The following text is a transcript from the MOsley WOtta episode of the Hult Center Podcast, recorded on March 2, 2022.
Blake Argotsinger: Hello and welcome to the Hult Center Podcast and Blake Argotsinger, Marketing Manager at the Hult. Thank you for joining us for today’s interview with artist Jason Graham who performs under the name MOsley WOtta, who is our next featured artist in our 10 x 10 series. A series focused on bringing stellar rising talent to our stages and making it accessible with all tickets costing just $10. Next show is on Saturday, March 19. Welcome to the show, Jason.
Jason Graham: Thank you for having me. Thank you for having us.
Blake Argotsinger: Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, one of the favorite aspects of my job is that I get to fill my brain with information about cool people, cool artists, cool musicians. And as I was reading one of your bios, the description was a how was it phrased, consummate, creative, and…
Jason Graham: Oh right? Uh huh.
Blake Argotsinger: I think that’s, that kind of nails it. I mean, speaker, performer, poet, visual artist, educator, musician, former slam poetry champion. And listening, listening to your just newly released album, and listening to the poetry in that I, I believe all of that, so I’m hoping in your own words, you can give some of our listeners like a quick overview of a view as an artist and what you’re bringing.
Jason Graham: Yeah, I’m poly artists, inter-disciplinary, multidisciplinary. transdisciplinary. I’ve heard a lot of these different terms, Renaissance man, woman, person, I’ve heard a lot of these different terms for folks who are pulled by their inspiration into a variety of different mediums. And to my delight, that is becoming more and more common as,as you know, for a variety of reasons. Accessibility to technology, for example, is something that’s easier and easier when it comes to different mediums of creation. Nobody’s hoarding the color blue, for example, or anything, you know what I mean? I mean, historically, sometimes it’s been quite difficult for us to be not only be able to make the art that we want to make, but with the materials that we want to create this stuff with. So yeah, so I do a lot of this to say, it’s difficult to make this sometimes because the society itself says, Whoa, cool it on that the cool it on that, in fact, will persecute you if you keep you know, so. So it’s a really exciting time. Right now to be making art. There’s also just so many different topics that are of severe and sincere import right now. That that should be captivating and inspiring, creative folks, or finding folks that maybe don’t even consider themselves to be creative. They’re finding themselves showing up in these in these, these creative communities. So anyway, yeah, I mean, writing, painting and music is sort of the baseline of what I oftentimes do. But it dovetails into a variety of other things, including now animation and public speaking and doing interview things like what you’re doing and dada dada. So uhm, it’s it, at the end of the day, it is trusting that you can follow your inspiration or your muse, but which is a can be a terrifying prospect, but it is deeply rewarding, you know. So that’s, that’s what it is. I am a career artist.
Blake Argotsinger: Hey, man, that’s awesome that you’re making a career out of it. We fully support those endeavors. I’m going to jump into a little bit of this new album, I’ve I was listening in to it again, on the way in, and I’ve been kind of contemplating the name of it. It’s not the year, it’s you. Sure. And I’ve been thinking, you know, and especially after I listened to the album, like, who is the you know, who is the you in this? And maybe that.
Jason Graham: Yeah, yeah, I think whether it’s, you know, creating a body of music that you know, is put categorically into hip hop, or whether it’s a painting that I do, or whether it’s a speaking engagement, whatever it may be, I’m trying to create something that has depth to it that both pertains to what’s going on right now, but then is also speaking to not just the headline, the baseline. And so with this, it’s not the year it’s you. It’s just It occurred to me that at some point, these converging views from you know, let’s say different parties. They’re sort of the bootstrap versions of things that are here in communities I live in here in Central Oregon, to you know, the, the deeply caring, being accused of being a bleeding heart slips a little dated term, but on the sort of the left side as if such a thing existed in terms of sides.I’ve been really curious about the blaming of the year, we’ve, I’ve heard a lot of you know, I can’t believe in this year, this is still happening or, or a linear view of time as if we’ve only become more intelligent or more free. There is clearly there’s, it’s very clear as we look at our histories that there are a variety of communities existing in a variety of different times that had a lot more harmony had a lot more freedoms than we are experiencing now. Looking at our own history here in the state of Oregon, like, you know, when I, the year I graduated, high school 2001, if you’d like to do the math, on my age, this is, uh, my goodness, when it was finally moving into being legal for like black and white folks to get married here in the state or whatever. And this was the year 2001 was supposed to be, you know, a very sophisticated year and you know, all these kinds of things. So, at some point, we have to look at, whether it’s 1492, or if it’s 1859, or if it’s 2020. Or if it’s y2k or 911. How are we individually, and communally showing up to participate in the world that we live in and not be beholden to oh I’m inside of this number and so I can act this way. So it’s, it’s, it’s leaning into a question about responsibility, both individually and communally. I think that’s at least in part, a big, big chunk of this title. It’s not the year it’s you. And rather than a question, it’s a bit accusatory, it should take you about like, what did I do? And that’s the great question, what did you do? And as you say, Who is the you? And to and to what degree do I interact with. With you know, that that label that title, that understanding of you.
