Deasy aka MD2
#VOWorkshop 9/19/2015 'Time Machine'
Thought I'd share a reflection on September 19th's #VOWorkshop with Deasy aka MD2. I've been doing "workshops" for a while now. They're more like "sessions" since we meet to record poems, freestyles, songs, etc. Aside from that we communicate a lot of ideas & share literature and music. It's a time for the participants to provide an update on what they got going on. I've been participating in "workshops" ever since I graduated from high school and entered college. Going back to my undergrad years with the a violence prevention program I was involved with through the NMSU Criminal Justice Department to the workshops I participated in with the English Department both for undergrad and graduate studies. I've also participated in other community workshops, mainly as a participant and have facilitated workshops either through grant funded projects or as a volunteer. I've hosted recording sessions at NMSU, at libraries, at a treatment center, in public schools, in a group home, and spent a majority of my time hosting recording sessions in juvenile prisons. The sessions are focused on the recording process to create songs we can listen to, share with family, peers, staff, and to simply document experiences, perspectives, and for those that consider themselves eMCee's, Hip Hop.
The September 19th workshop was focused on audio memoir. I first started working with MD2 when he was a teenager. By then, he'd already been in contact with the law, had served a few commitments and was getting ready to serve another one. Back then, my involvement didn't have a title or identity. I was simply volunteering my time as an extension of what I was doing at the college radio station with Hip Hop music. I was also beginning to explore my own interest with poetry and teaching poetry after being inspired by Luis Rodriguez's story which I read in a juvenile justice course at NMSU. Along with discovering The Beat Within, I felt life was trying to tell me something, so I stayed committed to volunteering and using equipment I started to assemble to record people. For youth, this gave them a chance to hear what they sound like on the mic to some music. Occasionally, this also involved broadcasting their audios on the radio.
Today, MD2 is no longer a "youth". He's a family man who's experienced his fair share of problems with the juvenile and adult justice system. Our time in the recording session is a space for MD2 to build on what we've both learned going back to when we first started working together in 2003. At the time, Deasy got caught up the day before he was scheduled to host a Youth Radio program at the college station I worked at. It would be the first time I'd make a visit to a "detention" facility to speak with Deasy about his plans and to reflect on his time with our program. That conversation inspired a project I was working on titled The Violence of Youth, the Presence of a Pen, which would later be published in a journal with the help of my mentors. Deasy is one of the main reasons I would go on to volunteer in juvenile prisons which resulted in the development of Voices Behind Walls.
A few years passed until I saw Deasy again, once at a Rap battle event, and on other occasions. It wasn't until this past year in 2014 that I ran into him while visiting his older brother. We were happy to see each other, he introduced me to his wife and brought up the idea of working together again to record. Over the past year, we've met once a month for a program concept we call Voices Outside the Walls Workshop #VOWorkshop.
This is the first time I've done a reflection post on a recording session. By now I've facilitated hundreds of them, and can remember each one when I go back and listen to the recordings. From this point forward I plan on posting reflections for each session. Sort of like meeting minutes, except more of a story about our program. It's a chance also to spend some time writing about what we do. I love to write, but hardly get the chance to write about these sessions which I consider my life's work. These writings will include photographs and audio from time to time too. The purpose is to document our sessions and some of the ideas born from these meetings.
While we waited for librarians to open the door where we set up we met a group of kids ages 6 to 12, some with their parents who were participating in an event next door. Some were curious about what we were getting ready to set up. I asked them about music and one at a time each said something about a father or older brother who liked to rap. One of the older youth mentioned she did choir and another mentioned a sibling who loved to rap but had since passed away. It gave me an idea of promoting an hour or two for families that are interested in recording.
On this day, MD2, which stands for Master Deasy 2 (he considers himself the 2nd after his older brother James Deasy aka Dune, a Hip Hop beatmaker) had written two tracks to record. One titled ((Say Goodbye to the Bad Guy)) and another tentatively titled ((Time Machine)). For the background music he spit his versus to instrumentals from producers Ayatollah and Drasar Monumental. Both of the pieces were reflective. We've already completed dozens of recordings with Deasy including poetry, rhyme song writings, and freestyles. We're at a point now where the goal is to develop a collection of recordings that speak to a specific theme, or moment in his life for a mixtape project. Deasy talked about being inspired by Kendrick Lamar's record To Pimp a Butterfly and also taps into MF Grimm's catalog including Scars & Memories, American Hunger, and his latest listens with the Good Morning Vietnam volumes. Deasy's word play was much more specific this time around...organized and focused. He discussed some challenges he's been dealing with lately and the urgency he felt to document something of substance for his children and family.
Writing, reading, listening
Good Morning Vietnam
In addition, we talked about a concept for a children's book that he'd like to write for his baby boy. He also played some recordings from his phone of his daughter who recently started sharing a few rhymes of her own, inspired by her Dad's interest in writing lyrics.
Today, we were joined by Deasy's mother, a poet in her own right and a voice that continues to encourage and support her son. It's her second visit to the session, her first accompanied by Deasy's grandmother who blessed us with some poetry as well.
Deasy also brought some treasurers that he found searching through local thrift shops...including a vintage magazine album of Ali & Frazier and a promo of the Whitaker vs. Chavez magazine from 93'. We've been talking about boxing a lot lately, inspired by the #FreeBoxing4All campaign through Premier Boxing, and also the statue that's getting ready to rise in Philly of the legendary Smokin' Joe Frazier. On my way to the workshop I also got the chance to hear out Chapter 8 of Stuart Scott's audio book Every Day I Fight, titled 'Never Die Easy'... he talks about Ali & Frazier.
Smokin' Joe Frazier
Treasures
Nineteen years after Tupac Amaru Shakur's death, we also talked about The 7 Day Theory Makaveli album and had a conversation about the Outlawz recent loss of member Hussein Fatal who passed in a car wreck this summer. We also discussed the abandonment of the Tupac Amaru Shakur Center for the Arts and the importance of planning when it comes to sustaining things worth saving. We used these examples to think about the planning process in our own lives and the thought of making every moment a creative moment.
As far as the bibliography for today's workshop, we briefly discussed the Have Gun Will Travel text by Ronin Ro, Richard Ross' Juvenile In Justice photography book, Stuart Scott's Every Day I Fight audio book, and Nell Bernstein's Burning Down the House, The End of Juvenile Prison.
We cap'd off the session with an incredible Freestyle by MD2 to an instrumental by one of his favorite eMCees, Eazy E.
Goals til' the next workshop is to complete writing for the second bar of ((Time Machine)), planning the children's text for Deasy's son, develop a flier to promote recording sessions for local families, exchange some info on maintaining a healthy lifestyle, look into local GED support, prepare the next volume of instrumentals and writing topics for the Fall, and reach out to C-Nice to schedule a session. Like Deasy, I've known C-Nice going back many years, a lot of talent, a gifted writer, incredible eMCee... a survivor.
Til' the next session, peace!
