So I just got back from seeing SOLHOT perform. What I enjoyed most about this event was Truth's rapping (especially a very incredible freestyle that she did) and Cleva's rapping. Cleva (I have no idea how to spell that correctly) has an album, Golden, coming out on the 18th, and I have been inspired to buy that after hearing her perform. She had an amazing energy about her, and infused all of her songs with a lot of passion. It was very moving to hear her and Truth rap, because I could see how much effort had gone into what they were saying, and how much they cared about their songs. I was siting near a man who had produced Cleva's last song, and it was neat for me to see him nodding to the beat, mouthing the words, and sort of conducting the music with his hands as Cleva rapped, all while recording her performance. Through his actions, I could see how many people had put a lot of their time and effort to make these songs exist, and it made me feel honored to be hearing them.
One thing that really stuck with me was not a song, but something that Cleva said about her group. She explained that their motto is "everything is great", and that starting from that mindset really makes her a much happier person. She went on to tell us that her album is sort of about her going from a place where she could not even having so positive a mindset, to actually having it (although as she pointed out, attaining that happiness and positivity is an ongoing process). I just found it interesting to hear her take on the album, and to understand how it shaped and was shaped by her life. Sometimes I think of music as completely separate from an artist's life, but lately have been more and more aware that the music evolves with them, and I have begun to appreciate an artists works as part of their journey, as well as stand-alone pieces. The room where Cleva was performing was definitely a very happy and joyous place, and it was hard to imagine even the thought of being sad at points, and part of what made Cleva's songs so good was that through them she could make me picture sadness and see trouble, even though I was in a place so distant from it.
One thing that I found sort of funny about this whole event was that, at one point, we were asked to get up and dance to get more energy, and all I could muster was a little leaning from side to side, which struck me as very similar to the "white boy shuffle" that Gunnar just described in the book.
I am really glad that I went to this event, because it helped me view poetry and music in a much more personal way, and see all of the work that goes into a successful poem or song. It made rap much more accessible to me, because I was able to see that these amazing rappers were totally human as well.
Your point about artists being a part of their work definitely is correct. I also have been realizing that artists use music as a way of talking out how they feel, or what they are going through. There is raw heartfelt emotion we sometimes miss in a pre recorded and heavily edited version. I recently listened to "Speechless" by lady Gaga online and they only version they had was a live one. There was such a difference in tone from the album and the live version. After I listened to the song I looked it up on Wikipedia and it was actually written about her alcoholic father. I think we sometimes need to look out for things like this that we often miss.
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