A Possible Candidate
ok so by a complete fluke on the last day of ISNA some african american brothers came to my dad’s booth to talk to him and one of them makes a little rhyme like “give me your card, if its not too hard, and-something-i-cant-remember-that-rhymes-with-‘ard’” - anyway i sort of laughed a bit at that and he turns and goes, oh, i see she got it - you see, im a poet - so when i told him i was too, we started talking
i am always looking for artists for IN Production, but i have a pretty high standard (please dont confuse this with a PRETENTIOUSLY HIGH STANDARD) - i insist on both originality and competence - and he did some of his stuff for me and it was GOOD subhanallah
now this bro is a classic, classic gentleman from a sadly-passing generation - old-school, southern, with manners and compassion, but with a righteousness that is very down to earth
unfortunately, he lost everything he owned in katrina and although people know OF him, its never materialized into anything steadily - he had a chance to perform for nelson mandela even based on one of his writings, he has hundreds of poems, he’s gone all over america, etc. yet let me tell you again - there are virtually no modern day emily dickinsons - i mean no one’s gonna come up to you, go wow, you’re really talented, and drag you into the spotlight - talent is talent, but to get somewhere takes the “necessary evil” of marketing
now i believe i have a balance inshallah - i dont want to become a monster like the really commercial, solely money-making ventures in the “entertainment” (versus art) world - but i dont think artists should have to starve either
so i told the guy i am like 90% ready to sign him to work with me (i dont like leading people on so i wanted him to know its not set in stone or anything) but i am pretty excited - i mean the guy is intelligent, but very simple too - and has strong presence - a classic all the way
anyway, when he told me to meet him at denny’s in the 3rd ward, LOL, i was like that’s perfect!
again, not sure if i will really go through with it, but he’s definitely a possibility, may Allah grant him long life and eternal success…
(Note: This entry was imported from my personal blog and as such some of the information may be dated. Unfortunately, user comments were lost in the migration, so if you had a comment up, feel free to repost.)