Ian Kamau First Look Friday
Today so many young people with upward mobility have labeled themselves a "creative" that the word--and the notion of what it means to create something--is in danger of being lost in a shuffle of commerce, social media and trends. But to truly be creative, to find fulfillment, challenge and peace in self-expression will never lose its power, and although it's easier now than ever to get caught up in the style of the moment, some young artists are still tapping into the timeless captivation that creativity begets.
One such artist is Canadian Ian Kamau, a Toronto-based MC and musician whose talent is erasure. Kamau's output defies easy classification and obliterates the boundaries between what it is to make music, write poetry, craft images and foster change. In a new interview with Okayplayer, Kamau spoke passionately about his need to both make things and overcome limitations; the resulting conversation became a kind of meditation on artistry in our digital age, more concerned with broad concepts than the fine details of how to rhyme. Inspired by painters, filmmakers, visits to Africa and life in Toronto, Kamau's long explanations are warmly encouraging for anyone sick of the never-ending chatter. Donning his MC cap, Kamau also just dropped "Heading Home," a brand new track composed of jazz-tinged piano, tribal African-style drumming and a gritty hip-hop backbeat. It's a sprawling piece, one that Okayplayer is very pleased to premiere in this First Look. Read on to learn about Ian Kamau in his own words and hear what concentrated creativity sounds like. Bonus: also in store is a video that tells the tale of Kamau's beginnings.
OKP: Please introduce yourself to the people--who is this Ian Kamau?
IK: I’m an artist, a creative; I make things. I was born and raised in Toronto. My parents are both documentary filmmakers, the first in Canada, so I was born into a community of artists.
OKP: As an artist with fingers in multiple media (music /poetry/ visual arts etc) how do you balance the different modes of expression? Do you ever develop ideas from one and end up with another?
IK: I’ve always been a creator. The process of making things is probably my only true joy outside of my connections with people. I don’t see forms of art as different, they are a continuum, connected and related to each other. The same process inherent in design is the process inherent in music and writing. Most of my art is essentially collage, with production you pull sounds together, with writing you blend words, film is the same, with design it is visual elements like photography, illustration and text. It’s just like making a meal for someone, you have ingredients and you fuse them together, the way that you combine them is your creativity, your expression. It’s all essentially the same process, it’s just a question of what your favorite ingredients are. My cousin Roger is a well-known chef, he’s a good example of that. My ideas are always wandering between different media, and right now I’m interested in self actualization and place-making, how to make ourselves whole through creative processes; I have a long way to go.
OKP: How do you balance your creativity with other kinds of work?
I don’t know; life is a balancing act. One of my best friends is an artist, Danilo McDowell-McCallum, he’s a painter and a designer; he lives by a kind of code that has to do with balance. Art is one of the only things that humans actually leave behind, but we have to pay rent too, and depending on the kind of art you make it can be more or less difficult to follow that path and still make a living; I think we all experience that imbalance. What I enjoy is making things though, so I’ve tried to direct the majority of my life towards that. I have a degree in design and most of my work has been in the arts directly or indirectly. I used to do community work--it was all arts-based programs but I became disenchanted with the institution around it. Design is expression too, even if it isn’t always my expression. Life is not about extremes, it is shades of grey, and the trick is how to balance your desires and your responsibilities, yourself and your relationships. I haven’t always been great at that; I’m still sorting it out.
OKP: Do you have a favorite artist (in any medium) to which you can point as an influence in the music you create?
IK: I enjoy watching free people, people that have few boundaries or have the strength to wrestle with their limitations. The person that sticks out in my mind the most at this moment is Philip Glass. I say Philip Glass because he had a vision and he never compromised it, he adapted it and evolved it and had to come at it in many different ways, but it was always him; I appreciate that, he’s also a fascinating human being. I’m also really interested in people like Leonardo Davinci and Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, Stefan Sagmeister or even Thom Yorke because they do so many different things at such a high level. My desire is to have the support system to be able to express my creativity and collaborate with people consistently on that level, and Toronto is a tough place to do that in. But I guess making that a reality is difficult anywhere.
