where to take your
craft where you take your performance and particularly when we're thinking
about moving into what happens in what streams to pursue to bring your work out
into to try to take it to a digital platform value what how do you go about
making those decisions about the first thing I do is I ignore what everybody's
telling me to do I ignore all the hype and you know all the conventional wisdom
Ness is you have to right now this is where this is the new hot platform these
are the new hot tools this is the new way you get you know clicks in you know
it here's how to get your engagement of an SEO and all that is bullshit to me
because I've been behind the curtain there not know better you know what I'm
saying so I go where I feel like I can learn the most and so and so every time
I you know this make a choice about putting out a new piece of work I look
inside and figure out okay what am i what's my next step in learning as an
artist and was the next step towards my own personal independence and
sovereignty what what new piece am I gonna add on what
new piece am I gonna add on that I can then show as an example to people like
hey this is how you do something different you know outside of what
everybody is telling you to do and outside of the popular conversations so
I look for the learning experience and also try to challenge myself because
that's what keeps things interesting for me so you know like for instance uh I
just put out an EP you know a couple of months ago I didn't put a whole lot of
expectations on and I was just in between projects and songs I kinda need
to get something out just to kind of like fill to fill that void of like I
need something to do because I've I need something to do so so I'll put a project
out but what am I gonna learn here so I want to learn more about cryptocurrency
and blockchain technology it's about to be a whole like massive movement in the
music industry towards blockchain technology and I've been trying to read
about it but I can't it's not really resonating with me I'm not retaining the
information so I was like well the only way for me to learn is for me to
incorporate this into my business model somehow so I'm going to allow people to
pay for my my new project with Bitcoin you know and so how do i you know how do
i implement this you know this is how i'm going to learn about it you know so
that's that's how that's my process you know what am I going to learn with each
outing as a teacher I always try to I try to encourage my students not to be
afraid to fail you ever make some mistakes in challenging yourself and
learning all the time like yeah it's probably more mistakes
than successes you know in my story yeah you know but that's what makes me who I
am that's why I have a very particular and unique you know perspective and
skills it I think that a lot of a lot of what I do is dictated by the like the
the medium I guess is dictated by the message a lot of times I mean really if
I'm reading and then you know I have an idea that that I want to do something I
mean I had no I mean I just finished writing
dissertation defending my dissertation and then I moved to Charlottesville and
I moved to Charlottesville like a couple days after they had the tiki torch rally
not the one that was on not the one that you all saw on television they had like
a prelude to that on May 13 and they surrounded the and so
I found myself in a space like I mean this personal discomfort that I had in
the way that I navigate those phases is to write and so like naturally then
that's going to come out as as music I mean that's gonna come out as lyrics and
but but there are other times I mean like there's one piece on that new on
this new project I mean the dissertation was done I defended it and then I moved
within a couple days and then I started immediately writing a new project and
from the time from from May until September then I recorded my probably
you know somewhere like 15 to 20 tracks and then put together this this twelve
track project that was inspired by living there and feeling how I felt
there but I had no designs on writing that music in that particular time um
but sometimes you know what I'm thinking about an issue that needs like where
there's an intervention that I have or I have a response to it
then I think that no like it's going to need a video like a like very
specifically is gonna have to be a video that I'm going to do and there may be
some other component of it and other times it's just it's just audio so yeah
it's really it's a matter of what I'm thinking and then how I might be able to
intervene but mostly I'm wanting people to have access to information that they
wouldn't ordinarily go get you know if there's a like a journal article that I
feel has some really helpful information then I think how can i how can I change
that into a format that folks are going to want to engage with and then make
reference to that so people can go back and get it or people might go back and
get it yeah
okay what's the question by the time it gets to me yeah when you're deciding
where to where to put your what processability goes through your mind
when deciding what avenues to put your work out in okay um I just have like
different forms of social media where I feel like I could get my message across
in the best way of articulation for example if I want to really get a point
across I wouldn't do it on like YouTube or Twitter but if you want to do
something fast and it's about something that's like relevant you can do it on
Twitter and it's gonna be retweeted on people's timelines if you want to boost
somebody else's message you're able to like quote tweet just be like read this
thread I think that's really helpful if you want to talk about well if you don't
want to be like the voice for like another group that you're not supposed
to be the voice of women in trans people stuff like that I'm not trying to be a
person that's coming out here and like speaking for them so what I'm able to do
is like boost their voices for people that don't have the platform other
things the other question I saw was we were talking about like a mistakes do
you see other people maybe I am I think that the biggest mistake I see people
make is in the mistake that I made at the beginning was you really try to see
what's hot and you try to act like that and we try to be that and you want to do
it as fast as possible like to get to the top one there is like no top like
you there's there's not even a such thing as that but um I really feel like
the worst I really live by is the longer it takes you to get to the top the
longer you stay there and like people can tell when you're authentic and real
and those types of people really drive like cardi B for example like she's like
a mofo most authentic right now and she's like
finally really out here and she works hard for like years and now she's like
at the top of people could know that she's like you know she's genuinely
herself donald glover he's been like started doing YouTube videos and you
never like had a huge hit that made him like blow up because we see one hit
wonders come and go see like comedians do like something
like a meme or something like that you disappear after like a year but if you
