On Craft…
Whenever I ask rappers who influenced the start of their careers, they often sit back and try to list the most interesting or meaningful influences they can think of. There’s always a pause, and there’s always this sense that there is a wrong answer to my question. The same can be said of writers—of myself, too. When I began writing and would speak to other writers, I would try to really tease out this idea that my influences were profound. And consequently, I was profound. But as I’ve gotten more confident and wizened up, I realize all influences are profound in their own right.
As long as you are being organically influenced by a cultural production, it is a profound influence and worthy of being reflected somehow in your work. Just yesterday, I spoke with Brooklyn rapper Sufi Hamilton about the great rapper-producers who came before him. We also talked about his friends. Neither one of these influences is any greater or lesser than the other. Inspiration should not be compartmentalized. There is no such thing as a high or low-brow influence. Your goal is still to combine everything that excites you and create your voice.
During our interview, I asked Sufi how he could make such feel-good music during one of the worst times of our lives. His answer was rooted in compassion and friendship, and being grateful and humble. He expressed a need to be inspired by everything around him, and he did not express any hang ups over not having influences “sophisticated enough” to help him make his music.
I think we have this expectation as artists to always be immersed in the highest caliber of art. I used to fall into that trap to a startling degree. But everything is worth your time as a writer. In fact, I’d argue the mark of a true writer comes—at least in part—from your ability to draw from the most mundane and miniscule of influences. Take pictures. William Eggleston took pictures of nothing. But they weren’t nothing-photos. His images move people. Simplicity does not imply any negative. Complexity does not inherently mean something is more worthwhile.
Once you realize anything and everything counts as an influence, it becomes far easier to carve out your voice as a writer. You stop punishing yourself by not reading what you want to read, or experiencing art you couldn’t care less about because it’s canon. You gain a clearer picture of who you wish to sound like—yourself. You are made up of all these wonderful nods to all these wonderful things, some only you will ever fully appreciate. That’s special. That deserves to make its way into your writing somehow. Don’t get caught up in the aesthetics of influence. Just let yourself appreciate what it is that makes you happy.