[:3lON - Many Moons]
I think Baltimore has a spirit of doing
it yourself only because we have no
other choice but to do it ourselves. You
can recognize a bud as a flower it's
just like still getting there it's still
in a part of that cycle. You don't have
an industry telling us to do, we don't
have you know these corporate
institutions, you know, influencing our creative work.
It don't matter what season it is.
The work does not stop, it's no breaks.
If I'm being called to a place, if I'm being called to do something, I should
probably listen to that voice. What you
do creatively, it can take you anywhere
you want to be.
It's really important to give back to the
community and young people especially in
the form of knowledge by the end of each
class we have like two or three beats.
Before they know math, before they
know anything that a school teaches you
they are born creative, they are born
artists.
The Baltimore sound is strong, it's tough, it's gritty, but it's
still soulful.
Jubilee is right there on
Penn Ave. So it's like a lot of the
kids just are absorbing music all the time.
[Joy Postell - HYD]
I learned a lot from these kids I
learned about being influenced by your
environment and utilizing the resources
that are right in front of you.
Do you write poems? (Yes I do!)
The Community is real collaborative it's very do it
yourself, because we don't have a lot of
platforms, rather than knocking on doors
you create your own door.
I feel like the first song I ever wrote, I was in middle school.
Stuff we like to do, they really like to dance like
they love to dance especially to their
own beats, they love to rap and sing
It's really important that we're giving
resources to young people from here it's
really about giving young people the
education so that they can return power
back to the city
I blossom at the different venue spaces
like the crown, each other's houses, we go
and see other DJ's and performers, and I
dance, I hang out with my friends and
it's the best part of my week.
Like working with Blush & Brews, one of the
main collabs that I've had. Jacob always
shows love every time. Blush and Brews
is awesome. DJ Jack Jill she was the
first DJ that went on, really liked her set.
Oh Chiffon! Saw them, I've seen them a few times but, you know they always kill it.
There's such a spirit of collaboration going around,
I'm making this movie right now but like
you and I talked about like collabing and I
think that's really fun that like at any
given moment you could have so many
brewing collabs with so many people. Why
I wanted to start curating my own shows
is so that artists get paid. We would
take donations for different
organizations in Baltimore, or just
people in need in Baltimore.
I've learned to trust my friends as well
as myself when it comes to shows.
Well throwing a party is a form of social
entrepreneurship, I have to book the
space, I have to find a talent or be the
talent myself.
I started a collective
called girl power a few years ago in
response to like lack of femme, women DJ's
The art collectives that exist in
Baltimore do the work that we would one
day like to see these art institutions
do. Like all of these people are not just
invested in performing their music
for these spaces. For me a lot of my work
has to be about affecting others or I
wouldn't feel like it's my work and I
wouldn't feel like I have a purpose. But
also making these spaces so that people
behind them don't have to go through
what they went through.
Baltimore's always had a fertility of
collaboration and it's maintained that.
I've been here 15 years and it hasn't
lost a bit of that. We see each other
making things happen and we get inspired
and that pushes each and every one of us to
do it ourselves, DIY.
I like that idea about sprouting where
I'm planted because I feel like I've
been blown about a lot in my life.
That's a brilliant, brilliant and honestly
really succinct way of looking at it. The
art in Baltimore is fantastic and it's
bringing people here. I ended up being
planted here and so you know whatever
I'm a windblown seed!
I just think that
the city needs to invest in that more
they need to value not only the artist
but a lot of other things more.
It is kinda, it's plant management.
without underground spaces
the artists can't be what they are
that's why losing a place like the Bell
was so, so detrimental because it's not
just a training ground, but it is, it's
more like a perfecting ground.
But that's that DIY mentality they can never take
that away from you, they can never take your
art away from you. So they can always try
to take your little space away from you, but
they can never take your ideas, they can
never take your brain.
And I feel so fortunate to have found this place.
And now I'm here getting interviewed by Emily.
And like if you want to be, if
you want to get interviewed by Emily you
need to follow your dreams.
I'm really
excited for the future, when we aren't
like sprouting from the pavement, when
we're like massive, blossoming, and
beautiful and I'm just excited for that
day.
