Sometimes I do a deep dive on the net and find so much 'content' I'm connected to going back nearly 25 years. Videos, music, photography and text. While Google's no longer a real search engine you can still find a decent amount of material I'm responsible for making, if you know what to search for online.
When I lived in Flatbush on any given random late night you could find me somewhere post up mostly outside shooting a random not random music video, if I weren't in the house doing the same. This is a video I shot in the house on Brooklyn and Avenue D. The original version of the song (Messin' With My Molecules) appears on Konichiwa (K)ninja, an album I put together right before we left for Tokyo in 2010. This 'remixed' version over a then very popular actual Chicago drill track, long before the New York drill phase.
Making videos as such was a basic exercise for me. I pop out in the wee hours, shoot a couple of takes, get some b-roll, then come back home edit it up in under an hour to upload to the internet first thing in the a.m. I did this shit all by myself. No crew. Sometimes no tripod. More than likely filmed with one or two of those digital Kodak handhelds leaned up against something.
I look back at these things as a reminder of all of what I've made and have been making for a long time, using whatever technology I had at the moment. I dig deep enough I can show you videos I edited in Windows media player. I was shooting and making videos regularly with absolutely no budget while I watched many of my peers break the bank releasing video after video, only to post on YouTube and a small amount of views and no real return on their investment.
All I can think about is the very large number of artists online everyday talking about how hard it is. For a person who's been creating as long as the tools were available, literally making content for a quarter century I've never complained about making shit. I'm so grateful I can, did and have. I'm not going to stop. An artist the other day responded to a post of mine and basically said some people don't make art because they truly enjoy making it. They make art because they want to be seen. And that makes sense as to why folks continually say they hate making content more often than not. And it's a general sentiment people can bond with and actually agree on. So instead of us connecting on our love for creating and sharing what we create, we bond on hate for capitalism and how capitalism forces us to make content. Also how content isn't an Art and a laundry list of other soul sucking commentary.
Personally capitalism ain't forced me to do shit. I've never stopped loving making shit and sharing it from early internet when reach was attainable to the current state of Internet ran and oppressed by algorithms.
That's all I got. Go and create something because you are inherently built to do so. Create because it is a healthy thing for a human being to do. Create before you think about sharing it and monetizing it. Create for creations sake. Create for yourself then you can think about the rest; later.
I couldn't tell you exactly when I made this song only that it's at minimum thirteen years old. Recorded in the basement of a house on the corner of Brooklyn and Avenue D. Everyone who was privy to a listen over the years basically said the same thing immediately after hearing. "Release it!" It's infectious.
After making poetry and Hip-hop records for a solid decade I started to gravitate away from those genres sonically as I had a desire to express different emotions and flush out new identities. It's natural for me to shift in ten year intervals. I started my first set of locs in 2000 and cut them in 2010. A Scorpio, especially one with multiple chart placements typically is a purposefully transformational being. I'm not statisfied with doing the same thing over and over. For me change and exploration is essential. It applies not only to art and creativity but to my life in general. It's part of the reason I'm so highly engaged online and off. Making friends and forging Community. Growing and evolving with every connection. Everyone is my sensei.
Enjoy the track. Ask me anything about it.
I got a monkey on my shoulder,
His name is Habit, I gotta kick’em
Tall glass, vinegar
Wash it down, flood the town.
I got a monkey on my shoulder,
His name is Habit, I gotta kick’em
Tall glass, vinegar
Wash it down, flood the town.
Well I don’t know about opposable thumbs, but I need you to hold this glass for me.
I’ll never judge you for whatever you’ve done, but it all come back to you gradually.
Unqualified for all the races we’ve won, but even still end up placin’ actually.
I wasn’t the one who shot the gun, sober up you’ll know what’s happenin’.
I got a monkey on my shoulder,
His name is Habit, I gotta kick’em
Tall glass, vinegar
Wash it down, flood the town.
I got a monkey on my shoulder,
His name is Habit, I gotta kick’em
Tall glass, vinegar
Wash it down, flood the town.
Y’sterday’s Motorvation is today’s fuel to kick the habits that impede progress. Never shun addiction nor those addicted, for much can be learned even from one’s darkest moments. There are no mistakes, just opportunities for improvement.
One of the things I recognize about a lot of artists who are having a hard time online attempting to promote 🎶 is they're just not good at telling ppl about their music. Similar to visual artists, painters or what have you. A lot of y'all just throw a link out there and you don't make ppl interested. I know it's not easy to market the s*** you're doing and there aren't a lot of great examples. Be as creative telling ppl about your art as you were in making it. Start a conversation around it.
You can do basic stuff like quote yourself. If your lyrics are compelling enough your words will spark attention.
More importantly, how do you get ppl involved in the conversation online in general? You don't make it about yourself. You ask a question. Why? Because ppl want to talk, really. Pretty much the reason why the majority of folks are on social media is because they want to be heard. It's the reason there's so much noise. No filter. Ppl have a desire to speak here because offline ppl don't feel they have a voice.
Back when social media was still organic and Twitter was the place where everything was happening, I came up with the hashtag #iunmask (you can still search it) in promotion of a project. Years later I would return to the same timeline to refresh awareness about said project.
You can use the internet the way we used to use the internet. Well I used the internet fully. But all I'm saying is be more creative, think about how to have conversations and also think about the audience more so than you. Think about sharing with people a real conversation about a real thing or something f****** silly.
