Mm-hmm.

I do.

I think it's a wise decision.

I, I save properly.

I, I invest.

I, I really wanna switch out of this poverty mindset or the lacking mindset of, of some, you know, my family, break away from these things.

I'm not interested in doing that anymore.

Now, Jess, where you at this weekend?

Mm.

And it's kinda, like, mushy and, and something about it is a little satisfying.

Mm.

So you step in the mud a little bit more.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

My boots are muddy, but my spirit feels good.

Mm-hmm.

[laughs]

I thank everybody who came to my little poetry shows, you know, and spent their 14, $15 to support.

Miss Fran Danish, who never responds to any of my emails.

Fran Danish, I just...

Wherever you are, you taught me eighth-grade English, and I just wanna again say thank...

I thank you in my book, but you, you didn't respond.

Lady, thank you for giving me Nikki Giovanni.

I love you so much.

Mm-hmm.

I have a force field.

I put it on.

It goes f- under my feet, above my head anytime I think about it, or I just put my force field on and I walk through my life.

We're superheroes.

We can do really anything we want, anything we can imagine.

You just need the power to do it.

Mm-hmm

Mm-hmm.

I do.

I think it's a wise decision.

I, I save properly.

I, I invest.

I, I really wanna switch out of this poverty mindset or the lacking mindset of, of some, you know, my family, break away from these things.

I'm not interested in doing that anymore.

Mm-hmm.

[laughs]

They just have to go.

They can't stay.

They're taking up space.

A girlfriend of mine had asked me about what to do.

She said she wanted a man.

And I was like, "Hmm.

Mm-hmm

Mm-hmm.

I have a force field.

I put it on.

It goes from under my feet above my head.

Anytime I think about it, or I just put my force field on and I walk through my life.

We're superheroes.

We can do really anything we want, anything we can imagine.

Mm-hmm

[laughs]

They just have to go.

They can't stay.

They're taking up space.

A girlfriend of mine had asked me about what to do.

She said she wanted a man.

And I was like, "Hmm, maybe make some space for one." A physical manifestation of a, of a dream or an idea that you want, it becomes real.

Mm-hmm

Here's a single from the album called Pressure.

[singing] I wanted you to be mine in the daytime as well as the night.

But you needed to hide me, and that just don't sit right.

I wasn't the aesthetic.

I guess, I guess I get it.

So much pressure to appear just like them.

Pretty and cosmetic, elementary alphabetic.

I wanna play a little bit of it, and we'll talk a little bit more about it on the other side.

[laughs]

And from the school that I had come from before, you know, this was a revelation.

This was everything.

It s- it set me up for wanting more, right? So that little girl who reads the poem, and everybody stands up, and I'd never really done anything in public before, you know, um, got this, this, "Yes, we hear you.

We feel you.

We understand it.

We see it too." It let me know that I wasn't alone, that there are people, um, who dream for real.

Let's listen.

How did you make the transition from spoken word to sung melodies? Did you always know that you had that voice? Was that like your secret weapon?

It wasn't a secret.

It was just mine.

I felt comfortable sharing writing.

I didn't feel comfortable sharing my voice.

Not that I was uncomfortable with it.

I just, it was mine.

Right.

Mm-hmm.

I do.

I think it's a wise decision.

I, I save properly.

I, I invest.

I, I really wanna switch out of this poverty mindset or the lacking mindset of, of some, you know...

My family, break away from these things.

Mm.

Mm.

When mama ain't got squat.

But you take that toe when you ain't good for the people.

I ain't moved.

Where's the universities? Where's all the food for free? Mm.

People can't pay the bills, but you still riding around in a coupe DeVille.

In a coupe DeVille.

[laughs]

I think I've heard you say that, that it wasn't in that

way.

Not for me.

Yeah.

I don't think it was that way for Erica, but she is kind of like, you know, she's a thugger.

But that wasn't where I was coming from.

I didn't even know she was there.

Like, how do you identify? How do you

It went good from you for the first time.

Yeah.

It went great.

I was like, okay, I'll do this again.

This is fun.

This is fun.

I get to see people hang out.

The Vincent man?