Friday, December 8, 2017

They ask me how you doin I say betta than you

“They ask me how you doin I say betta than you”


A powerful mantra and another unexpected utterance from one the young women on Rikers Island. Last week I left almost convinced that life on the outside was worse off than here, where “we got meals 3 times a day, we got beds, shoes,” and most importantly an indomitable spirit that none other can match. The people in here don’t give up, in fact they continue to fight.


And the soundtrack that tends to accompany these battles is typically drowned in heavy bass, explosive percussion, marches, sirens and screams. I realized that my lesson plans, which included the soothing vocals of Jill Scott, would not go over well here. Even Erykah Badu was too “soft” for these folks. “I need more shoot em up bang bang,” said one of the young women as the security guard standing by shot us a look as if to say “Oh, you crazy kids.”


I asked what people wanted to listen to and was met with generic responses of rappers that I have never heard of like Young Nudy, obviously because I was out of touch. I wanted to give them a chance to hear the music they love, but at the same time challenge them to be open to music that contained more socially conscious lyrics, as opposed to repetitive spit about hoes and drugs and guns- not that there’s anything wrong with those things, but I wanted to find music that connected to larger issues in a smart and innovative way that really pushed the boundaries of the genre. That’s when we all landed on Kendrick Lamar. Everyone was in agreeance about Kendrick, no questions asked. It’s just like, an understood thing.


I spent the next week revisiting To Pimp A Butterfly, arguably one of the most important albums to have dropped in the last decade, if not the history of music. The mantra “we gon be alright” was heard throughout the Black Lives Matter movement and according to Kendrick, on the streets in parts of the world that he visited. His words resonated clearly here, and I could not have found a more appropriate source. His rhymes are grounded in direct references to religion, literature and the words of his enemies and idols. His album is crafted meticulously to reflect his storyline in the world, parallel to the image of a caterpillar who pimps his future butterfly self- essentially an allegory of humility and resilience, owning one’s history and soaring above all adversity. I printed out the poem found at the end of his album to bring in for the next workshop:


He can no longer see past his own thoughts
He’s trapped
When trapped inside these walls certain ideas take roots, such as going home, and bringing back new concepts to this mad city

I wasn’t able to bring this in because when I arrived at Rikers, I found out that the programming for that week had been cancelled for my groups of young women. They had gotten into a fight and “threw shit.” One of them had thrown feces onto an officer’s desk. Now they weren’t able to have the privilege of arts programming for the week. I turned around and went home as the gate closed loudly behind me, shocked back into the reality of where I was.

No comments:

Post a Comment