really want to be out here forever like Donald Glover is out here forever now he
does Atlanta he has like a top 40 track that was like an 80s track on the radio
this man is similar the Lion King like you know what I mean so yeah man people
can really tell like when you genuine and it takes a while to kind of come
into yourself though that's that's the thing
speaking of company to yourself when Donald low rewarding purple pants on
Valley I was like yeah we not get he's here
okay so the first part of the question about deciding which channel that you're
gonna send my work through I only really operate in a few channels Bandcamp
SoundCloud YouTube because my angle is put the music up let it speak for itself
and then I make it on Instagram or Twitter and provide a link to the music
and point you in the direction of it and then you can hear it and then decide
what you want to do from there and so that leads into mistakes people can make
and there's a there's a few that I would like to touch on real quick the first
one being and and let me just preface this by saying this is my own personal
opinion from my own experience if anyone comes up and they're like this is the
way you do it this is the only way don't listen to him because it's different for
everybody you know we we all are on our own journey and and we're all
individuals so everybody's story is different so but for me it was helpful
for me to maintain somewhat of a mysterious angle like I don't
I think a mistake some people make is post too much stuff if you're like
tweeting something or posting something on Instagram every three minutes like I
mean me personally you might get unfollowed liking them like if you're
just retweeting like viral stuff and then like all these random thoughts like
you know in my personal opinion that it's different for everybody but I found
what worked for me was to kind of just be more like a slow driven and then so
like and not not reveal too much because timing is is something that's important
and that goes that ties back into the first part of the question like when
you're deciding what channels to put things through you have to think about
okay well I can't release my whole album right now I'm just gonna put out this
one song first and then wait a few weeks and you know so that there's timing
involved another one of the biggest mistakes that I see people make is take
no interest whatsoever in anything anyone else is doing that's that is the
easiest way to not gain followers or listeners or anything if you're just
putting your stuff up there and not taking any interest in anyone else's art
then you're you're working against yourself I found I mean go listen to
people's stuff tell them you like it when you shoot them a little something
like hey man I like that to interact with people show interest in their art
and then that will make them more likely to check you out so that comes back into
the community aspect of it you know and then oh yeah and this ties back into
what he just said is really the last thing the original
don't feel like you need to copy whatever's hot right now because you
know I'm on Stones Throw Records if I sent them what you beats the sound of
the exactly like mad lib or exactly like Dilla or like sent them some stuff that
it sounded exactly like Anderson PAC and I was like come on sign me why would
they sign me they already have those artists why would they need something
that sounds exactly like that you know be original come up with your own style
your you know what's your own story that you want to tell to the universe so I've
got a call I've got a friend he'll remain nameless but whenever I go to his
house he always has books on the Shelf like how to get your song out like and
then he's always posted and promoting his stuff and then people start calling
about like do you ever actually contribute anything to the conversation
or you just write he's keeps the model of how not to do now get an earring
finger yeah you gotta you gotta take interesting and what other people okay
okay so anyway we start with you up on this but how much time do you spend
managing the business side of art how much time do you spend managing the
business side of art and doesn't your feet because business interfere with our
how do you try to keep keep creativity at the forefront when there's also this
idea of being I guess business savvy and strategic I don't sell anything
yeah it's free go download it I like that's really I mean I think that I make
it simple because like what I'm doing especially in this academic world is is
really just like trying to share information in forms that I think people
might find pleasurable like enjoyable so I don't spend a whole lot of time really
thinking about I mean I think about the ways that people interact with with the
media and I think about I mean so like I guess there's like the economic concern
there you know like how like what is the most effective means by which people are
going to come into contact with it and then spread it share it um but so far
it's like my like the business of myself um I don't I don't think about that that
much you know like if is an event that I want to do that I think is cool then you
know like I'll do it as long as it's feasible and the saint you know
performances whatever it may be but I'm really really interested in interacting
with people who want to do interesting things or who are in you know who are
like interested in in like learning and building and so and it may like also
sound like a little too benevolent or altruistic and it's not it's not it's
all like very very selfish it is like I don't want to talk to people that much I
don't want to go in yet places but I do like to do events where people might be
you know like like we might be interact I just don't like the like interacting
for the sake of it but there has to be something beyond that and if I'm getting
that then I feel like like I won't be entirely spent by engaging in that
particular moment but I'm also like completely okay with turning something
down regardless of the financial stakes if I feel like I'm going to you know to
be asked to do something that I'm just not cool with doing or you know like
this place asked me to perform a actually asked me to come to a cover of
like some other like really well-known rapper song and who's our new low
it wasn't no no but but they asked me to cover this song and then like in there
like well you know this is how many people are gonna be there so be this
like really good thing and I'm like yeah but like when I said no I intended it
there was like no other follow-up is needed for that I wasn't going to do I'm
not going to do it and that's just kind of how I feel in I have the okay so but
but I also have I mean I have this this the job that I have allows me to be able
to do then so also you know I don't want to be inconsiderate of the fact that
some people have circumstances that don't allow them to say no the way that
that I that I'm allowed to because you know my professorship means that on
Tuesdays and Thursdays I'm going and I'm going I even have a job to do and on the
first of every month you know like I can open that app and you know everything is
