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I Self Devine on Collective Trauma and Community Organizing Jun 19, 2020

Show notes

I Self Devine is a musician and community organizer from Minneapolis. In 2018 he released a collaborative album called 'Dismembered & Unarmed,’ meant to accompany the book, ‘My Grandmother’s Hands,’ by therapist and trauma specialist Resmaa Menakem. The book and music explore how white supremacy and racism affect Black bodies.

“He would tell me things like race very rarely stays in the body. And I just couldn't grasp that concept,” I Self Devine says of Menakem. “He's like, a lot of times we talk about race just from a historical or from a policy place, but not how it lives in the body.”

I Self Devine discusses 'Dismembered & Unarmed' as well as his philosophies around community organizing, learning and building off past movements, and doing the internal work.

“When it's time for me to transition into the spirit world, I want to be very light, meaning that I've handled all of my issues and I've done my work. What do they say? ‘What happened to you wasn’t your fault, but how you handle it is.’ I have a responsibility to ensure that as an organizer, I'm not a caricature of myself or of what it is that we're doing. I’m grounded in my teachings.”

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Nikkita Oliver on Letting the Vision Lead the Movement Jun 18, 2020

Show notes

Most people in Seattle know Nikkita Oliver from her historic mayoral run in 2017. She lost the primary election by less than 2,000 votes. But Oliver is also a musician, a poet, an attorney, and the co-director of an incredible organization called Creative Justice, which works with youth most affected by the school-to-prison pipeline. She’s also been an active organizer in Seattle’s protests and advancing the demands to defund and demilitarize the police.

A few weeks ago, she participated in a 12,000 person march from Seattle’s Cal Anderson Park to city hall where she then livestreamed what was supposed to be a closed door meeting with Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan. Oliver laid out demands for the city—defund the police, fund community-based health and safety, and drop all charges against protesters.

KEXP’s Gabriel Teodros talks with Oliver about the importance of diversity within a movement, the false narrative of the good protester vs. bad protester, and what’s inspiring her during this moment.

Read a transcript of the conversation here

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Toki Wright on Minneapolis, Racism and Music Jun 16, 2020

Show notes

Toki Wright is a musician, MC, producer, writer, radio DJ and community organizer from Minneapolis. He recently moved to Boston and is now chair of Berklee’s Professional Music Department. He’s been making music that addresses systemic racism, oppression and police violence for years. “I don’t sit around all day thinking about race,” Wright says. “I have a lot of things I really love to do. The problem is that race impacts all of them.”

Wright tells the stories behind some of his songs that address racism and police violence and discusses how those issues play out in Minneapolis.

Wright also talks about the white superiority complex within the Twin Cities’ music scene.

“Imagine what it's like standing on stage and looking out into the crowd and not seeing your people there. Your people want to be there, but they feel uncomfortable coming into that room because they're not being represented,” Wright says. “How this all kind of relates to George Floyd and the murdering cop that killed him is they both worked at a couple of music venues in town doing security. And it came out recently that they knew each other for years and that they had altercations and a lot of those altercations were based on how the officers would treat black patrons on nights when there were black crowds—there’s a heightened sense of security. There is a more intense treatment of people.”

Songs discussed:

“Nezhno feat. Toki Wright” by Sleep Sinatra
“Gatekeepers” by Toki Wright & Big Cats
“Time Bomb” by Toki Wright & Big Cats

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The Grammys Scrap Term “Urban” Jun 11, 2020

Show notes

The Grammy Awards, as well as Republic Records, have announced they will no longer use the term “urban” in their award categories and music departments. Writer Jeremy Helligar discusses this welcome shift in language as a first step. He wrote a column in Variety titled, Down with Urban: It’s Time to Stop Categorizing Music by Race.

“How does ‘urban' equal Black?” Helligar says. “I think [the word] has been most harmful because it’s really corporate segregation. It’s putting Blacks in one box and Whites in another.”

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Celebrating Black Lives Through Music and Protest Jun 09, 2020

Show notes

Today’s podcast is co-hosted by musician, community organizer and KEXP DJ, Gabriel Teodros. It celebrates the music of Black artists, some of whom are on the frontlines of the protests against police brutality, calling for long overdue systemic change.

We hear from Minneapolis musician, Nikki Jean, who’s been volunteering as a medic during the Minneapolis protests. She recounts seeing police fire rubber bullets and more into medic tents.

Teodros then shares some songs that reflect on systemic racism and the police killings of black folks.

Songs discussed:

“Hands Up” by Nikki Jean

“Greeny Jungle feat. Shakiah” by Gabriel Teodros & SoulChef

“Let Go” by D Smoke & SiR

“Say My Name” by Maimouna Youssef & DJ Dummy

“A Tree Never Grown” by Mos Def

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Larry Mizell, Jr. on the Music of Resistance Jun 05, 2020

Show notes

Following the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, Seattle has seen night after night of protests and KEXP DJs have responded by playing music by Black artists—music with a message. One of those DJs is Larry Mizell, Jr., host of Friday night’s "Street Sounds." He reflects on yet another death in the Black community, discusses the power of music to spread a message and shares the songs he turns to during these times.

