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What makes poetry so amazing, so incredible is this absolute fascination and ability to change our lives, the old tradition, the reason why we speak.
This is the Poet Speaks. Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Poet Speaks Podcast. Now today we're joined by a very special guest. He's a spoken word artist and social worker whose work explores grief, identity, and creative liberation. From his memoir A Diamond in God's Dirt to his forthcoming album Kiss My Art, he crafts stories that speak to the soul and confront life's toughest truth. Everyone, please, welcome to the Poet Speaks Podcast.
Tariq Rashad Tarik. How are you?
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you for having menap did the snaps absolutely, Amanda Again, like I said, I love your platform, so thank you for sharing it with.
Me absolutely, and we thank you for being a guest on our platform today. Now, I kind of want to start off. I love you, have you I think you've created your own unique saying. So you refer to your home as Atlanticville. They were the first person I've ever heard say that. I hope you trademarked that that term. I hope you trademarked it. So tell me. I know you described that as Will you tell us what is what is Atlanticville?
So it's a combination of two cities.
I was born in Atlantic City, born and raised in Atlantic City, and then around my I want to say eighth grade, I moved over to Pleasantville. Most people don't know what Pleasantville is, no, exactly, so I just combined it to Pleasantville is where I lived from eighth grade until I graduated high school, and my family still lives there now.
So I just merged it too.
Most people know Atlantic City obviously, so I don't just say Atlantic City because I shared a great amount of time in both cities and you know, helping raise and ruin me to the person that I am today both cities. So Atlanticville is Atlantic City and Pleasantville together.
So yes, absolutely, that's amazing. So I know there's a lot of Pleasantville all over the different fifty states. I know Pleasantville, California. I also know Pleasantville, Missouri. I know Pleasantville, New York. Yeah, tell me what New York.
I know New York. I didn't hear California and.
Miss Yeah yeah never, Okay, okay, for sure, we'll tell me.
Well, I mean, yeah, good to know.
I mean, we'll tell us how was those those two places and how they kind of shaped your voice?
I guess it's your your a melting pot of both.
Yeah, yes, ma'am.
Atlantic City, so most people know, and again you don't know, a lot of people don't know what pleasant it was. But Atlantic City people know as just being in the casino, Yes city, you know, everybody knows Atlantic City and being casinos where you come and the boardwalk and the.
Beaches and stuff.
But it's the hood, to be quite frank, it's the hood, and you know, it's rough neighborhoods and things like that, and I had to kind of navigate through a lot of the different things around the neighborhood.
But aside from.
That, just my upbringing in my household and just having to help raise my siblings from younger while also being in a rough neighborhood like Atlantic City was tough in its own but Atlantic City has given me everything, like just having friends, growing up with friends and playing football, literal League football, Atlantic City Dolphins, and running all throughout the city, riding my bike, walking around from uptown all the way to downtown and this the west Side and
all the different places around Atlantic City. But mainly just being grounded in my household in Atlantic City is what kind of shaped me to be the person that I am. And then moving over to Pleasantville, it kind of there's the same things and whatnot, but they all, I say, Atlantic City raised me and then Pleasantville groomed me. They
both groomed me, but they did two different things. And also Atlantic City and Pleasantville growing up and still to this day, but not as much as it was when I was growing up.
They were rival cities. You have rival cities and stuff like that.
Where in town will play Atlantic City would play Pleasantville football, whatever sports, and they're just clashing and people having fake beef, so whatever you want to call it, Yes, it was always rival city. So I remember when I was younger, when we were about to move to Pleasantville.
I remember crying like, I don't want to move to Pleasantville. I don't want to move. I hated all of this stuff.
It was funny, but as I got older as I'm doing now, I look back and laugh.
Like, what are you doing? Why were you going? Yeah?
Yeah, but I was.
So attached to Atlantic City, That's my town.
But again, as I've gotten older and growing on mature and stuff, Atlantic City and Pleville have shaped to reek to be the person that I am today, just based upon our language, how we speak. Some of our and a lot of us will use some terms like from Philly because Philly is right there, so you might hear a ball some slang and stuff like that or whatnot.
So it's all shaped me to be who I am today, so.