all good you know I can afford public
school being about this creates a real structure because freedom yes yeah yeah
I mean there but there constraints as well because that institution is going
to want some they want some things in exchange for that deposit every month
and it's not just me going in that into that classroom and you know like you
know writing raps with my students they I mean so there are some some
obligations that come along with that and I have to negotiate daily with
whether I'm okay with that and you know like the content of the music that I
create because it's not for this like for that particular kind of consumption
that other folks are going for that means it's going to be controversial you
know if I write a song called Grand Wizard and I use all Donald Trump vocals
over the top of it you know like the university might have some some
questions or concerns about that and if they decide that you know then
I shouldn't be a professor at their university for that reason I have to be
willing to deal with that consequence and so you know like that's a thing when
it comes to like the business part of it I made like no money in my life to light
this year this is like the first year on my bank account has not gone negative
once so great guy Oh Mike oh I really was just like oh God
like a lot of people that I'm friends with in the YouTube internet thing they
just be talking about like how much money they make in and I'm making like
nothing odd didn't know was going on but now what I'm trying to do is I really
want to be able to pay my tuition and I don't want my parents to have like any
part of it at all so I was like okay and let me actually figure out how to
introduce but um and people were telling me to like sell merchandise or anything
like something like that but I didn't want to unless it's something that
really meant something to me and I waited like six years and I really
finally came up with something where it's like this pictures been up like 50
times but um the good enough thing where like I just felt like I needed a
reminder to remind myself that like I don't have to try to you know be perfect
and everything I do I don't know it was just like I made a video about that kind
of thing and a lot of people resonated with it and then I wanted like that kind
of reminder and I was like I actually don't really care if anyone really even
messes with this I just need it for myself but then a lot of people actually
were excited about it and then I dropped them and they're doing really well right
now and I'm trying to do my bootys now but
like kailani was wearing it like rich chicka was wearing it
Diddy's sons girlfriend hit me up she was like yo like I love your shirts like
how like can I get one I was like trying to bottle it like I mean you see stuff
I'm not gonna give you a free one well like
well she actually bought with those really cooler than she'd like posted
pics in it and everything so that was really this is just weird actually
but um yeah like the supports been dope it's like Victoria's Secret models were
in it bro I'm out here I'm sorry like I'm just realizing that but uh yeah like
it's just cool that I'm able to do something like that but it's about
something that I feel like has helped people like a lot of people have hit me
up and been like I was really going through some shit and it just makes me
feel better to wear something and like anything that I can do to help you feel
better is like great cuz that's all that matters is like you being happy and me
be a happy it like all this behind I am I
I don't smoke a lot of weed but when I do I like to like wash my sponges out
and like organize things read about like the history is it bruised and shit and
like learn about celestial navigation in just so like the the older and the older
I get the more like in tune I've become with the liberation in details so
business and being involved with my own business and having control over that
all the different aspects of my business I found the more control I have over the
business aspects of my life in my career the more freedom I have and freedom is
all that I want so I need to control as much of my business as possible and then
I realized that business is just another form of creativity it's just this is the
analytical part of creativity you know and once I realized that and you know
came to grips that with the fact that I was a nerd and a control freak then I
was like cool like this is where it's at and this is where my path to individual
freedom is gonna be is gonna be understanding how the business works you
know every single aspect you know I have to keep track I had to I have to
register all my songs with my with my PR oh I have to keep track of my spins I
have to follow up with you know Spotify and Pandora and see what's going on I
have to you know look through contracts and then also my professional career
kind of put me in a place where I got to work with great business minds and
understand you know how empowering it is to understand the business around your
art yeah I was I was for a while I was head of branding strategic partnerships
for Stampede management where we manage a soup dog and riff raff Busta Rhymes ty
dolla sign you know budget like prominent artists Lalah Hathaway and so
being on the business side of their careers especially snoop and seeing how
you know how things move and how things operate it gave me an affirmation that
it's it's fun actually to and it is artistic to be involved with you your
business and so it also it gives me something to do because I don't always
feel like being an artist you know sometimes I just sometimes I feel like
being a businessman you know so yeah and so I get grad I get gratification out of
that you know it gives me another outlet and I always come back not always but
you know I'll come back up with something new that I can then apply
tomorrow to my art you know so no it doesn't take away it actually informs
yeah the only thing that I would like to say as far as how the business side can
maybe interfere with the creative side is for me when I'm in the process of
creating a song or writing a song it's it's kind of a balance between creating
something and and not thinking about the final product whereas when you're
working on it you're thinking okay what's what's the final destination of
this of this two chord pattern that I'm playing on the keyboard like and so it's
in it in like I said it's a balance because you you want to to a degree be
thinking about okay like I want to because I want to take an idea and and
take it to its completion but I don't necessarily want to be you know just
playing keyboard and feeling it and then we think have that be interrupted back
okay like now when my dad how am I gonna get this on the radio and okay like you
know how much how am I gonna reach a million people with you know I got a I
gotta make this sound like because then you're letting commerce like control
your your creativity and you know like I said it's a balance cuz you know I want
to make stuff that appeals to people and the people can relate to and we all want
to make a living doing what we love to do so you know I understand that but
