Andrew.

The Treks and Travels of Andrew Callaghan.. Journalist, Photographer, and Artist. 

[andrewofseattle-blog]

The Trump Train Rages Ahead

Two weeks ago, three Tulane University freshmen boarded an orange-haired express for the ride of their lives.

Their destination was Lakefront Airport, a small commercial airfield in New Orleans East. The freshmen had seldom traveled north of Claiborne Avenue or east of Napoleon Avenue. Out east, in impoverished black suburbia, there was no St. Charles Avenue streetcar chugging along through the neutral ground. Their Tulane ‘Splash Cards’ weren’t valid currency at neighborhood liquor stores or pawnshops. Dilapidated, one-story project houses took the place of Victorian mansions and Creole cottages. Old sneakers dangling from loose telephone wires replaced weeping oak trees and mardi gras beads. Lakefront Airport is a concrete oasis in a sea of shattering poverty.

From the deep east, Tulane was nowhere in sight.

The young students were Hannah Aufdembrink, Devita Friedman-Shaw, and Lauren Crennan. They traveled to this airport to see Republican frontrunner Donald Trump. Trump was hosting one of his infamous campaign rallies, just a day before the Louisiana Republican primary election, which Trump later won.

The three students felt, and still feel, totally marginalized by Tulane’s alleged ‘Democratic majority,’ or unbalanced political climate. Now un-restrained by Tulane’s “political correctness,” as Crennan put it, they were free to board the ‘Trump train’ without harassment.

“Most of the time, I don’t say anything, because I don’t feel like getting weird looks. I feel like I can’t express my opinions,” Crennan said.

Trump’s custom-decaled private plane roared over Lake Ponchartrain, smoothly coasting onto the airport’s runway. The humid-stale air in the airport’s hangar reeked of violent racial tension. Soon, ‘The Donald’ emerged onto the hangar, where thousands awaited his presence. Trump’s fluorescently bleached teeth radiated from his apricot-colored face.

“Who dat say they gon’ beat Trump?” the crowd said in unison. This boisterous chant of Cajun jubilance brought a smile to Trump’s small mouth as he waved his sausage-shaped fingers through the air.

Trump stepped up to his elevated podium to begin barking. Trump boasted about his inevitable presidential victory. For most of the rally, Trump talked trash. He either insulted “little” Marco Rubio, “lying” Ted Cruz, “communist” Bernie Sanders, or “weak” Hillary Clinton. The Tulane students were engulfed in a sea of sweaty white faces attached to red t-shirts. Trump’s supporters clearly have similar fashion sensibilities. Much of Trumps supporters’ apparel depicted the Confederate flag, Louisiana State University logo, or “Make America Great Again” slogan.

Lauren Crennan, though not an avid supporter of ‘The Donald,’ fell victim to Trump’s irresistible “star power.”

“Trump is an enigma. I wanted to see what was going on. I identify as a Republican, but I would vote for Rubio. Mostly because I went through the issues one-by-one, and Rubio is the person I most agree with, on issues like Cuba, and drugs,” Crennan said.

Ironically, ‘New Orleans East,’ the site of this rally, is a geographically isolated, impoverished, visually underwhelming minority neighborhood. Just fifteen years ago, this area was totally desolate. Due to post-Katrina rising property values and the 2008 demolition of low-income housing projects in central New Orleans neighborhoods, a huge portion of New Orleans’ low-income Black community has been pushed into this impoverished, fringe neighborhood.

According to the 2010 U.S. Census, New Orleans East is 94% black, while the Tulane University neighborhood, located in western New Orleans, is 92% white. The average yearly household income for 25-year-olds in New Orleans East is $22,000 - more than twice below the national average.

Trump fervently opposes the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement. Many of his ‘rallies’ have resulted in violent scuffles between disagreeing attendees. Trump is also against raising the minimum wage, which, by the way, is $6.50 in Louisiana. He believes that any ‘ambitious’ worker,’ regardless of salary, education, or race, can ‘pick themselves up by the bootstraps,’ and escape poverty. Trump’s positions have rendered him a popular enemy of the working class African-American community.

Local protesters representing the Black Lives Movement simply didn’t allow the ‘Trump train’ to roll on in peace. Outside the airport hangar entrance, dozens of young, predominantly black liberals gathered, chanting, “f**k Trump,” or ‘feel the Bern.”