At the end of the day it's up to you to figure out how to make a better connection with people in a real way. Most people promoting come off as an annoying advertisements and get ignored.
Sometimes instead of an interview I rather let an artist directly speak on work of theirs I've discovered scrolling online. Work I feel is remarkable to share here on AG TrapHaus. I love when I can ask an artist to tell me about a piece and they shoot me a paragraph in record time. Introducing Sydney Teare and her colorful Woman-creature series of mixed media creations.
"My Woman-creature series is a mixed-media venture into ideas about femininity and womanhood that I’ve been exploring in larger acrylic paintings (Stuck, Unveiling, and Maddie Wearing Lipstick.) So far, it features three canvases adorned with pieces of my own clothing to create “skirts” with multiple legs protruding underneath. The colors of the canvases are reminiscent of the paint I and many other girls had on our bedroom walls growing up. I like to think of each piece as its own “creature,” a woman with her own experiences and feelings. Each of the legs are cut from magazines, advertisements, and books that I find, which helps me contextualize the lives of the creatures I’m creating: one leg from a woman advertising pricy heels that cause her to stumble and limp, another from a girl in a news story running a marathon, another from an old cracked antique baby doll, and so on. I love working with found imagery because the medium itself opens up interesting lines of thought—what does it mean to have whole industries dedicated to disseminating images of women, and what do the types of women we portray and how we portray them say about us? It’s satisfying to be able to pick and choose specific parts of these pictures and rearrange them in ways that create new meanings. I intend to keep exploring these ideas for a long time, because humans will continue to be depicted in photos and in art, and I think those images are some of the best records of how we feel about and treat other human beings."
Woman-creature 1
5"x7" Magazine clippings and acrylic on canvas
Woman-creature 2
4"x12" Magazine clippings and acrylic on canvas
Woman-creature 3
5"x7" Magazine clippings and acrylic on canvas
I've been asking artists who are fascinated with skulls why they are so and what their relationships are with them. On this occassion a Denver artist who goes by the name Fuzzy shares her skull story and some deeply heavy human experiences.
C. What is your relationship and or connection to skulls?
Fuzzy: I think my relationship to skulls is in a broader sense my relationship with death. A skull is an instant symbol, but also a natural one- when we look at a human skull, we know that once there was a face there, behind the face a brain, the skull so easily represents a human in their most basic and pure form. Animal or human, when I look at a skull I see nature, I see inevitability, I see my own future but not in some foreboding way. Rather, that future very simply comes for all of us and is there to remind us to live this one life fully.
C. Can you tell us about your elephant Man piece and why you chose it as a subject?
Fuzzy: With the Elephant Man piece, his (John Merrick) story is so compelling. Here was a man born into a circumstance during a time where no one understood it, and it made him a sideshow freak. Even after being brought in by Dr. Treves, he was still on display, but then for high society rather than carnival attendees. Now, in death he is still on display, his skeleton carefully preserved in a museum. When I painted his skull, I tried to do it with tenderness, using photographs to explore each divot and outgrowth of bone. I wanted to show this skull as a beautiful object, the way I viewed it.
C. On threads you mentioned future plans to have an illustration of a panther skull tattooed. (It's only recently dawned on me to get a skull tattoo as well.) Do you have other tattoos? What's special about this tat you plan on getting? Is there a story?
Fuzzy: I have several tattoos, each with a story or reason (I except the flash on my legs, those are just fun). The drawing I’d done of a panther skull I may or may not still get, as I ended up getting a similar piece on my legs. Basically, the idea was to have this skull with sunflowers on either side, the skull representing me (I think a lot of women do have feline energies), and the sunflowers representing my youngest child who has passed away (it was his favorite flower). What I ended up getting instead was the portrait of a lioness with the sunflower beside her on my calf. I think I leaned away from skull imagery simply because there has been enough death in my close life- first my dad, then the next year my son, and my mom passing away a few years ago. I was present for all three of them, my folks in a hospital from sudden illness and my son at home from suicide. Now, I respect death, I still hold a reverence for the imagery such as skulls, love the art depicting them, but I am trying to lean into whatever life I have left and celebrate it.
You can learn more about Fuzzy, her partner and their creations at frankfacestudio.com
While I've yet to fully detail what it is, after two years of activating SMUDGE. online and off I decided to start asking people what SMUDGE. is to them.
I posed the query to artist ATMC and he shared the following:
"SMUDGE. is a simple reminder. The word itself represents cleansing, renewal, and a constant protection I have sometimes felt undeserving of. Skulls are portrayed as a symbol of death, and that is often misconstrued in a negative light. The cycle of life & death reminds us as humans that we are equal in that inevitability. We cannot avoid it.
This particular piece resonated with me, because I have gone through near-death experiences. I have seen how precious life is, and the importance of holding on to it, protecting it, and changing. What others see as an omen, I find strength in. A reminder to change what I can, not focus on what I cannot change. This is why SMUDGE. is a significant piece of art, a movement.
The series thus far, drenched in symbolism, rewrites what we thought we knew. It’s always skulls, transformative and provocative. I have watched it evolve throughout the years since its inception, and every time I see the words, I am reminded about the journey of life. To learn, to love, to hold, to fight, to protect, and simply live. Fully experience life and everything that comes with it."
To discover more about ATMC visit https://atmcmusic.co/