yeah it's a balancing act the title of this panel is digital literacies what
did what does that word mean to you just what does it mean to you and how does
your understanding how this digital literacies play a role in your life I
feel like when I saw I just feel like it means like it's it's a talent to be able
to there's a lot of people that don't like for example like the Kardashians or
something like that but anyone that has like 10 million followers
that's like untalented their talent is getting like 10 million people to follow
them you know I mean because like not everyone can do that
and I feel like getting audience through social media just like that kind of
thing is just something that you have to understand how that kind of stuff works
for you to actually get there and I feel like that's what it means to be
digitally literate in my understanding yeah just because like you have to
really know what people are gonna like more people are gonna like and stuff
like that okay
digital literacy to me means how good are you at the Internet um I if you
think about literacy that means reading and writing so I guess you have to
consider you know your output in the digital realm and the things that you're
inputting into yourself from the digital realm so to me it's an ability to to use
the tool of the internet to how how can you use that to inform yourself and
improve yourself gain knowledge and and gain connections and then how can you
out and then how do you contribute to that how in what way are you going to
have an impact on that as well so it's it's both the input and the output and I
guess it's it's the same as as you know walking around in in the in the real
world it's just what what kind of imprint do you want to leave on it and
then what what what kind of imprint do you want it to leave on you and it's
it's a choice that you make so I guess it's
to answer the question is is it's however you choose to the input and
output digital literacy that means two things there's like the social part and
then there's the part my own internal interpretation would that mean so like
the social part to me the first thing I think of when I saw digital literacy was
access hmm and not in the sense that now everyone has access to these tools
actually in the opposite sense that your literacy is kind of directly correlated
with how much access you have to the technology and to me that is you know as
with any resource is going to be its problematic so I see digital literacy
immediately as a challenge to make it something that is accessible to everyone
and it seems that way and that's kind of what the popular narrative you know it's
feeding us is that this technology and these platforms are available to
everyone but they aren't and then you know the ways in which they're being
onboard the way the ways they're being taught are really super empowering you
know it's more so they're being taught to be hamsters on the wheel to turn the
gears of commerce as opposed to actually you know empowering themselves and the
definitions of empowerment are also sullied because there's this you know to
kind of go back to a question I didn't answer earlier about mistakes that are
being made the the biggest mistake that I see being made to a an infinite
degrees there is perceived value and then there's actual value and people are
confusing actual value you know with high numbers and high engagements
and but what are these people with the the hide numbers and the high
engagements you know um what value are they actually bringing to
you know the world into their communities and what have you and not to
like I'm not here to shit on anybody that has that kind of influence because
I don't have it you know understand and that's a great power and a great
responsibility and so you know to those who especially those who use it to
uplift people you know and and for conversations forward like I give the
almost respect to them but there's a there's an issue with this for this
perceived value versus actual value an actual strength an actual power versus
perceived power perceive strengths mistakes so empowerment access digital
literacy developed for me it means and the social context like evening all that
shit out and actually empowering the people with literacy for me digital
literacy personally means understanding the ecosystem of how all this works and
how what each of our contributions are doing to affect humanity you know as a
whole and the being responsible digital citizens I guess and for me that's what
it means like true digital literacy means being a responsible citizen
understanding how the the ecosystem of the digital world works who's benefiting
from all this traffic who is actually benefiting from it or is it really the
people you know who is actually benefiting from the proliferation of all
these platforms and all these tools it's really us you know and if not why not
you know what's our role in is what's our role in you know the the ignorance
about how DS these tools and these platforms are all being put in front of
us and and we're being told that they're supposed to be used this way but I don't
know you know so for me it's more about my personal journey with digital
literacy is trying to become the best digital citizen possible by my own
standard all right so good and I have a lot of thoughts about this
but I'm not gonna share all of them but um so I think is well it's kind of so I
think I know it's meant by the term the term digital literacy and so like and I
probably don't have to like like rehash that but I kind of I mean I wonder about
how and and I don't think any of this is new but I'm like going through these
like this session of thoughts and like the idea of literacy like literally
literacy is something that I mean like we work toward being like a literate
public right or like people who are able to read and interpret things and we're
thinking about like reading and interpreting and it has something to do
with text um you know but then and you think like the evolution of Technology
or you know like yeah evolution of technologies I know I mean I wonder if
there was a point like when we moved from like orality to like literacy did
someone like say like what does it mean to be like um like textually oral or
something does that make sense that lose anybody with that like like when you're
moving from like like orality to literacy like because like the orality
is like us speaking and then like being able to understand like what people are
saying when they're speaking and then you move the text and then like that's
what we would call literacy you know like being like like literate
understanding comprehending what people are doing there then this thing that
we're doing like with the digital is it just reading on the internet or is it
like something else because just reading on the Internet has us pretty fucked up
like I'm sure many people will agree with that because like there's a
proliferation of things that we know to like not necessarily be true but we read
them and because we read them and we understand them as such then we take
them as that so you're literate you read it you understood it you interpreted it
it had an effect in your world but it was actually not based in fact and then