Absolutely and so kind of dialing into that poetry, I mean, so you're writing, I mean it kind of sits at that intersection I believe of artistry as well as healing. I mean, and you know, as you kind of you know, you have these two careers. I guess people may not see them as similar social work as well as poet, but they do kind of converge into one, right, you know, tell me, how do you see poetry functioning almost as a form of social work.
Social work is healing work, to be honest, and you know, you got to have empathy to be able to be in the field of social work, right. So poetry is a form of expression, and I've always expressed myself since I was younger, and I've always helped since i was younger. As I previously mentioned, just being grounded in my household with all of these siblings, and I'm being the second oldest, more like the oldest, because my oldest brother has several balls and autism. I was just kind of grounded and
just helping raise him along with my the siblings. And that's kind of where the foundation of me being in social work started, just empathizing with my brother, not knowing what cerebral pause and autism was when I was a kid, just being tasked the responsibility of just helping raise.
Him, you know what I mean, and.
Also while doing that, having my own challenges and emotions and things like that, just finding a way to express myself. And I leaned on a notebook in a pins or pen, and I would just use I used to just write my emotions and my feelings out, and that kind of blossomed over the years into all of the works that I've wound up creating. So social work ultimately is my foundation from just when I was growing up and Obviously social work is empathizing and doing work that are that
is healing. But I also look at it as for as a form of just expression, you know what I mean, just being able.
To express yourself.
The art, the art in poetry, it's just a form of just expressing yourself and so many other healing things and whatnot. But yeah, yeah, it emerged beautifully and seamlessly, to be.
Honest, absolutely, So tell me when did you kind of discover this? When did you discover poetry was in you or in your kind of in your blood almost When was that discovery for you? Was it in in that childhood or was it more so as you grew grew as an adult. Where would you say that moment where you knew writing was something you wanted to pursue.
So I would write, as I mentioned, I would write when I would like some small things like I was younger, like I would write about girls or whatever like that, and sometimes, like my feelings would be heard about something, I would just write it out. But I never really thought of any I never thought anything of it. I was just writing, you know what I mean, but expressing myself along the way because I didn't necessarily go to anyone to kind of express myself. I went to my
journal and my notebook. But I discovered that I would write when I got to college, when I went to Seat Hall here in New Jersey, in undergrad and all of the challenges and hardships and things that I've been through throughout my lifetime at that point, I always was. I was saying at that point, like, I'm gonna write my story one day. I'm gonna write my story one day, like I have something to say. I think it'd be inspiring and motivating and encouraging for people, you know what
I mean. And I was just like, okay. And I wound up having to do an extra semester because I was boll crapping in college and not knowing what I wanted to do and all of these other things. And I had to do an extra semester so that I could, you know, finish up. But I finished up, and then commencement wasn't. I had a whole nother semester before commencement, so I had time in between the actual graduation ceremony and between that time. During that time, I didn't have
no job. I had nothing, and I was just trying to figure out what I wanted to do next. So my boy now brother, he had family in Saint Croix in a Virgin Islands, and he said he actually did the extra semester with me. So he said he was going to go over the Saint Croi in the Virgin islist so he can figure out what his next move is going to be. So at that time, when he first presented it to me, I was just like, more power to you, kudos, shout out to you, do your thing.
I love you, I pray for you, et cetera. And then fast forward, make a long story short. I wound up, you know, having a change of heart and I went And that was the most life changing decision I made in my life.
While I was there, I was reading it was like Malcolm Xi's trip to Mecca.
Like it was like a reawakening or an awakening for me, Like I started to find out who to reak was, you know what I mean? At that point, and I was reading and writing and creating and applying to schools and doing all of these different things. And that's when
I really really started diving deep into my poetry. At that point, I was just writing and creating and doing this and writing a script and writing about writing my poetry and where I was in my life and all of these different things, and it really started coming out during that time.
So yeah, that's.
When I really started, and I think not I think I know for a fact, it was because I started to really understand my purpose and where I was headed. I didn't quite get it at that point, but I was just starting to scratch the surface, like, Okay, I know what God is telling me, you know.
Yeah, I mean, how important do you think those types of like you said, I mean, it's like a pilgrimage almost like your Malcolm X took a pilgrimage to Mecca and came back very a bit of a different person. How important for you personally is it to take maybe those I guess maybe almost those bodily breaks. Do you still find yourself taking those same exact breaks to maybe find that same inspiration again.