OKP: Are you documenting the process of building your career in any particular way, given your parents' careers and the influence they had upon you? Can you share any examples (especially anything tangible)?
IK: In the last two years I visited a few countries in Africa. Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa, Namibia, Rwanda, I took a camera and shot a lot of film...
>>>Click through to page 2 to watch video on Ian Kamau's artistic process
...but I got overwhelmed with the editing process because I was also organizing my tours as I went. I think turning the camera on yourself is a little embarrassing through--I watch people do it and cringe a bit--but that’s our world now I guess.
OKP: How do you think we can/should best use music and other arts within our communities?
IK: Music is a tool, like money, like politics. It doesn’t mean anything in and of itself. I think people who are interested in music as more than entertainment but as a tool need to sort out a way to use it to make practical things happen. Music is probably the best tool for expression, better than language alone. Music is one of many tools in a toolbox, but you can’t build a house with a single tool, you need many tools and many hands.
OKP: How did the collabo with Georgia Anne Muldrow come about and what was it like? What did you learn from Georgia a) based on direct advice she gave; and/or b) just from observing her work and process?
IK: I live in a neighbourhood called Esplanade in Toronto, right downtown, and I’ve lived here for most of my life. My neighbor at the time, Ceasaro Grant, used to always put me on to new music. One day in the playground with his daughter he let me hear Georgia’s music. Years later I opened for Georgia in Toronto days before I left for South Africa back in 2012. We slowly kept in touch trough Jay Devonish, who works with her and Dudley. The process of the remixes was remote, I just sent her vocals but since then I've flown down to Vegas and recordeded a few more original songs with her on production, adding vocals etc. I hope those songs can come to light. Georgia is an intense creative spirit. She is always creating and is so talented and expansive in the way she looks at life and music, she is fearless in where she takes her ideas and has such a wealth of knowledge at her fingertips that she can reference so many things when sitting in the studio. It was wonderful to be in the presence of such an open and driven artist.
OKP: Toronto has been very much in the global pop spotlight in the past few years--whats your relationship with the 'Toronto sound' exemplified by Drake, The Weeknd, etc. and where do you fit into the city's soundscape? And/or do you feel more "at home" with a network of artists (GAM, for instance) who are not tied to the sound of a particular place?
IK: I’m happy that Toronto is now so well-known on the global music scene, I’m proud of those guys, Drake, 40, Weeknd, Partynextdoor, Melanie Fiona, not to mention Future the Prince and K’naan and K-Os. There are so many talented artists in this city and I’m happy that a handful of them have made it to a world stage and have a platform to share their art. I think my music is bridge music; I'm interested in the new sound that is coming out of the city and influencing the world, Drake and his collaborators are largely responsible for that, but there are many sounds of Toronto. From 88 Days of Fortune and Shi Wisdom to Sean Leon, LAL and Shad, and I’d be here all day if I kept naming all the talent so I won't, but all I can say is that I’m proud of my city and I hope that many more people can share that world stage, our industry and the world music community need only look and listen.
OKP: What's on the immediate horizon for Ian Kamau? ...And the far horizon?
IK: I’m just starting to record again after my last project One Day Soon. I recorded a few songs with an artist in Durban named Raheem Kemet, so I'm looking forward to releasing those songs and of course there are more remixes and some original songs that Georgia and I did. I’m recording a project with a producer named Sproxx from The Freedom Writers and all this while I’m pursing a masters degree. There are a few other things that I won’t talk about now. I’ve been conceptualizing and developing ideas towards answering that question around art, artists and creative placemaking; I want to curate and create more. I’m excited for the next few years. Generally I’m just attempting to bring the different parts of my creative life together and build a platform for myself and other artists to grow as artists and people.
>>Pre-order Kamau's Heading Home single on iTunes here.
>>Pre-order Kamau's Heading Home single on Bandcamp here.