you shared that because you have a viewpoint that you want other people to
believe in regardless of whether that's fact
or not and so people who are engaging in this thing that we are calling literacy
in this digital space then are like engaging in something that is like
pretty incendiary when we think about it nefarious and you know like all of those
other words that make us feel um you know like yeah unsettled so um so as I'm
thinking about digital literacy I'm thinking that we probably need something
that's like more engaged than like literacy in the digital apparatus and I
know that there have been people who have offered something like that and but
I'm not going to like quote names that you know if you're interested you can
email me um okay but but anyhow so I think that went but when I hear that I
know what's meant by it but I think that when we refer to it in such terms then
it lets us off the hook and then we can play like a like a blame game or we can
actually like have these offshoot conversations about things that don't
really get at what the technology is I mean like the technology that we have at
our hands and then understanding what it means to engage with it and if we think
that it's just a matter of being able to read the words that are on a screen as
opposed to words that are in a book then I think that we're like hopelessly lost
and so my hope would be that with the digital thing we're doing something that
goes beyond what we call literacy that would be my hope so I guess I like I'm
saying what I think it isn't yeah an extra literacy out of note yeah
something something else but I wanna now is the fun part that was the fun part
the banner where I stopped asking questions and we open it up to the
audience and you can direct questions at the whole panel or people but before we
do that I just wanna I want to really thank all of you I am a I'm a stodgy old
man I avoid screens at all cost and I feel that anytime you engage with the
digital world you are stifling your dreams
PNF kind of gives this approach that I take you've all have learned a lot he's
taught me a lot about how to be creative how to be creative in being part of this
digital world that's all around us that we can avoid and also why why it's
important to be creative in this process this leader for incredibly creative
people I don't know if you how many of you know all of their work but you
should check out all of their work but I just wanted to say that I want to thank
you but let's open it up to music what do you consider described like unique
sound because most I don't really use that word anymore
I prefer to kind of talk in terms of like feelings and colors like this is
how it might make you feel this is what it might remind you of you know because
unique is totally subjective like you know what somebody offer I've had people
tell me something was unique and I go and listen to like y'all never talk to
that person they have no idea what unique means you
know so yeah that's my eyes right I don't really define unique for myself
anymore because if I did I would be a madman because I I come from music
journalism background then I went into music curator mode on streaming online
radio and it's like for many many years in one way or another it's been my job
to listen to new artists all the time and then even just as an artist for me
to stay sharp I always try to stay up on the new shit so once you listen to that
much new music over the amount of time that I have there's no such thing as
unique anymore it's more about what it inspires and even that's intangible you
can't really put it into a word as basic as unique you know what I'm saying
because everybody is unique in their own way every artist is freaking out always
so I try to get a little bit more creative I think like for me and I'm
always thinking about like how things like very familiar things they're like
rendered in new ways and then like things that seem new like can be made to
sound familiar you know so like if you think about like the like the childish
gambino song I mean it sounds very familiar
I'm acid red low like it sounds very familiar but like it also sounds new and
so like there's something about that that gives it it doesn't sound new to
you oh yeah well so the but so the idea in in my mind is to it's like it's to
play that up as much as one possibly can I guess you do run the risk of like you
know folks believing I mean because I felt this way about Conway the Machine
we're like what he's doing is something very familiar but I think that it's new
to enough people that people are going to buy into it and so if you're not from
the era where rappers rap that way then you're like oh yeah this new sound is
whatever and then somebody's like no it's like totally 1995 year and so it
would be the same thing with the childish gambino track where you could
go back in the archives find something that sounds a whole lot
like that but because the context is changed I mean the landscape has changed
so much and the consumers are a different age and they never heard any
of that because they're not going to go back into the archives and you have the
opportunity to use that as you know like the space where you might be creative
and the people who we consider like truly creative like blend something that
is like with that like old sound or with that the familiar sound they bring
something like they put a spin on it that's entirely different and then I'm
thinking somebody like andre 3000 with the love below where it sounded like you
know it sounded like it was from matters out of space it was like the retro
future right like it was like which which way did we go in order to get this
and it's like we went back and then work forward and it depends on which track
that you're listening to so I think like that one I think unique or I think of
that when I think of trying to like create something in a space where I feel
comfortable for me the main thing is just injecting yourself in there in some
way and I can relate to what's being discussed because if you listen to my
latest song on Stones Throw Records
you're gonna hear you know so you know that sounds like some 90s Keith Sweat or
something you know so but with music you you're working with in forms that are
that are already established most of the time and that's okay
in my opinion um you don't necessarily need to reinvent the wheel
you may go to school but the Lego said just inject yourself in there like so
you know like somebody can hear it and then not know who it is but they can
they can feel you in there and know that it's you and just you know you know put
your energy and your emotion in there and and and in that way it's unique to
quickly interject with some pizza we will continue this Q&A with some pizza
that's right you guys hear me so one of this evenings panelists ad Carson
assistant professor of hip-hop in global South in MacIntyre Department of Music
of at UVA will return to the libraries tomorrow morning to lead an informal
workshop in open discussion and in Thiam our space for exploit explorations in
the digital humanities the conversation will be focused on new approaches to the
