Never have I felt such a supercharged environment, Batiste tellsRolling Stone.
Youre telling a story in reference to all of that.
First, congratulations on that phenomenal performance on Sunday.
“The more we use these incredible forces for good in the world — the forces of the arts and culture, our poetry and our dance — the better we’ll be as people.“Christopher Polk/Penske Media
There is a lot to unpack.
How are you feeling?Yes, indeed, yes.
Lots of lots of things to process.
You know, we process things in our subconscious, and then it kind of flows through the surface.
But Im also very conscious, being a musician and a dancer, of processing things through the body.
Im just feeling it today.
A lot of African diasporic communities around the world have been impacted by this sort of mentality.
If that means they take me off the board, Ill find another way to serve.
[The arts] arent just a job for me.
We cant dilute our arts and our culture for the sake of money.
We cant dilute it and make it be something that its not just because it sells.
Its just masquerading as profundity and nationalism and patriotism.
Thats what Im here to do.
Thats why I felt the sample was so important.
They all were saying, We cant get it clear.
Just take it out.
At another point, its almost like this sort of mixed voice bordering on operatic tone.
So, theres no key center.
If you listen to that sort of cadence … the first time you hear it, it means something.
And the third time you hear it, it changes my frame of thinking of this.
Theres so many things that are spoken that are not in a lyric.
Its unsaid, intangible.
Its in the way you say it, and then the chord you choose.
And thats the power of music.
It transcends whats on the page.
Were inheritors of this great cultural inheritance.
Foundational pillars of our culture and our history came through so much sacrifice and so much collective experience.
Now those foundational pillars are set.
Theyre layered and were building on them.
We didnt have to do that part of the work.
Now our part of the work is with these foundational pillars.
What are we going to build?