Well, first off, it's super important.
But with how everybody's life is set up. Yeah, people got kids, jobs, different things like that. I didn't have anything at that but I just had a girlfriend at the time, no disrespect, but I had a garling at the time, so I had a little more and she encouraged me to go too, so that was also helpful. But the way people's lives are set up, it's difficult
to do it. But with how my life has shaped out to be, like, it's super necessary, it really is, like and people might not have that, Like I was away for about two and a half months, just I just left, you know what I mean. Everybody doesn't have the opportunity to do that, you know, but it is necessary. It is very necessary because we got to take care of ourselves. And before I went, I was lost, like I had Like I don't want to say I had nothing,
but practically nothing. I didn't know what I wanted to do with myself. I just finished with all of my credits and everything for undergrad and I hadn't I didn't know what I was lost.
You know what I mean. So just back to your question, though, it's super super important, super necessary, and at this point in my life, I still take those times to uh and I have three.
Kids and a wife now, so I can't just say, all right, I'm out, I'm gonna go.
To Virgin Islands for a few months.
No, I can't do that, but there are spent Like you have meditation, you know you have therapy. You know, for me, I create, but I take my time and I take my time in space to be able to do those things so that I could create all of these things that I do.
So it's super necessary, you know, making sure that you make yourself a priority.
And that's ultimately what I did when I went away to Saint Croi's. I made myself the priority so that I can take care of myself, and so many beautiful things came from it.
And that's the same thing.
That I've done now that I'm doing now and how I've can how I've come to create the things that I've created.
So absolutely and speaking of I mean beautiful things being created by beautiful, amazing people. Nikki Giovanni praised your ability to capture both the universal and the deeply personal. Well, first and foremost, tell me how did that come about?
Did you to me?
How?
Tell us how the story behind her giving you that? I mean that amazing raise.
On your work.
Yeah, first and foremost resting piece, Niggi, the great Missus Nigga Giovanni, rest in peace. So I never got the honor of meeting her in person or whatnot, but we were able to exchange through exchange emails and.
Contact and stuff like that.
But with my poetry book, I was just everything I do is independent, So I google this trying to figure that out. I wish we had chat, GPT and time to reach her sooner, but I've went through all of these loopholes just trying to figure out how to reach her and so many other people. And I was just trying to get blurbed for my poetry book at the time, and she wound up reaching back out to me and you know, looked at my work and everything, and she.
Gave me that beautiful blurb that.
Well, somebody gave me a beautiful idea to put the quote, not the entire quote, but some of the quote on the hoodie on a hoodie for the merch that I'm selling with a new project. So big, big love and respect to miss Nikki Jiovanni. She she means and she meant to me so much, to not just authors and poets and things like that, but just people in general.
You know, she meant so much.
Yeah, I mean, tell me more.
I mean, what does it mean when someone I mean, such a great literary giant, someone of such gravity gravity? What does it mean when you hear someone like her praise your work like that to you personally on a personal level.
On a personal level, it just tells me that I'm doing the right things. You know, I'm headed in the right direction. My voice matters.
You know.
Sometimes we do these things and podcasts and things like that and we think, you know, sometimes we question ourselves like am I you know, am I doing this right?
Or about this the right way and stuff like that.
But when you get you know, nas like that, it's like, okay, I'm I'm doing something.
Yeah, yeah, I'm.
Doing something right, you know what I mean.
And just that that nod from her lets me know, like all right, and that reassurance of I guess of it being on the hoodie. I think that will also like be like okay, you know, that's a reminder like all right, you know, you don't have all the things that you want, you're not doing all that, You're not in the space that you want to be right now. But miss Nikki Giovanni gave you the nod, so keep going. You're doing the right thing.
So absolutely absolutely now moving along a bit so your memoir it's called a diamond in God's dirt. It's a powerful I feel almost spiritual title what I mean, tell us where did that come from? And I guess when I.
Hear a diamond in God's dirt.
I'm thinking, what dirt did you have to kind of dig through to find your own diamond?
Tell me a bit about that.
