On April 12, 2018, at 7 pm, It Is Written 4 will be happening at Rogue Tavern. This event will take place one year and six days after the first-ever ‘It Is Written’. You might be wondering, “What is ‘It Is Written’?” The simple answer is, “It’s a public writing assignment.” Since this really isn’t about simple answers, I’ve included a more complex answer as well.
At all previous ‘It Is Written’ events, the audience made suggestions on note cards for the scribes (i.e. rappers, poets, songwriters, etc.) inspiration. The twelve ‘scribes’ went through the audiences’ suggestions and selected the cards they wanted to use to write their portion of a song. They were then given one hour plus a pen and a pad to accomplish this task. At the end of the hour, they all come out and perform what they have written for the audience. The audio of the entire first two shows can be found on Soundcloud or by following these links. (It Is Written 1 & It Is Written 2 audio links)
For the first ‘It Is Written’, instrumentals of popular songs were used but the second and third shows, we featured original music produced by talented people I know. Rynea Soul and Tavaras Cook participated in our first ‘It Is Written Beat Battle’. The audience decided which tracks the scribes would use via their phones. It Is Written 3 featured music produced by Vic Bell.
As the date for the one-year anniversary approached, I got a chance to enter the 2018 Sidewalk Film Scramble. For those of you not familiar with the Scramble, it’s a film competition that challenges filmmakers to create a 4-minute film in 48 hours. I missed the deadline by 45 minutes this year. I was a little disappointed at first but then, I realized I had made a four-minute film in 48 hours 45 minutes. This was actually the 4th Scramble for me. One year, I actually won the Scramble. They paired a filmmaking team with a musical artist and gave us 48 hours to create a music video. Here is a link to “Glue, Glitter, Glove” the winning music video that year.
The missed Sidewalk Scramble experience inspired the adding of a film component to the ‘It Is Written’ process. This time, instead of suggestions from the audience inspiring what the scribes will write, I will show a short film (approximately 12 minutes) to the scribes and the audience and it will inspire their verses. There will also be three music video directors given 48 hours to create a music video from the songs the scribes create. Those music videos will be available for viewing on April 14th (48 hours after ‘It Is Written 4’) at Revelator Coffee.
While planning for the one year anniversary of ‘It Is Written’ I had a conversation with DJ Rahdu. He began to explain how the practice of listening to and discussing music in real life with real people was an all but a forgotten experience. In an attempt to insert this feature back into the ethos, he started The Secret Sun-Ra Listening Society. Rahdu and I have been contributors to the creative art scene for several years. He was in my first ever music video and we actually did a song together once. It was called “I’m Ready” and you can listen to it here. Our anniversary show felt like a great opportunity to collaborate once more. The first hour of It Is Written 4 will be a Secret Sun-Ra Listening Society listening party. While the scribes are writing their verses, the audience will listen to and be discussing an album in the same place and the same time.
I also was inspired while working on the third ‘It Is Written’, to produce a short documentary about the music scene I discovered in Birmingham, Alabama. I noticed the club The High Note Lounge|Rocking Horse was being demolished. This is where I discovered the music scene. It was during the 1990’s. There were multiple events at that time like The Eargasm, The Last Sunday Showcase and an award show called “The Dirty Thirty Awards”. This was a time when you could go to a show, and everybody in the place was an artist and had music to share. At the time, we (the artists) sometimes took for granted how special this time was. Look for the short film We: The High Note in this year’s film festival if it’s accepted. I was even able to produce a collaboration tribute song during this time dedicated to the women of Alabama. Enjoy ‘Nough Said on Soun Cloud.
Also, the venue for It Is Written 4 happens to be the first venue that I performed with my band Dat2. This was a four piece hip-hop inspired collective made up of Fly Dave Johnson on drums, Mario Leonard on Bass and Brian “Squeeze” Hill on guitar. Here is a clip of that performance. We later recorded a rehearsal album LIVE from Malcolm’s Reading Room later that same year. One of the members of the film team at the SideWalk Scramble was a student at the University of Alabama and invited us down to shoot a music video for a class project. Here’s a link to the “I Don’t Got” Music Video.
I hope this little write up inspires you enough to purchase your ticket today to It Is Written 4 | Settling the Score.