Blake Argotsinger: And I love that?It’s continuing to make me think this is, again, it’s my pleasure to get to have these conversations, because it’s so much of, you know, a process of you know, what’s going on?
Jason Graham: Yeah, well, and then also to, of course, the, you know, during the breakup, it’s not me, it’s you, right, you know, it’s not you, it’s me, you know, so this is, you know, playing into the intimacy of a long standing relationship as it as it changes as well. So it should touch on the philosophical or the political or the weather should definitely also touching.
Blake Argotsinger: I think just leads me into my next question of,you know, I’ve I’ve listened to the album, I’m thinking about it, I’m gonna be primed and ready to come to your show. And, and think and feel, and you don’t get to experience a live live show. But what would you kind of kind of two things? I mean, one, you touch on a lot of areas and issues on the album, you know, survival, housing, pay, race identity. And if you could have the undivided attention of, of your listeners, you know, the attendees coming in, you know, what would you want them to, you know, come primed with? Or you know, what, or who should listen, I’ll say that, who should listen, if you had their undivided attention.
Jason Graham: I was talking to my cousin A while ago, and I said, I wrote this piece that was for everybody. And it didn’t go over the way I wanted to. And she was like, well, because you’re writing for everybody, you’re gonna piss everybody off. So this, it really is, though, created in such a way that anybody should be able to enter from wherever they are at. And that’s sort of the beauty of what art gives us in general. But in preparation for this show, it should be taken, yeah, okay, we’re going to do this, you know, hip hop performance in three acts. And it’s going to be a multimedia presentation. And so there’s going to be visual components, gonna be music components, there’s going to be words, sung and spun and wrapped and spoken, and all those kinds of things. So those are some of the logistical components. But what we’re wanting folks to do is we’re wanting them to consider their value in entering the conversation. And the topics that we’re bringing up. And the subjects that we’re bringing up in the album, as much as they may be assertions are ultimately questions. Because as much as we may know, for certain right now, this is the way that the world is and then did you hear about this guy, Copernicus, whatever things are always changing and evolving. And we want to be beholden to that, like we want to be responsible for remaining flexible in our work, so that it can pertain to a lot of different times and allow different people and where it doesn’t, that the value of another voice that let’s say is in contradiction to or is in opposition to what we’re saying isn’t immediately dismissed, that there’s an invitation to invite the critique through curiosity about what it is that we’re saying. We sort of refuse to simply be siloed in our own beliefs, if it really is about better understanding who we are, and what we think and how we’re going to move individually together. So how we’re approaching it is, we’re going to say all this stuff. And we’re going to bring a variety of mediums to do that. So that if you don’t, if English is not, you know, the colonial tongue of English is not how you best want to communicate, maybe it’s visual, maybe it’s musical, we’re offering it in a lot of different ways, so that we can get it across. But where it is true for you, great, communicate that with us. But where it doesn’t, where runs aground on the shallows of our own ignorance, or it gets too deep, you know, and it touches on something that it’s like, a root pain for us, or, or if we simply get frustrated, confused, whatever the case, all those things are of value. Because ultimately, we’re saying, How can we improve upon this? How can we do this better? How can we get to a place where we’re no longer blaming the year, but we are individually, and of course, community, I’m just gonna keep saying that over and over, looking at how we’re going to work on this together, because I don’t think there’s anything that we cannot accomplish. When we get together it. The power of our imagination, the synergistic qualities of our imagination, once we get away from this is who I am based on this particular label. And we lean into the fluidity of what it means to be. There’s a lot of exciting things that we can accomplish. Right now. I feel like there’s a lot of modes that we’ve just been doing, because that’s just what you do. And we don’t necessarily think about is it the best way to do it? So we’re trying to be provocative, but in a way that invites we are all about radical inclusivity I’m trying to do sound bites. Alright, this is and this is one more thing, why we got to do a show because man, do I just diatribe love the sound of my own voice? Well, so we got it. Like, you know, we got it, let’s package this thing into something nice and tidy. Because otherwise I’ll just be up on stage talking for half an hour. You know, shoot. So anyway.