production of knowledge and publications of scholarship so join us in Indian room
tomorrow 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. near library 124 so we also have a polio
eportfolio contest I wanna win a $500 cash award by creating your own
e-portfolio University Libraries and his partners are hosting a student showcase
highlighting the work of students every day attempted participating is easy
joint proposal and worked you create and reflect on your learning process
submissions are due November fit yeah um see the Flyers in the back for the last
announcement for the digital literacy program here at Virginia Tech University
Libraries we've been thinking a lot about the term to do a literacy the best
we've come up with so far is little digital literacy is a set of knowledge
and skills that help you help you learn create work and live in a digital
society this includes things like deciding where
how to share your work taking charge of your online presence
fact-checking information you come across and finding digital content you
can remix and reuse digital literacy isn't just about the digital content and
tools you use but about how you use them too in relation to other people and so
on and so on find out more information from Julia Ferreira
thank you talked about writing everyday people ignore the kind of curate John
work but how do you decide what free is worth moving forward I'm putting out the
world I'm assuming that everything you make this night
I want to hear what you got to say for this wait so you're just saying like
what how do you decide like what to put into the world to me yeah yeah like I
honestly uh well for example like what I'm writing something I literally go
through like seven drafts of it so there's like jokes a like you'll never
hear there's parts that you'll never hear because like I write a whole like
brainstorm or something and then I open another page and I go and I like rewrite
it and then I add more subtract more and that happens like seven times in a week
and because I want it to be the best it can be and I don't want to just you
could do like the whole what I call diarrhea content which is you just you
have a lot of it and I guess you're somewhere that doesn't fit with the
metaphor but it's all still shit but like that's what a lot of people do is
like they just every single day they put out a video they put out whatever they
want to do and then like it fits with the algorithm and they're able to like
get more people to watch their stuff but like all their content is like you know
meaningless so yeah I think it's just better to like really focus for example
here artists like music or something like that and like just make the best
couple tracks for your album EP and then like put that out that's to be judged
yeah I think there was a point in time where I actually did when I was writing
my dissertation every piece that I wrote I posted online and I thought that I
mean but that was really like it wasn't again I wasn't trying to like shop these
songs for people to really like nope nobody I didn't have the idea that
people were going to take this and play it in their homes or anything but the
process of me creating the the archive that that's kind of behind the album
meant that I wanted to be as I wanted most as much of it to be forward-facing
as possible and in order to be able to have the conversation with the graduate
school about the work that I was doing I think that they had to see it in
progress they had to see the so if there are you know 100 plus songs
that have been narrowed down into this 34 track album then you realize that the
person who's who's written you know 200 pages that I don't I don't think that
they are comparable really like there's no real way to compare it but at least
you have this archive of this music there that you can look to so that when
someone says well what do we do and we ask you for edits and I say well I could
have given you the entire list to listen to and so rather than you having the two
hours of music that you have in that playlist you know I could have given you
you know like seven or you know like ten and I didn't do that so like but but
it's there so on the on the archive then those thing but that way that was very
deliberate for that reason and so some of the music I don't really like that
much but it was what I recorded at that point these were things that were coming
from these interactions with my with the folks I was in seminars with and you
know that that was my process but for that particular thing yeah of course
checkpoints ahead nice Mike this is the story of my life always ain't no win the
week Mike the see there's maybe a couple ways I can answer now and one is
important to have a comedian thing you know and have a good team and good
people around you as creator who can tell you not right you're still good at
what you do you know as a light this isn't personal you know that's just not
you know so both of my soul endeavors in my band endeavors that the
is my you know committee there so that helps me decide because I'm at a point
in my writing and my creativity where I'm just like I don't really I don't
have attachment to anything I do either way I'm just more so concerned with just
getting the work done I don't have an opinion on it on my own work you know
saying I'm just like okay cool songs done alright projects done all right
cool get it out you know let's let's smile songs up those five verses up I
was just so I can stay prolific and stay fluid as far as my practice my craft
goes so my personal filter is maybe a little bit off you know so I had the
choice at a certain point I know when it's time in my process to ask for
feedback I don't ask for feedback all the time you know very very particular
about feedback because I don't trust people I don't trust people's opinions I
think they're fickle and I've made you know very crucial decisions based on
fickle feedback you know saying and learned the hard way that there's a good
time in a bad time to feel feedback um and then the other kind of more abstract
answer to that question is kind that everything ends up coming out because
there's essentially like I do most of my writing in my phone these days
essentially this is just like a librarian by it is and pieces of things
you know concepts and ideas and person what have you and you know those in the
form that they were written might never come out you know but when I'm stuck you
know then that's what the first place that go you know is the graveyard to see
the dead ideas and see if I could dig some up and a lot of times my best idea
is called from the graveyard you know so in a sense like almost everything I
write or create in some way shape or form
you know cause sometimes I have to revisit like I think
a writer's block almost like a almost like a software update you know like it
is when your creative system shuts down and you get a new set of tools a new
patch you know some kind of new fix or whatever you can't create during that
time and then you come back stronger you know with some kind of new thing that
you can have a for you know something divided happen and you can go back and
revisit that stuff okay this is what I was really trying to hear you know