You know what I mean. It's dirt, but it's God's dirt, so you gotta dust the dirt off. And you know I'm the god dust it all.
But I'm a huge Kendrick Lamar fan. So one of his songs, his lyrics like He's a diamond in guy's dirt. I just kind of took it to be honest, and I use it as mine and created, you know, my autobiography, And I mean the meaning behind it is kind of self explanatory. Is just like, you know, the dirt is me going through me being dirty from all of the hardships and challenges and everything that I've dealt with throughout
my lifetime. But even though I have dirt and all of these things on me, I'm still a diamond and God is working on me shining the diamond off, shining the dirt off of the diamond so that I can be the best version of myself. And I can shine or help shine God's light on other people. So it's very spiritual.
And when you see the cover, the cover is actually my mom's hand and my dad's hand. My uncle actually created the artwork and that's my mom's actual hand, and my dad took a picture and then he like drew it. It was beautiful.
And then it's like milk and honey, which is in the Bible, spilled into the diamond, which created the diamond, which is me.
So it means that artwork means a lot to me. It means everything to me because that's.
My parents molding me to be the person I am, but also again against God creating them to create me, and then all of those other spiritud things and connections.
So yes, well, I mean, what was the biggest thing you learned about yourself and writing that memoir?
Oh me the wine.
At that time, man, I was able to overcome a whole lot that I didn't think I'd be able to persevere through. And going back to the title of diamond and God's dirt, it wasn't me that got to that point.
It was God that willed me.
To putting that project together, will me through life to be able to create a project like that, but just me having allowing God to work through me to be able to create such an important body and work, and I was able to do so many different things with that body, Like I went to buzz boys and poets.
And just some poetry and met so many people.
And that what to answer your question, I started coming into my own I realized like, Okay, this is this is what it is, this is what I'm going to do. And it wasn't just about me just because I love the process of creating and putting something beautiful together, but once it starts connecting, it's like, Okay, I'm doing this is this is the real work right here, and I'm starting to connect with people with the messaging and things
that I the things that I'm writing about. So just realizing that what I'm creating is actually connecting and I'm doing the work that God wants me to do.
Absolutely.
Now tell me, kind of speaking more of your work, what's so unique about it is? You know, you fuse a lot of jazz, hip hop and spoken word together.
I mean, what do you think specifically.
Those genres again, jazz, hip hop, spoken word, what do you think they allow you to say or feel maybe that traditional poetry just cannot.
Allows me to express myself, and however I want to express myself, you know what I mean. You know, I'm able to talk a little bit on it and be you know, cool, savvy, whatever you want to call it. But overall for me is just me being able to really just express myself however I want on some cool beats. I'm grounded in nineties and jazz and things like that. So when you listen to my music, that's what you'll hear, you know what I mean. And that's not intentional, it's
a subconscious thing. I just rap it towards I guess, those kinds of beats because again, that's what I love.
I love the nineties music and things like that. So just being able to express myself as freely as I want to. And I don't even intentionally mean to, like like I have hooks on my my poetry and on my songs, I don't. It just comes to me naturally. It just comes to me.
Like I'm not going like, I'm not going into it, like all right, I'm gonna write a poem and then I'm gonna write a hook.
I'm not going into it like that.
I just write the poem, right, and then as I'm hearing a beat, I'm like, oh, that's kind of cool, and then I'll just create a hook that goes with it. So again, I don't go into it wanting to create a hook. It just comes to me naturally. And I say that humbly obviously.
Oh you know, it's okay to be not humble sometimes to me.
So, you know, speaking, I thought, I find it interesting you love the nineties, and one thing about the nineties, I feel like that was a time of such it's so different from today's art, especially in terms of the spoken word, right, because in the nineties it was very much defiance. I feel like, you know, Lady of Rage
was a big rapper, public enemy, you know, NWA. Even in the names of our groups, we had defiance in the title, and that I feel like, in some ways is a bit more difficult to find in today's cultural landscape. Without getting too political, we don't really have a defiance now. We have a system almost that wants to go with the system that reflects in the art. But what I love about your new album.
It's called kiss My Art.
So that title that feels both defiant but also very free. Tell me what what went into this new album and kind of what this new spoken word piece. What was the creativity process for you?
