American Author, Speaker, Film-Maker, Activist and Hip Hop Artist MK Asante visited Yebo Art Gallery as part of his tour through Swaziland. His trip was sponsored by the US Embassy, and his tour was done with the intent on meeting various groups and collectives in the Swazi creative scene, and to share his personal story with audiences in coordinated talks and workshops.
Yebo faciliated a Q&A session that was open to all visual artists in Swaziland, followed by a group lunch, and a special one-on-one interview with Asante by Yebo's own Gia Armstrong – see below!
Siyabonga to the US Embassy of Swaziland for making this happen! You can read more about MK Asante here.
“Art saved my life”
An exclusive interview with MK Asante, who survived life on the deprived streets of Philadelphia to become a successful writer, filmmaker, university professor and master storyteller.
By Gia Armstrong at Yebo! Contemporary Art Gallery.
MK Asante’s inspirational story begins in Zimbabwe, where he was born to American parents who were involved in the country’s struggle for independence in the early eighties. Soon after his birth, the family moved back to America and came face to face with the reality of bringing up children in the gang-plagued neighbourhoods of North Philadelphia. Drugs and violence became a day-to-day part of Asante’s life before he had even entered his teens. His brother was in prison, his father left, his mother was placed in a mental institution and he got kicked out of every school he bothered to attend. One of his best friends was stabbed to death in the back of his car as he drove them into one of North Philadelphia’s ‘open-air drug markets’. In all likelihood, his story could have ended here; caught up in the debilitating and deadly cycle of drugs, violence and prison. But there was one moment in his late teens that would forever change his story.
Asante describes this moment as the turning point in his life. A moment when a teacher at an alternative learning centre took a different approach to teaching that changed his life. “She put a blank piece of paper in front of me and told me to write. ‘What do you want me to write?’ I asked. ‘Write anything you want” she said. I’d never heard anything like that at school before. I thought she was bullshitting. So I wrote ‘F*ck school’. ‘Good’ she said, ‘Now keep going.’” Asante believes that blank page saved his life. He was young, but he’d already lived a lifetime and had no shortage of subject matter to draw upon. For the first time, that piece of paper allowed him to tell his story, his way. It not only provided an outlet for everything he had been through, but also a way out. “Art saved my life” he says, matter of factly.
Asante then went on to achieve things that would never have seemed possible during those dark days in the ‘hood. He listened to that teacher and didn’t stop writing. His first book was published while he was still in college and he has since written and published three more. He directed and produced a film with the legendary Maya Angelou, he became a tenured professor of creative writing and film at Morgan State University at the age of 23 and was a recipient of the Langston Hughes Award
Q&A with MK Asante:
GA: You were born in Zimbabwe, but do you feel a deep connection to Africa beyond this?
MK: I feel a strong connection to Africa. When you talk about being African American, it means your nationality is American but you’re a descendant of Africa. I recognise that my history as an African American didn’t start when slave ships came to America. So we’ve got this long line of African history that I’ve always felt connected to. I’m proud of being African and African American. A lot of the time, African Americans aren’t proud to be African, they would rather be called American. They only associate Africa with the negative things they’ve seen. Most of the time the people who tell the story about Africa look down on Africa. You are constantly bombarded by negative images. But I’ve experienced the truth, I’ve seen the beauty of it, I’ve studied it, so I get to go back and tell people about the real Africa. So I’ve always felt like that bridge, a bridge between Africa and the diaspora.
GA: What do you think can be done to change that image?
MK :I went to protest once and I saw this sign that said ‘be the media’. Because to me the media isn’t over there, I’m the media, you’re the media. We are the media. So the people who want to change [the image of Africa] need to get the truth out there themselves. Think of all the f*cked up shit that goes on in America but when you see the movies and TV shows, what do you see? Its all Hollywood, its all fun and games, its Miami, everyone’s rich. You know if I took you to the streets of Baltimore right now you’d be like ‘This is America?!’ Yes this is America, but you don’t see that shit. So the images in media are very powerful.
GA: You published your first book in college and became rapidly successful at such a young age, what's your secret?
MK: I wouldn’t say theres a secret. Once I knew what I wanted to do, I put all my energy into it. It was like, if you don't want to publish it, fine I’m gonna go to someone else. If they don’t publish it I’m gonna go to someone else. And that’s my mentality, its going down, whether or not you want to be involved. I think part of my success is related to the optimism I have.
In Philly I got into writing and the spoken word scene and began doing all the spoken word gigs, so by the time I went to the publishers, I had a little bit of a name around the city. And being involved with business early on was helpful. I got published because I saw their perspective. I told them look, every gig I do, I’ll be selling these books and they could see, oh this guy has a lot of energy. He’s young, he’s passionate, he’s a good poet. It was a smart investment for them. So it about just having that passion and not letting anything deter you. So once I made that commitment, nobody was going to be able to stop me.
GA: Do you believe in luck then? Was there any element of that in your career?
MK: I believe that luck is when preparation meets opportunity. So for example. while I was writing Buck, I started working on some raps, so when Talib Kweli called and said “Yo, we’re doing this track and we want you to speak on it” I was ready. They sent me the track and I decided to rap on it instead. They heard it and were like ‘wow’. So some people would say ‘dang, you got lucky!’ But nah, I was already preparing myself for an opportunity I didn’t even know existed. I didn’t know those guys before this, they knew about me through one of books. Is that luck? No its preparation. I’m always preparing myself for opportunities. So yeah, you might need a little bit of luck in life, but if you’re not prepared, you’ll never be lucky. You have to capitalise on those opportunities. The opportunities are always there but if you’re not prepared you won’t even see them. But yeah I feel lucky to be alive sometimes, I was in a house that got shot up, thats luck to some extent or god. My best friend died in front of me, I didn’t get killed.