sample data for so in some in some ways like everything kind of ends up coming
out you know that's very true because I've had things where like I'll be going
back through old stuff like just random like sketches of unfinished ideas and
you go back and find something you forgot about and then you take it and
flip it and add to it and then you make something new out of it that you know
that happens all the time I guess the main thing that I deal with is just you
know if you if you have 10 ideas or whatever the the main question for me is
knowing when they're done when how far am I going to take this is this
something that should just stay instrumental or should I write lyrics to
it you know should it how does should it have two verses or you know you know
chorus should there be a bridge these you know these are the kind of questions
you have to ask and and I guess the in the end you know as long as is you hear
it and you can listen to it and and not feel like oh I could have done that
better or I could have added dad some people they can't listen to their stuff
without thinking of having those thoughts and I understand that because
sometimes I'll I'll be redoing songs like years later I'll be like oh I need
to I need to go back and redo that and I'll give you a really good piece of
advice that my friend told me he said don't be afraid to kill the baby and
what he meant was if if you have an idea that's
and you're just you just you don't quite know what to do with it do I need to add
this or take this away don't be afraid to just scrap it and just start all over
because you know it's it's all right and that was that was that was a helpful
piece of advice he gave me don't be afraid to kill the baby
it's his lion not mine what a great what a great session and thank you so much I
would tell you a story actually story about so but to tell this story I have
to take you back and maybe it was summer of 2016 and maybe you remember that it
is summer of 2016 it seemed like every week every day every hour there was
another video about police brutality there was falando Castiel there was
Ferguson it was just day after day after day after day were these just
unbelievable incidents and and horrifying acts of violence on the part
of police officers against largely African American people and it just got
to the point at some point when I remember thinking boy you know this is
something that every classroom teacher in America
needs to be talking about and yet how challenging it impossible and difficult
to do that and I was struggling with my own feelings of desensitization because
as you may remember it got to be so often that you just couldn't be as you
know gobsmacked by the horror of it because it just kept coming and coming
in and so I went around the internet looking who is speaking about this
paradox right and there you were speaking about that paradox in a way
that was funny and poignant and real and spiritual and your being in the
zeitgeist of the moment and speaking about your feelings of that experience
was really powerful so I had the great great honor to show your YouTube video
to a hundred and fifty teachers at the University of Rhode Island summer
Institute in digital literacy just in case you wanted to know what digital
literacy is thank you and teacher said teacher said oh like this is what our
students are thinking and feeling and we're afraid to step into that place of
silence because we're so damn - ties and so your voice gave teachers
of feeling of comfort that they could open up these conversations and know
that none of us had the answers and none of us know how to deal with it but that
being authentic with what we were feeling and thinking was wait for it was
the only way for you so much that's up well this is a good microphone but like
that's it's just weird because like when you are that's when I post a video like
I just put it out there and then I don't really think about like how people are
gonna really take it like all I get are comments from faceless people so it's
just really interested in one get that from you looking at you and also knowing
that like there was a hundred people watching that video and that they
enjoyed it you know that they like spoke to them I just want to say thank you for
oh that actually means a lot to me I
like that as question to both of you to hear you were working for a major
university like I was in my hood or whatever and you know I've lived in
Blacksburg for 15 years and so I see this guy around all the time I'm doing
my best and no he's one of them I think when you in university what happened to
University of Virginia I tell people that's where I'm from with that kind of
thing how do you know what to say if you want to keep your jobs I think that any
job in which I can't say what needs to be said on one like the girl phone yeah
I mean I think that that's just the thing that I've taken with me is that if
I can't say the thing that needs to be said then I don't need that job I mean
I'm not going to swallow the truth it when it needs to be spoken for anybody's
check for any reason so it's that simple for me and again you know I'll say as I
said before yeah I don't have a family that I have to
look out for and I've got the host of other skills that I'll be able to take
with me to other places to be able to feed myself handle better and and and I
have people who love me that will make sure that that I'm that I'm gonna be
okay but I feel like especially because you're at a university like Virginia
Tech or at UVA where people feel empowered to march across the campus in
the ways that they do and they feel empowered to bring the to bring their
hatred and to bring you know the so called supremacy and the these
ideologies in such a public way to so many people that that there have to be
voices of dissent that are more willing to say the truth and and and suffer the
consequences than to sit sit back so that they can continue to collect the
check because then that's complicity that means that you're you're actually
helping them along and I'm never ever ever ever going to be okay with stepping
into a mirror looking at myself knowing that I helped them in any way so it's
very very simple for me all right there we go
yeah that was that was really well sin and and I I agreed with a lot of the
sentiments behind that myself I I am fortunate I'm a tenured professor here I
we have a powerful union the a AAUP which which supports academic freedom
and stands up for before people so in some ways I feel very I feel very secure
in my position at this at this university I don't even really
contemplate questions about losing my job around around any anything
to what I say and I think I don't think I could say it with as much conviction
as ad said it but I do think it comes from an idea that you know if you
believe in your value you know that your value travels and and if and if you're
in a place that isn't going to value you that's not a place where you want to be
so so I feel that the truth is I don't confront that question very often I feel
that students are I feel that it's incredibly important at this university
and in our actions at this university sometimes my scholarship is different
