Recap of June 2024 MFA Residency

further adventures of a New Afrikan writer in the academy of America

I entered the June 2024 residency with Kendrick Lamar’s “They Not Like Us” performance at the Juneteenth Pop Out concert giving me a vision of creative swagger that can heal old Black wounds. Let’s begin with the traumas torn by the now-notorious black-on-black crime of Compton and South Central Los Angeles, and after that, recognize how we saw on that stage a enlivening vision of the urban: street life and entertainment family: men, women, children clowning clapping and frolicking on a stage before millions on a day celebrating Black emancipation opened a portal for Ancestral healing.

Ken (with friends, collaborators and community) used the occasion of Juneteenth and the situation of his beef with Drake, a mainstream pop celebrity with a pretty boy image and a Hollywood pedigree, whose artistry has been called ‘music to shop at Target by’ thanks Yasiin Bey and who has been accused of statuatory relationships, or at the least manipulation of women- Kung Fu Kenny used this situation to transcend a one-on-one dispute about who’s the most important rapper into a celebration of those maligned by mainstream society as disposable are creating joy and opportunity for each other.

Compton MC Kendrick Lamar approaches the stage at Columbia University to accept his 2018 Pulitzer Prize for DAMN.

Emphasis on creating.

And the whole wide world can watch and sing along.

I entered my third residency at Pacific University vibing with new Ancestral collective rhythm and left with laughter and the vigorous shaking of my head.