I love how you put that together. And that's Spottle. It's really because when you hear it kiss my Art, it's like kiss.
My you know what I mean.
But I'm also just honoring where I am in my life and honoring my art. But before before I get to kiss my Art, my project When the Heart Speaks, which is Grammy considered right now. Thank God, it's super super important project. But that's the prelude to my album, Kiss My Art. But it all the rolls around art and me and bracing where I'm at in my life right now. And I always come to points where I'm going through so many different things in my life and
then I just start creating. And I was just saying this with a previous interview. Sometimes I feel like I'm married J Blige. You know you gotta go through some struggle to create something beautiful or whatnot. But you know it's necessary, you know what I mean? And I know the work is uh, I take myself outside, I take myself outside of myself because I know my purpose is to help other people and my story and my journey is not about me, and that's what this project is about.
It's about it's healing, you know, it's healing for me and just embracing who I am as a person, as a man, as an artist, truly coming into my own now because I said that before, but I'm truly coming
into my own now. Like this project is elevated more than any other project that I've created, and it's so very important for people to listen to it so that they could heal, so that they could embrace where they are in their journey in life, whether it be through grief, whether it be financial hardship, family problems, jobs, whatever, it's a This project is about embracing it all good or bad,
and just finding a way. If you don't like where you are, you know, you have to embrace it so that you can get to the other side, you know, And it starts with accepting where you are, you know what I mean.
That's the part of embracing. So yeah, that this body of work is also a tribute to my mom. I lost my mom.
In twenty twenty one to a car accident, actually and tragic car accident. So my single to this album because my art No Regrets is a huge tribute to her, and a few other tracks on there is a tribute to her as well.
And like I said, this whole.
Body of work is just in me facing you know, those tough times, tough situations. I'm not having my mom here but saying okay to Rick, you gotta face this so that you can take steps forward. And if you don't face this, you're not going to be able to take steps forward. So again going back to me saying it's not about me, like, all right, although this is my grief and these are other things that I have to deal with, I'm not the only one who grieves, you know what I mean. I'm not the only lone
person who's lost a parent or lost someone. So it's like, all right, well I have to show people. And not that I intentionally went in that way, but at that I created, I'm like, Okay, I can be a voice for other people, like all right, well if I can do it, and I know it sounds cliche.
If I can do it, the next person can as well. But I put it on wax if you may through my album, So yes.
Yeah, so that I mean, speaking of your mom, and again made her soul rest in perfect peace. I mean the album actually opens with a voicemail from your late mother tell us, I mean, how did weaving you know, your mother's voice into your art change your relationship maybe with grief and remembrance or it or did it?
So when I first thought of putting her well, first off, I stumbled across putting her on the track.
No, you do, somebody or whatever.
You start going through old text messages and voice sales and things like that.
So that's what I was doing. And I'm just.
Listening and crying and questioning God and going through all of my emotions, my feels. As the kids would say, I'm just just going through the process of just grieving. It came to me like, all right, let me just put this on the track once. Once I was able to take that step forward, I knew I was ready to start creating again. But grief is forever. Grief is not all right. I grieve, I grieve this month, I'm over it. I'm good. No, that's not how grief works.
They say grief gets better with time. For me, it does not, especially with the things that I'm doing, the things that I'm accomplishing. Having a family and all of these things. I want my mom here, you know what I mean. So it does not get easy, it gets more difficult. But just including her on the album it was healing for me. It was healing for me. And even these interviews and talking about her is healing for me. It's like a small piece that's being healed every time
I talk about her and stuff. And sometimes it's difficult for me to listen to on the voicemail at the beginning, or even a song still and and and honestly it's because of repetition too, because the song has just been playing from playing him playing, you know how it is with singles, It's like, all right, I'm tired of it.
But honestly, the creating it, it's it was healing. Just simply put, it was healing listening to her, putting her on the album on that track specifically, it was healing for healing from my spirit, healing for my soul, healing from my mind. It was a whole healing process for me, to be honest.
Yeah, yeah, I mean in healing seems to be kind of just the centralized theme of your work. But tell me, I mean this your new album again, kiss my art. It does seem like, how did you know it had to be infused with music as opposed to all your other pieces, you know, bodies of work you've created, not just poetry on the page. What made you this time kind of just say, you know what, this healing work, this has.