GA: In your unique position as an artist and a university professor, how strong an emphasis should be put on higher education in the creative industries? Is it a necessity in the arts?
MK: Hell no. Some of my mentors, they never went to school for what they do. One of my mentors Charles Fuller, he won a Pulitzer prize. He didn’t go to college. I’ve never been impressed by someones school. ‘Oh I went to Harvard’, no, I don’t give a shit where you went. It doesn’t matter to me. I know some people who have PhDs from Harvard and they are still not educated. And I know people on the street who know more. So I’ve never been interested in someone’s credentials.
GA: Employers are though, no?
MK: Yeah employers are. Exactly, thats why people do it. But I don’t think you need to, and thats one of the best things about art, its not about that. There are some advantages to being in those environments. But not everyone has access to that and to me its not a necessity. I judge people based on the work that they produce not where they went to school or what their credential are. Show me what you’ve done and lets deal with that. That’s all that really matters in art. That’s why I love the fact that some of these artists here [at Yebo Art Gallery] haven’t been “trained” in the traditional sense, but what does that even mean? Imagine if Bob Marley went to Juilliard? They would f*cking destroy him. They would be like ‘nah you gotta do it like this, sound like this. No that’s not the proper way’ Nah, f*ck that! Art is about your expression. The real necessity is the passion and love for the art and dedicating and committing to it. Mastering your craft doesn’t mean going to school necessarily. School can be helpful but its definitely not the be all and end all for me.
GA: What has been the most rewarding experience of your career?
MK: Honestly theres so many. But writing BUCK [my memoir] and getting the book deal, was so important for me because its my story. And its completely raw, like in terms of the language and who I am. BUCK allowed me to just be me and not compromise myself. That was rewarding. If i had to write in a way that I didn’t feel comfortable, I would hate that. I love the fact that I can just be me. BUCK was the most rewarding because its my story and I could just do it the way I wanted to do it.
GA: Theres a very fine line between being commercially successful and remaining true to yourself as an artist. Do you think its possible to do both equally?
MK: Absolutely. My publishers and everyone knew who I was and what I was about before we got involved. I’m not pleasing them, I’m writing my story my way, I have complete creative control over my books my movies, my music, everything. Theres no one saying ‘say this or don’t say that.’ You can’t compromise your voice, you can’t compromise your soul, you can’t compromise who you are. Its just about being true to your art and true to yourself.
GA: How do you deal with the critics?
I guess I just don’t even think about them. I don’t care! I’m living my life, my dream, my passion. I’m inspiring youth, I’m connecting. I know that BUCK already resonates with people. SO its already done what its supposed to. I guess one of the things that was so liberating about writing BUCK is that I got to a point where yeah, I don’t give a f*ck. You have to get to that level in order to write a real memoir. And when you get there, it's like reaching a kind of nirvana where you are at peace. I know who I am, all my flaws are out there in the book. I’ve got nothing to hide, it is what it is. So go ahead do your little criticism (laughs). It doesn’t matter because thats not why I write. At the end of the day, as an artist you realise that yeah, everyone might not get it, everyone might not love what you produce, but you know its gonna impact certain people, and thats whats important. But ultimately you know, you don’t write a book or a story for the critics, you write it to connect with people.
GA: And what has been the most challenging moment of your career? How do you overcome those moments?
MK: There were moments where we were trying to make films and there was no money. I remember when we were trying to make this one movie, Black Candle and we were in a situation where we didn’t have the finances and it felt like everything was falling apart. So yeah those moments were challenging, but they don’t last forever. I’ve faced rejection but I don’t ever dwell on those things. I’ve tried to just keep a positive attitude and surround myself with people who are positive. Being around negative people changes you. You wanna be around people who have a positive outlook and are like, what do we need to do to get this done, not oh lets focus on all the challenges.
GA: What is the best piece of advice someone’s given you?
MK: My dad has a good one, he says ‘shoot to make it’. I like that one, its a basketball analogy. Sometimes we shoot the ball and we aren’t thinking about making the shot. We are just shooting. No, shoot to make it! Don’t just shoot the ball, really think about the ball going into the net. Its a kind of deliberateness to your approach to things.
GA: And in turn, what is the best piece of advice you can give to young artists who are constantly being told how bleak their prospects are, how they will never make any money?
MK: Eliminate distractions, create energy, fear nothing and attack everything. Thats very important. I would also say, you can’t let anyone else tell you what you can and can’t do. I definitely remember when I was starting out, people telling me straight up what I wasn’t going to be able to do. Those people don’t f*cking know, they just telling you that to kill your fire. Stay away from them. There are certain beings among us that I call energy vampires, people that suck your energy and your positive light. Because thats like death for an artist. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Its a beautiful quote, because you have to have a certain kind of faith as an artist. You have to believe in yourself even when nobody else believes in you.
This is by no means the end of Asante’s story. “I’m not done yet! To me this is still the beginning of my journey. When people say I’ve done a lot, I acknowledge that and I appreciate it, but at the same time theres so much more I want to do. I feel like I’m at the very beginning of what I’m here to do.”