Really is there any other way? How does one right about what they do not know, without sounding contrived and void of meaning? Hopefully an artist is someone spawned out of necessity to create and not someone manufactured and duplicating false illusions and preconceived notions that they have no real grasp upon. I mean even mainstream artists who constantly recreate dance music have at least been to clubs and have dabbled in recreational behavior. It might be ignorant, empty and superficial but they are talking about their experiences. Experiences that most of the listeners have either been through and can relate to or can live vicariously through and for one brief moment in their lives they can escape. They can get away from mundane reality, from broken dreams and reckless abandonment of their identities. Maybe that's harsh but maybe its true.
But music can also be an escape for the artist so maybe your personal experience has thrust you into a fantasy playland where make believe is the only belief and reality is a lie. That too can be a reason to create. But does that contradict my first statement about writing what you know? Doesn't creativity, though inspired by the real, push the boundaries of surreal indefinitely? Is the loose definition of "creation," "to lie?" Is telling the truth creative? How you tell the truth can be creative but the more you push the truth and what's real the more "creative" you are. I want to be creative. I am creative. Does that make me someone who wants to lie? Does that make me a liar? I feel that my worth in this world will be measured by how creative I am while I'm on it. If my experiences are not enough, or too much, are pushing the boundaries of those experiences valid? Does this all not matter as long as it sounds good? Sometimes ill listen to an artist with everything to say in the world and think, wow that didn't sound good. Then Ill here the most ignorant, selfish rhyme of all time and it can be so sonically stimulating that I have no choice but to be encompassed by it in its ignorance and all.
When I make music from my heart, I'm emotionally satisfied. When I make music that releases a bit of pain from my heart, takes a little bit of the weight off my shoulders, I feel like my soul is being fed. When I push the boundaries of reality I feel visually and physically satisfied. Maybe every artist just needs to find his or her balance of reality and invention without lifting too far off the ground and still making music that people want to hear. Because at the end of the day, if you don't want to hear it, what the point of me making it?
All of that being said, i want to leave you with this song called "Damn That Chick" off my new mixtape "PassTimes & CrassLines."
Comet Course (Damn That Chick) (Produced by Flying Lotus) by Kalaeallday