“I think there’s nothing older, more central to music than delivering a message. That’s what it’s always been,” Mizell says. “Whether it is being used in a spiritual dimension, or it’s used, as it was early employed in the African American experience, by slaves in the fields who literally communicate plans, news that their overseers couldn’t decipher.”

Songs discussed:

“Fuck the Police” by NWA

“Fuck the Police” by J Dilla

“Burn” by Killer Mike

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Joy Division's Legacy May 28, 2020

Show notes

This month marks the 40th anniversary of the death of Joy Division frontman, Ian Curtis. In just two years, Joy Division recorded three albums worth of material and performed 120 shows. Curtis tragically died by suicide at the age of 23, the night before Joy Division's U.S. tour, leaving behind a wife and a child. Curtis had struggled with epilepsy and depression. KEXP DJ Kevin Cole says Joy Division pioneered the post punk genre. In today’s episode, he discusses Joy Division’s legacy with Jon Savage, author of “This Searing Light, the Sun and Everything Else: Joy Division: The Oral History.”

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Seattle Musicians Remember Filmmaker Lynn Shelton May 26, 2020

Show notes

Seattle Filmmaker, Lynn Shelton died May 16th at the age of 54 from a previously undiagnosed blood disorder. Her breakout movie, 'Humpday' won an award at Sundance Film Festival. She also directed for TV on the shows 'Mad Men,' 'New Girl' and 'Fresh Off the Boat' among others.

Even after national acclaim, Shelton stayed in Seattle. Tomo Nakayama is a Seattle musician who appeared in Shelton’s 2013 film 'Touchy Feely.'

“Her images are so expressive and so distinctively Northwest. The scenes of Seattle and Nature. There’s just something about her that you could recognize,” Nakayama says.

Shelton rarely, if ever built a set for a movie, she instead filmed her movies in Washington State. Even when she began taking trips to work in L.A, she kept her permanent residence 1,100 miles to the north in Seattle.

Nakayama remembers Shelton for this and her warm and open demeanor. How she would throw her head back and laugh at a joke. Her embrace of others.

“She changed me forever,” Nakayama says. “And in talking with her friends and stuff, we keep saying the same thing—that she made us better.”

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Moses Sumney and Jonah Mutono on Inhabiting the Space Between May 21, 2020

Show notes

Moses Sumney is out with the second part of his album, ‘græ.' Sumney, a Ghanaian American, was born in Southern California but spent portions of his childhood in Ghana. He spent the early half of his career in Los Angeles before moving to quiet solitude in Asheville, North Carolina. With different experiences and lives lived across the world, he is not a product of any of these places, but instead a product of a space not bound by geography. Like Sumney, ‘græ' doesn’t come from a clear musical lineage or space, rather it explores the multiplicity of feelings and influences one can have. ‘græ' is a rejection of black and white thinking and instead, a look at the spaces between.

“It’s essentially all about greyness, about the in between or marginal identity and not living on either side of an extreme,” Sumney says.

We also hear from Jonah Mutono about his new record, ‘GERG.' Like Sumney, Mutono has lived in a lot of places in his life, including the UK, Uganda and the US all before graduating high school. Mutono now lives in California and has released an album under his full name, after previously releasing music under the alias, Kidepo. This album explores his journey through immigration and his sexual identity.

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Thao & The Get Down Stay Down’s New Album Addresses Vietnamese Heritage and the Trauma of War May 19, 2020

Show notes

Thao & The Get Down Stay Down released their fifth full length album, ‘Temple,' on May 15th. Frontwoman Thao Nguyen talks about how her latest album is about coming out to her Vietnamese family and processing her family’s story of war.

“It’s about the idea of existing as my full self and that full self is also acknowledging my heritage and who I come from and my culture,” Nguyen says.

Nguyen’s family fled the Vietnam war and came to the US in the 70s. Their story is addressed in the title track of the album, “Temple":

I lost my city in the light of day
Thick smoke
Helicopter blades
Heaven on earth I've never moved so fast
You'll never know the fear your mama has
I know your father can't call anymore
He never meant to be a man of war
But we found freedom what will you do now
Bury the burden baby make us proud

Nguyen’s father was a helicopter pilot for the south Vietnamese army and her mother worked for the south Vietnamese embassy. Nguyen says that’s “why they truly fled for their lives and they would have been at the very least forced into reeducation camps.”

Nguyen also discusses her powerful track, “Phenom," which addresses Asian American stereotypes and being a woman of color, with lyrics like “first of the secondary class” and “I’ve been so politely at the bottom.” She describes how she was able to make the music video for this song entirely on Zoom Meeting.

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