Soon, New Orleans police erected a wall of chain-link mental in front of the airport hangar entrance, where Trump was speaking. Trump finally built his ‘wall,’ but Mexico didn’t pay for it.

American flag clad fraternity brothers sporting their ‘letters’ sneered at protestors, taunting them from the other side of the chain-link wall, something like minute-men on the border. On the ‘Trump’ side of the fence, there the three Tulane freshmen were - glued to their smartphones, snickering, filming the hullabaloo in silence.

Soon, Black Lives Matter protesters made their way into the hangar. They held up signs

“This is how I’m spending my Friday night? Get them!” Trump yelled, as police officers dragged protesters out of the hangar, then forced them off the premises.

The next day, Trump won the primary.

The Trump train rages ahead.

[andrewofseattle-blog]

Andrew Interviews A$AP FERG

I recently got the opportunity to sit down and chop it up with world-famous rapper, fashion icon, and self-proclaimed Harlem ‘hood pope,’ A$AP Ferg. Following his performance at Buku Festival in New Orleans, Ferg stopped by Loyola University to engage in an open forum with Loyola students. The forum was hosted by Loyola faculty member and distinguished New Orleans hip-hop producer Lovell “U-P” Cooper.

A mid-sized crowd of students gathered in a relatively small auditorium to hear Ferg speak. Many in attendance, including myself, were horrendously tired from attending Ferg’s Buku Festival performance. My ears were still ringing, and I cold taste the stale flavor of last night’s drinks in the roof of my mouth.  During Ferg’s Buku performance, fans violently ‘moshed,’ and Ferg, like a true ‘trap lord,’ maintained a larger-than-life stage presence. However, at the forum, Ferg brought an unexpectedly humble, intimate energy - students asked questions freely, joked and laughed with Ferg. Ferg warmly greeted his audience with a smile, swaggering onto the auditorium stage sporting a ‘Biggie Smalls’ t shirt, an army-green colored Bape sweatshirt, a shiny gold ‘jesus piece’ necklace, and pristinely polished Air Jordan sneakers. Among other things, Ferg spoke about his admiration for Salvador Dali, his years being broke sleeping in motel rooms on a ‘ramen noodle diet,’ and promoted his new single with Future, ‘New Level.’

“My upcoming sophomore album is the best thing I’ve ever made,” Ferg told Loyola students. 

After the forum ended, my co-worker Chastity Pugh and I sat down with Ferg backstage and asked him a few questions. See below.

Trek: How you doing, Ferg?

Ferg: Cool, man I love New Orleans.

T: You had some really positive energy out there man.

Ferg: I appreciate it man.

T: So I have to ask you, have you ever made a mistake in the professional world that held you back, whether it was messing up an interview, or something like that?

Ferg: Yeah.. I did. I know exactly what you are talking about right now. I was walking into this Deisel interview. Diesel, the clothing store. I wanted the job SO bad, I was really trying to make an impression, but I was like, going overboard a bit. I was just ‘too cool’ talking to him, and kind of forgot that he was the guy that was supposed to hire me. So this guy was like, “oh yeah, so-and-so, I like this restaurant over there!”. So then I came back to invite him to a party I was going to. I was doing too much, but It was a learning experience. I kicked myself in the ass for the whole week after that.

T: Have you ever made a really regrettable purchase, maybe when you first got money?

Ferg: I don’t really make any crazy purchases like that. I mean, I always buy clothes and I’m like, I don’t know why I bought this. I take it back to my crib, put it in my closet, and I end up never wearing it. So probably something like that, but nothing major.

T: You talked about how you get your energy from other mediums besides music, like films and reading. What books have influenced you a lot?

Ferg: 48 Laws of Power, 7 Laws of Success, Rich Dad Poor Dad. I watch a lot of documentaries as well, like about great people - Ghandi, Napoleon as well, like a lot of rulers.

T: You talked about how you were a product of old school New York music. You talked about Wu-Tang, and how you grew up off of all that. What were your top 3 albums growing up?

Ferg: Best albums? Ready to Die by Notorious B.I.G. 411 by Mary J Blige, and N.E.R.D by N.E.R.D

T: Can you say something about the neighborhood where you grew up and how it influenced you?

Ferg: The neighborhood were I grew up was tough at times, but it was also beautiful. That was installed in me. So now, I know how to be tough, but at the same time, I know how to be positive and cool toward people - and yeah, that’s what the streets gave me, tough skin, really. I got love for [Harlem].