To be infused with music? What really kind of put you on that track?
Expression and connection as mentioned like, I mean, for me, the arts is no but the art you can express yourself however you want, right, Yeah, And with where I was and where I still am, to a certain degree, I needed a place to be able to just release.
You know what I mean?
And I know I knew and I know that me releasing that in the ways that I did on each track, it's going to connect. So going back to the expression and connection, I just wanted to be able to. I cried on some tracks, I was angry on some tracks, and just going through the natural progression of my feelings and emotions.
And that is just that.
Human right, and those naturally human emotions and expressions are has and will continue to connect with people. And I know it's going to resonate and help the next person here along their healing process. So for me, it was just connection, expression and connection first and foremost it was expression. I had to let it out. I had to let it out, you know what I mean, Which is why I'm so excited to start getting on stages and perform
in this body of work. I'm super excited because that's going to draw even more connection and amplify my voice and this project to so many more people.
So I'm super excited for that.
And when you have such a project that kind of has engaged you in such ways all of your senses, but also it seems a spiritual sense, how did you know? And I always want to ask an artist this, and sometimes I never have the chance to.
How did you know when.
You were finished making the album? Or how did you know you were finished with this body of work? When did you just say, hey, you know what, I'm done, this is complete now? Or do you ever have that feeling.
Like finished, like completing this actual the album or just period.
Just completing the actual, the whole piece, the body of work, the actual album, You're like, you know, let me send it in for mastering.
I'm done now. We no more to add, no more to, no more to split this up. We're done. We're going to send them for final editor you know.
I think that was my producer. Shout out to my producer, Keene Dunkley. He's actually rem nominated producers. Shout out to him. But I had a couple other tracks that I wanted to include as well. For me, sometimes I don't know he's finished because I'll be having so much to say. But I guess that's also why you have a team. It's like, all right, we got to cut it at this point.
You know what I mean.
And that's difficult being independent too, because sometimes like prior to this project, yeah, prior to this project, actually I was just doing everything myself.
So I can want to cut it.
Well, yeah, I mean so if I you.
Know, with me having a team, like I was cut at eleven tracks, Yeah, yeah, eleven tracks.
But I could have I have like four or five additional tracks. But going back to the nineties.
Right the nineties, it was ten nine, ten, maybe twelve tracks total, you know what I mean. So I mean subconsciously I give you that with the eleven tracks, to be honest, versus today where a lot of artists are giving you twenty tracks or something like that.
You know what I mean?
So, but just to answer your question, just having a team and with my producer helping me to kind of narrow the tracks down, and honestly being there in the studio with him and listening to each track from start to finish, it felt like it was finished, to be honest.
With the very last track from No Regrets to Still Here, it was like, all right, that's it. It sounds like it really sounds like it's done. It's finished. We're done. That's a rat you know what I mean.
So it's a feeling, it's definitely a feeling. But I had to get to that feeling, you know what I mean, because I had so much more to say. But that's what the performance is in Everything is for stage, you know what I mean.
So, yeah, absolutely, now tell me about I mean, so, this show, this podcast, it's really about the power of the voice of the poet, you know. So I want to know you as someone that you're a poet. I mean, what do you think is the role of the poet today in our society?
You know, with our.
Changing discourse, things are changing by the day.
What do you think the role of the poet is in today's world?
The role of the poet is to connect with people first and foremost through emotion and expression.
That's how that's my mentality.
I always want to encourage other people and poets along.
The way to just express yourself as freely as possible and to be yourself.
I think a lot of people out here try to emulate this one or that one and try to do this or that when that's not really who they are. So just being authentic in your approach to creation, you know what I mean. I think that's a huge responsibility, and just trying to connect with people through that expression of authenticity, you know what I mean. I think just being authentic to who you are, your goal, your purpose, your mission, will allow you to connect with so many
other people, you know what I mean. It's it's tough out here watching some you know what I mean, It's tough he just watching some artists or whatever whatever, jump you know what I mean.
It's tough.
So it's a breath of fresh air when something authentic comes around.
And when something authentic comes around, you know.