but hid our actions at this university I think it's really important to put
students in the community here first and to put their their interests and their
safety and their concerns as a top priority so when I make decisions about
where to stand and where to stand up it always come start from the basis of
what's most important for the students and for the greater community but this
community is here because of students the follow-up calls are just real quick
would you only think about money because the one place and I'm not perfect far
far far from perfect and and even with beliefs that I feel strongly and I also
feel that I I I compromise them sometimes
I certainly do and one of the places were like to feel like I said up the
most is and I'm very aware of this but it's just a mode I've become is that as
a underrepresented faculty member in this university who shows up to things
and support students I am involved in a lot of things and you want your credit
my images everywhere I feel I feel like I'm incredibly taxed from there's that
there's that black tax that goes all the way to being an under episode faculty
and what you want you have to do and into my own fault if I want some of this
I what I've been asked to do things I say yes a lot that what what that means
is sometimes I feel that some of the beliefs and convictions I have get
compromised just under the weight of how much many things you have to do I had a
63 papers and a hundred tests to grade last week don't ask me where I am is in
the process of going through those but even that is a week worth of work and
then you add I'm not gonna go on but then you add all the other things that
I've agreed to do I'm involved in doing so I do think that sometimes if there
was enough of me I could do and I couldn't be there and show up these days
I'm trying to just actually must be going back to getting get enough sleep
because I've realized when I do get eight hours sleep I'm a lot more on the
ball and when I get six I just I don't know they're gonna bring back my old
tweets
favorite teacher in my life are here in my life life because I have one just
really great 8th grade teacher who was literally my like 50th youtube
subscriber and I visited all the time and she's like the coolest person and I
like we actually like to talk about like real things like and not only well after
I'm graduated I feel like a lot of teachers in high school and like middle
school they had to wait until after to like want to kind of like be your friend
but uh yeah like we were really close like even back then so that was really
interesting and I think that having that kind of connect yeah having that kind of
connection with someone that's educating you just makes you really even more
interested in trying to actually learn so yeah that was that was a really
important part of my life I think
uh I was like I suck mentioned earlier a comfortable family of educators and so
my mother was very hardcore about making sure I was in good schools all the time
I thank my lucky stars every day for my education I had a stellar education
there were other spots in our life that was you know hard we didn't have a lot
of money growing up you know we bounced around a lot but had different types of
situations but good education was never an issue so ask to your questions I
don't just have one favorite teacher like I literally probably have about
five or ten you know that made some kind of profound impact on my life
at some point my favorite teacher was my tenth grade English teacher his name was
mr. Murray JJ Murray he taught at Patrick Henry
high school he was a published author and he was a complete weirdo
he was very eccentric and very intelligent he reminded me a lot of
Robin Williams character in Dead Poets Society it was he was kind of a rebel a
lot of the faculty didn't really like him because he was like I said he was
just kind of eccentric and he did things differently and I liked him because
every single class he only asked that we write we write something we create
something and most of the time he would make us get up and read it for the in
front of the whole class and something did really impressed me was the number
the first day the first thing he did on the first day of school
like the first words out of his mouth were okay here's ten ways to get a free
pizza from those Caesars and he proceeded to list ten ways if we
were like who what is this guy talking about apparently he used to work there
years ago and so he went down the list and told us ten ways to get a free pizza
from Little Caesars but then he also he gave us his phone number and he said and
he said he said if if there ever he's like oh I don't care what it is if
you're somewhere and you need a ride like I or anything you call me anytime I
won't ask questions I will tell your parents I don't care and then he
proceeded to tell us that he had had a student who had committed suicide and
that was one of the reasons he gave us all his his phone number and he said if
you need anything you call me and then and then I liked it because he said you
know if I if I find out that you're up in the hospital because you tried to
kill yourself he said I'm not gonna go to you and say oh I feel your pain he
said I'm gonna cuss him out it was just cool I loved mr. Murray and and he had a
he he had an on line like poetry magazine and he would he would publish
different students writings he published some of my stuff but he was he was just
really encouraging for us to just create to just come and write something like he
didn't stick to the SOL 's he just would want us to write write write and then
get up and read it in front of class and be embarrassed him and I just really
appreciated him I'm still in touch with him to this day
I've had a lot of I've been fortunate to have a lot of really fantastic teachers
and so they're not named a lot of them you know like many many different times
but I think that like currently like my favorite teachers now and it sounds may
be sounds really corny on my students because I mean I realized that because I
have so little contact like that is unimpeded by like some kind of like
really weird situation that I'm in where I'm like forced to interact in the
classroom students are I mean they're really bright and very honest and when
they come with really good questions I mean it always seems that that I'm that
I'm learning through the ways that they're navigating the world that they
live in and particularly being in Charlottesville it at this time
you know I find myself just in spaces where I'm having to learn everyday and
more particularly my nieces and nephews because they seem they believe they know
everything and so like they really I mean but for the same reasons because
they're so inquisitive and even when they're presenting something as though
it's a fact in and I believe that it's completely wrong then I get to see how
they come up with that being a fact and so I enjoy that kind of interaction I
just find myself being taught by those folks who for whatever reasons entrust
me with like what they are supposed to be getting and I mean I understand now
more than ever that I'm getting as much if not more from from that interaction
I'm done right on thank you