Creativity, by Tommy Raps
Creativity to me is the ability to take whatever resource you've been presented with and make something that affects your internal AND surrounding world. To a certain level, it's alchemy - taking common things, like the human voice, or a pencil, or a plot of soil - and elevating that voice to impact the masses, sketching that blueprint that changes the infrastructure, or building that foundation that sustains the future.
Two key motivators that I often recall from my personal creative experience that keep me focused:
- "Engagement of the five senses turns an experience into a memory" - Lenworth McIntosh
Don't get bored.
Currently, there are two projects that I look forward to sharing with the world soon: I'll be going on my first European tour with Grammy winning artist Kimbra in January, and I'm writing my first feature length film. Creativity is transmutable!
One creative challenge I've had to face in recent months: I decided to change my artist moniker about a month ago, and I was terrified of how it would affect my career. I didn't even know if I could carry over my fanbase and online following once I changed my name on social networks. I was worried about how it would affect my day one fans, how it would affect my art style, and what it would do for my future. The advice was given to me by someone I deeply admire, and was actually beneficial towards giving me a new space to flourish in. I don't have it all figured out, but I don't mind the experience.
Some of my biggest creative inspirations include music maker Missy Elliott, manga artist Akira Toriyama, director Tarsim Singh, illustrator Lenworth McIntosh, inventor Nikolai Tesla, dancer Michelle Gibson, 3D artist Beeple, anyone in the service industry, and producer Nelson Bandela.
Advice I would give my 15 year old self:
- learn all about investing, and own 7 Bitcoin by 2013, you'll learn more soon!
- nothing is forever, so aim to remember your favorite people, things, and moments when you're down.
- you should finish those songs you think are terrible...
- pick up when your grandmother calls.
- don't get bored
Tommy Raps
Previously known as So-So Topic, Tommy Raps has been independently writing and producing music since 2011, while performing alongside today's innovators of creative culture, such as Flying Lotus, Snoop Dogg, Leon Bridges, Kendrick Lamar, Erykah Badu, and Thundercat. So-So has shared his story across a colourful spectrum of settings, ranging from TED Talks to Adult Swim Fest.
After receiving multiple music placements in Augustine Frizzells' 2018 Sundance hit "Never Goin Back" and landing music in Spike Lee's Netflix series "She's Gotta Have It", -topic is currently working along with his TeamFromNowhere co-writer/cohort Marquis "KoolQuise" Warren, producing a Dallas, TX based net series, titled 'Going Nowhere Fast!'.