Watch the Performance
This performance was originally produced for SCG's 2022 Policy Conference, Power Building for Systems Change.
Reflection Questions
- Malik shares that his daughters have changed and transformed him and that they inspire him to “leave something wonderful for them to discover”. How do younger generations fuel and inspire your work? Do you have young ones in your life that bring energy and vitality to life and to the movement? How do you actively incorporate and center young people and young voices in your work?
- Malik shares that his creative practice helps him embody a sense of liberation and radical joy. Where and how do you tap into your sense of embodied radical joy? When do you feel the happiest? Why? Who’s there with you? What are you doing and where are you? Is there a way to tap into a moment of radical joy and expression today or this week?
About Malik LovesYall
Malik LovesYall
Father, Artist & Educator
https://www.maliklovesyall.com/
https://maliklovesyall8.bandcamp.com/
Malik LovesYall is a Father, Artist, and Educator who uses Hip-Hop, Funk, Soul & Jazz music to provide a platform for Creativity and Community. Inspired by his recent passage into Fatherhood, Malik LovesYall creates with the purpose of encouraging both fellow parents and non-parents alike to pursue our passions while embracing our duties as caretakers, providers and community members. With music as the vessel, Malik seeks to uplift and affirm us all as we find our rhythm in the dance with creativity and responsibility. Malik believes that music is a powerful tool for healing, connection and self-discovery, and seeks to provide an uplifting and energetic experience for all to get in tune with one another, and their most authentic, and expansive selves.
Interview with Malik LovesYall
What got you started on your path of expressing yourself musically and what are some hopes for your creative projects and evolution as an artist?
For me, it was my uncle. My uncle started babysitting me when I was about 3 or 4 years old, and he is 14 years older than me, so he was about 17 or 18 at the time. He grew up in that Golden Era of Hip-Hop - late 80’s, early 90’s - and that influenced him to write and make songs with his homies. I would go to his house, and be a fly on the wall in his studio. As kids do, I was observing and soaking up everything! I began freestyling as a little kid, and then when I was about 5, he helped me write my first verse. From then on I just ran with it, and he always encouraged me to speak my truth - no matter what it was. He never censored me. He let me join his crews, and spit with him and his homies, even though I was just a kid. But he saw me as an equal creatively. He knew that my perspective could add something unique to the mix. I always took that with me. Now with my own music, I want to share my story, and inspire others to share theirs. No matter what it may be. My prayer is to be able to share my music with the world, playing for folks on every continent and inspiring us all to share our truths in whatever way uplifts us - for forever.
What organizers, activists and change-makers currently influence your work? What books/texts/artists inform your work?
Again, my Uncle - Cochise “Chief” Moore. Bob Marley - he really used music to tap deeply into Spirit. He knew that music is a powerful healing/transformational tool. Malidoma Somé and his book Of Water & The Spirit definitely has influenced me greatly - I feel like I’m also here to bridge worlds, to bring understanding through my work. My grandfather, Forrest Moore - I feel him guiding me every day. He was ahead of his time. All my ancestors really. My daughters - they’ve changed/transformed me profoundly, and inspire me to leave something wonderful for them to discover.
How do you embody liberation in your practice and creative works?
By feeling joy when I do my thing. It brings me a feeling of purpose. When I create, and “perform” I feel that I tap into who I am supposed to be, who I really am aside from this persona/personality I’ve build to survive in this world. I remember my purity, I remember my brilliance, and my power. And I believe that as I do so, I hold up a mirror to you, so you can see those things in yourself. In that way, we become free, if even for just a moment (i hope).