Blake Argotsinger: Yeah, communal community, radical inclusivity. You think that’s exactly what we need right now? I mean, absolutely. I’ve been just listening to you talk. I’m reflecting and feeling and, you know, the last last two years, everything that’s happening in the world right now. Yeah, getting face to face with someone getting people in a room. And just, we recently talking about resonance, you know, how you’re you have all of the hearts in the room, they start to resonate together, they start to beat together. So when you’re experiencing this, this live performance together, and man, I’m just getting goosebumps thinking about it. But I look forward to that at your show, March 19. And, you know, I hope people leave feeling and thinking and that was my next question, you know, what will they leave feeling but I think you’ve touched on it. But is there anything else you want to want to share if what you hope audiences will leave your show feeling.
Jason Graham: I hope audiences will leave feeling that their opinion is of a priceless value. And whether or not we believe it is immediately in chord… in a chord with the other thattheir life experiences and and how they see things are an essential part of the whole, we are very focused on the things that are important to us. When we get focused on things, we naturally create blind spots. So we need each other’s viewpoints, to see the full 360 To see all the dimensions and the various aspects of how to best care for each other. So a grand theme, there are some grand themes, radical inclusivity being one of them, but also care as a revolutionary act, and the deep gift and of the responsibility of our generosity towards each other. When you just put it on a bumper sticker, maybe it doesn’t hold the value. But as you start to live this stuff, things become in not a contrived way, not in a flimsy way, but they become quite magical. And that’s really exciting at a time when we need to be able to dream as big as possible to make our way through. And these various stages that we are cocooned and mopped and chrysalis and butterflied in it’s a really beautiful time. So hopefully the audience feels that it’s a participatory event that there aren’t just simply there for entertainment. They’re there for engagement. So yeah
Blake Argotsinger: Well, I know, folks will be coming to our website and checking out the event page. And you know, they still might have questions, what does this experience look like? You know, am I gonna hear the album just, you know, spoken through a microphone, or what is it? And I know that it’s much more than that. And I would love to hear from you to share, what are people going to be experiencing when they come in the room?
Jason Graham: Great, yeah, that we are going to be performing the tracks that are from the recent release, entitled, it’s not the year it’s you, there’s going to be a visual component. So we’re using in this case, we’re using projections, we’re also going to be using LED boards that other performances, the live visual component is through Unlocked Films. And they’ve just been a great partner, and friend and guide throughout these multimedia projects, and video projects. There’s also the musical component, which is all the live instrumentation that will be performed, will be by Colton Tyler Williams, who is also the guy who composed all the music that is on the album. And then I’ll be the firm on Jason McNeil Graham is the front man saying all the words. And so that’s the the triad and the trifecta that’ll be up on stage. And to be able to bring the album really to a live place and bring it to life is going to be really fun, it’s going to be a much more interactive experience than listening to the album, which has its own value. But this is really a way to interact with a lot of different senses and languages. And then this was all made possible because of recently being welcomed into the Fields Fellowship. This is I’m part of the second cohort. And that was brought about through Oregon humanities and Oregon Community Foundation. So those are huge supporters of this project that we’ve brought together. So that’s the that’s how you get the show.
Blake Argotsinger: Hey man, art and action. I love it. We’re Yes. We’re bringing the community together, we’re gonna turn up, we’re gonna get our hearts beaten in one. And yeah, we’re gonna be leaving, thinking, feeling all of that stuff…
Jason Graham: And hopefully recharged, not simply berated and drained. With that that’s the last thing we want to do. We want folks to really feel like oh, in fact, I matter. I may not. It may not be about me being special, but I’m essential, and that there’s something that I have contained within me that is absolutely necessary for the community that I’m in. That’s a big deal, man. That’s no joke. That means everybody’s got a place that’s radical inclusivity. That’s really important right now. That’s really important right now. So…
Blake Argotsinger: Well, thank you so much. I can’t wait for the show on March 19. And again, thank you for taking the time to talk with me today.
Jason Graham: Yeah, B appreciate it. Thank you.