T: You work with Lil Uzi Vert and a lot of ‘underground’ artists who are making their come-up right now. How do you choose which artists to work with in the mostly Soundcloud-focused underground rap scene?

Ferg: I just gotta like their music. If I like a song, I don’t even listen to all of their music. I just listen to the one song. That song specifically, ‘What Do You Want,’ that I did with Lil Uzi - DJ Carnage sent that to me. So that wasn’t even my song, that was Carnage’s song. Carnage was like, this kid Uzi, he’s dope. Then I heard his song, and i was like, let’s do this. It’s reputable people who recommend [new artists] to me. So like, if Carnage was messing with him, I could mess with him.

T: Where are your favorite cities to kick it?

Ferg: I like Shibuya in Japan, I like Osaka. I love New Orleans. I love New York. I LIKE Los Angeles. I like Hawaii. Australia. New Zealand. Yeah. London is coo. Yeah. But really, my favorite, favorite place in the world - Jamaica.

T: What do you do when you’re down here.

Ferg: Eat. Did I answer that fast enough. *Laughs, gestures to forum host U-P* - You gotta tell me some spots man!.

Chastity: Your rise to fame - you started with clothing an fashion first, right?

Ferg: I was more productive with clothing and fashion first because I think I was more productive with the clothing because I was actually producing things and selling them, making money. As far as the music, I was actually writing raps and battling before I was making clothes and selling them.

C: When did you know that this was your career choice .. when the money started coming in?

Ferg: the money didn’t start flowing in until later later. I been on tours just to support myself for like two years. I had to sell merch just to eat better. I was just on tour with Drake and Kendrick Lamar, But [back when] I was eating noodles for real. Ramen noodle diet - that happened for about two years. Then I said, imma get my money up and start eating this filet mignon.

C: What about your current accomplishments, you have your album, 'Always Strive and Prosper' coming out. What is your definition of striving and prospering?

Ferg: My definition of striving and prospering is actually climbing the ladder to a designated place, a goal, that you have in mind. It don’t gotta be exactly clear where the place is, but it’s like a feeling that you want to reach. You finally prosper when you reach that place

C: For your future musical goals, anybody you thinking about working with?

Ferg: I wanna work with Stevie Wonder, I wanna work with Nile Rogers, I wanna work with Quincy Jones. I really just wanna work with Quincy Jones in production, I want him to tell me all the stories about Michael Jackson.

C: Whats one of the hardest struggles you face in the industry?

Ferg: Being marginalized, and being boxed. I been working my whole career not to be boxed in. Thats why my demographic spans, like SO wide. Because I’m not afraid to sit with these people, and come back home and mess with these other people. When I say ‘these people’ Im talking about like the Jack U’s, Skrillex, and Diplo, and Madonna. Come back, then mess with Young Thug. Thats the way of the world now, everyone listens to all types of music now. Thats how it was when I was in art school, just sitting at a table with different people, just to make great art. Thats how I look at the world.

C: So how would you describe your style?

Ferg: Unorthodox. Similar to ODB. Where you don’t know what to expect from him. It’s probably a little more concentrated though, as far as lyrics, and me sitting there and writing. I think ODB had like a lot of raw soul that he put into his music. He may have not even wrote anything. You know what Im saying, he just spilled that rawness out. SO i got a bit of that, meets like, you know, great, like, writing and things like that. The production.

C: What are some lessons you’ve learned over the past few years?

Ferg: I’ve learned to study anything you want to get into. Thats the biggest lesson I’ve learned - and always to remain humble because I’ve seen literally - well, you’ve heard the term, he might be a janitor this week and then running your company next week - I’ve literally seen situations like that. You have to treat everybody equals.

C: Who are your biggest role models?

Ferg: One of my biggest role models is Michael Jackson. I love Pharell, he’s like my big brother. Puffy, he showed the world that you can be an entrepreneur in different areas, and be successful. I think he probably made way more money off of clothing than music. Jay-Z. Akon is really killing the game right now. I like guys on the entrepreneurial side, who like to venture off and have their hands in everything.

C: Give me your ‘top five.’

Ferg: Top 5 dead or alive rappers - Biggie Smalls, Tupac, Jay-Z, Eminem, and Lauryn Hill.