It, you know what I mean, and you can leave out the the fake or whatever you want to call it as well. So I think the role of the poet is to just be authentic and express yourself authentically, be yourself, be bold, and be yourself no matter what. There's millions and millions and millions of poets that we
never even heard of, you know what I mean. I've gone to like poetry slams and stuff like that in New York, and there's so many different types of poets, so many different types of poets, and sometimes I be blown away, but I always it always takes me back to when I was playing sports, when I was growing up, and it's like, all right, don't worry about everybody else.
Just worry about yourself. You know that.
Obviously there are so many other better point guards shooting guards than you, but we ain't worried about that. Just focus on you better in your craft, be true to who you are, and you're good, you.
Know what I mean.
That's the same reproach that I take with creating poetry and writing and things like that. So like when I created my autobiography, obviously there's trillions of autobiographies, I made a conscious effort not to read any autobiographies because I didn't want to emulate the next author's style of writing.
You know what I mean.
And the same with you know, my poetry book and my project right now with kiss, my art and things like. I try not and obviously I listen to music, but I try not to like listen to poets so much or artists so much, because I don't want to, because I think naturally, you know, we emulate other people too, But I try to stay away from those things so that I can lock in and focus and it's easy for me to create because it's my story, right. I
can't emulate somebody else talking about my story, right. So you just being authentic to yourself and expressing yourself authentically, That's what's up.
That's what's up, all right, Tyreek, We have one more question for you today on the Poets Spics podcast, Trek.
Why do you need to get your words out?
My words are?
Why do I want to get my words out? Why do I want to get my words out to people? Or why do I just want to get my words out?
In general?
Well, why do you need to get your words out?
Expression? I gotta get this out and self sabotaged man? Sometimes, you know, we carry these thoughts and ideas and whatever
else we have in our like grief. We carry all of these things trauma, all of these things we carry with us from over the years, you know what I mean, And it's important for us to release and let it out because it becomes starts to decay and rocks and mold, and then we're walking around heavy and feeling sick and things like that, and it's important for us to release those things and hit a reset.
You know what I mean.
And that's that's been my process throughout my life and specifically with this product, just trying to embracing again, embracing where I'm at in my life by accepting all of the things that has occurred with the loss of my mom and the loss of this one and all of these things, accepting it first and then saying, okay, let's go to the drawing board. Let's figure out how we're
gonna move forward, you know what I mean. And the drawing board is me my spirituality, talking to God, trying to figure out where he wants me to go, how he wants me to approach.
It, and different things like that. So that's for me, you know, just just just trying to find that space to be able to let it out, just let it out. We carry it on, carry all of that stuff on. It's not it's just self sabotaged.
Absolutely all right, Well, thank you so much, Tyreek, big thank you to you for showing up today being a guest on the Pope Speak podcast. Now before we wrap up, wrap, but we would like to know please drop any social media links, website links and tell us what do you have for the rest of twenty twenty five till and beyond, for the rest of the year going off.
For you now, well, thank you again a man for having me on. I'm super, super, super super grateful for you sharing your platform with me and.
For the rest of the year.
So I think next week they announced the nominees for.
Grammys. So I'm praying.
And I'm hoping to God that I am a nominee for a Best Spoken Word Poetry Album with my EP when the heart speaks up, anybody listening out there, just sending prayer up for your boy. So now I can get the nomination and everything, but you can find my work. I'm an independent artist. My work is on band camp. You can just type treikashot In and my album Kiss My Art would come up. I have merched with Hoodies. I have a journal, Kiss My Journal, which is pretty dope.
The vinyl is on the website as well.
Click the link. Connect with me. I'm on social media.
My Instagram is to Reak underscore Rashad, Send me a message, follow me whatever. I love connecting talking to people about my journey and.
Carriaging and inspiring.
I put up posts all the time every day, so just connect with me and I appreciate all the love and support along the way.
Absolutely absolutely again everyone, a big thank you to Tyreek. Tyrek's all of his details all the links will be down below in the detailed section of wherever you're listening to this amazing podcast. Again, thank you so much for being a guest on today's show. Tyreek, thank you absolutely all right, and everyone again check out all his links the detailed box down below. Everyone, this is the Poet Speaks podcast. We'll see you next time, but bye.