"...he’s making moves."
– Milwaukee Mag 50 Reasons To Love Milwaukee
"...this Wisconsin native is a true creative triple threat."
– Myspace Artist of the Day (yeah that myspace but like... the newer version)
"He ate my leftovers... Again."
– Disgruntled Roommate
In order to understand who I am, you must understand where I come from. An 80's baby, black, male, raised in America's most successfully segregated city, Milwaukee WI. Surprising right? Wait, it gets better. Try living most of my fundamental years of life in the 53206 zip code which has the highest incarceration rate in all of the U.S.'s already alarming overpopulated prison industry. I learned how to be creative out of a necessity to survive.
Making my own little world's by drawing on a piece of loose-leaf became my escape from the whirlwind around me. If the kids were making fun of me while riding the short bus to the homeless shelter after school I couldn't care less because... I couldn't hear them. I was too busy writing theme songs for the superheroes I just made up in during nap time. And I didn't have time to hang out on the block and hold the OG's gun for him on Friday night because I needed to finish 140 more pages of hand-drawn animation cells for my pre-college class on Saturday.
I've used creativity as my vehicle to make a "better" life for myself and my biggest goal is to continue doing this for future generations by helping to make, lead, and support programs like the Greater Together initiative built to foster connections between the creative industry and inner-city youth in my hometown. I want to provide kids with the opportunity to see the creative field as a realistic career choice that is just as viable and rewarding as becoming a Doctor, Lawyer, Ball Player or Musician.
Now, as an adult, my inner child is still busy building worlds like it always has. Only now, they have a larger scale, with a bigger budget (cuz I got bills to pay and shoes to buy). All those worlds share a common goal of helping other's around me escape the confines the mundane. They help people forget about the crumminess of their current situation for a moment by creating a "better" circumstance in their mind.