Jackson Carrera and his lucid dreams
DC artist and fashion designer on a quest to brand his vision
Interviewed by CanePiece
Photos: Fer De Lance
When I first heard Jackson I was impressed with his view of things. His poetry is not your typical African American male voice. His work teeters on the edge of abstraction. There is brilliance. He also understands mystery. Without further ado I present Jackson.
MH: I am at Spit Dat with....
JC: [SHOUTING] Jackson Carrera.
MH: Is that your real name? You don't have to tell us if you don't want to.
JC: Nah, that's not my real name man. I don't want to tell my real name but I want to tell the story about how I got my name.
MH: Go ahead.
JC: The Jackson part was just an identity part. Just me playing with identities. The Carrera part is a sentimental part. [PAUSE] Soooo my father's Puerto Rican. I just started to touch that issue through poetry. Whereas I would block it out for a long time. Now I acknowledge my heritage, my full heritage. Poetry has taught me to be myself if anything. The Carrera part is about bringing in an identity that I didn't know. Or kinda did know but wasn't sure about.
MH: So Carrera is not your last name.
JC: No. It is not my last name, but it is.
MH: You have a unique style. People in this poetry game kinda copy people sometimes. Is this style unique or is there someone you look up to who you are emulating?
JC: I'm not emulating anyone. When I started writing poetry four years ago, I didn't know what poetry sounded like. I wrote a poem for someone that I didn't know. They just told me to write a poem for them and I just did it. I know my own voice. I was always just inside my own head. It was important for me to know my own voice. Even when I heard other people, and I kinda agree with you, sound like other people I did not want to adulterate my sound. I would listen to people and appreciate what they had but do my own thing. Write my own way.
MH: That's cool. What artists are your influences? This can be in any field not just poetry.
JC: In poetry, 13th and Nazareth, definitely an influence for me, whether he knows me or not. I've met him a couple of times.
MH: He's dope.
JC: He's influenced me a lot, a lot, a lot. Rap artists like Wale. The rap artists that used to prophet rap like Scarface, Styles P. People like Malice. The people who rap about stuff but have a poetic anecdote. Those people inspire me but really I am out here on my own.
MH: You're from where?
JC: Washington DC. Born in South East, DC in Providence hospital. I have lived all around the DMV. Right now I live in Virginia.
MH: Among your friends are they poets or artists, or are you the artist among your friends?
JC: My circle of friends are what artists would call regulars. They are all people who don't dabble in art at all. To them I am like the bum on the corner who might be telling you the best sh$t ever but no one would listen to because he's a bum on the corner. Among my friends I am the one who tries to save the world. I think about things different and they kinda understand it 'cause they know who I am but they don't understand what I'm talking 'bout. I come to places like Spit Dat to reach out to my family and friends.
MH: Gotcha. Let's get abstract. Finish this sentence please. Beauty is...
JC: Beauty is chasing a rabbit down the hole [PAUSE] but there never really was a hole.
MH: That's deep. You wanna expand? [LAUGH] I've heard a lot of answers to that, that was a good one.
JC: No I'm good.
MH: Cool. So with your art what are your goals?
JC: I kinda want to brand myself. I come from an urban culture. I dabble in things like nightclubs and fashion. I want to popularize a brand of myself. I want to be the best person who was ever themself. Being in a place like this I can feel ostracized because I am not as artsy as some people. Among my friends I might not be as misogynistic as them. So sometimes I feel alone because I do not fit into a category and then I think, but I'm me though. With my art I want to brand myself. Be a person who can dress a certain way, who can do poems, who can make clothes, who can just be known for being himself. I do have goals in poetry I want to take myself to a national level. I have a clothing line coming out. I'm directing some videos for different things.
MH: So you are a self taught director? Are you just going with your artistic way or you studied this?
JC: Yes, I get these crazy artistic visions and I don't get much sleep at night I lucid dream. I'm at a point where I am in my head all the time. When I think back on it now ever since I was a kid I could see whatever I wanted. Whatever I wanted to make I could envision it and act it out. When it came to art it was always my calling because I could just do what I wanted to do.
MH: So you actually make clothes?
JC: Yes dog.
MH: You know how to sew pants?
JC: I know how to sew pants. I'ma show you some jeans I am working on right now. I have a clothing line called "Hemmed", where I have a crazy mission statement.
MH: That's impressive. I take that seriously. In college I remember this fine girl telling me about this guy she knew who made his own pants. She was so impressed by the guy. I remember thinking that I wanted to impress people in that way. Before I die I want to make my own pair of pants.
JC: [LAUGH] Yeah.
MH: Just as a self sufficient individual I think it is cool. I mean Gandhi was talking about how we have to make our own clothes. He did it to thwart the system.
JC: Right.
MH: I mean building a house is hard but can be done. Something like making your own clothes is something we all should be able to do. Imagine how unique and wild it would look...
JC: Right. How much more individualized we would be.
MH: Yeah. So you just taught yourself no textile school?
JC: No textile school nothing like that. I learned how to sew from somebody who taught me how to sew. The rest of the stuff I could vision. I always considered myself a taste-maker. I could dictate fashion. Or things from that nature. It was mainly for myself. Not like how JayZ said you can't wear jerseys no more. I felt like I could beat them or be ahead of the trend. So I started making my own stuff.
MH: So what are the pros and cons with the scene you are in right now regarding your art?
JC: This DC scene right now, we might have the best thriving scene right now. The proof is in the pudding. For poetry we won the national title for both youth and adult. A lot of these people are my peers and I see the competition out here. We are becoming the Mecca of poetry right now. As far as main stream art we have been hindered by go-go so long that we did not establish an identity when it was time to. Now it's like we are the new kids on the block. Copying the first person we see. In poetry my peers are some of the best people I have ever seen perform. I am trying to seek a place in there where I can fit in.
MH: I can attest to that. I have been doing a lot of travelling parts North to Atlanta doing interviews talking to people. It shocked me taking people from DC, Baltimore and Philly to New York and we were the best act in the room. Going to the Nuyorican used to be a big deal. However....
JC: Yeah.
MH: Baltimore and DC is tight.
JC: Yeah.
MH: A few more questions.
JC: Ask as many as you like man. [LAUGH]
MH: Cool. Summarize 2014?
JC: 2014 was an apocalypse for me. In nature it sounds like a derogatory word but it's not. It's the revealing of a new age. Things were going good with poetry, it was stagnant it was moving at different times. Towards the end of the year I got into a catastrophe which flashed 2014 in front of my face. It was riddled with too much potential. And potential used to be a good word. Now if I told you you had potential I want you to take it kinda derogatory because it just means you haven't done anything yet. I don't want anyone to have potential anymore. I look back on my life and I appreciate it more.
MH: Anything you want to advocate for? Black lives matter is almost cliche now.
JC: Yeah yeah yeah man!
MH: [LAUGH]
JC: So here's my take on it. I definitely advocate on everything that's going on. I am against the cases and what the police are doing but I'm not out there doing stuff like laying my life on the line. That's the only thing that matters. It only matters what I'm doing not what I'm sayin'. I can write all the poems I want but if I'm at work or in a house watching tv then I'm not doing sh%t. I'm not doing anything. I advocate for the empowerment of everyone. I've been studying. I've been going to the Smithsonian to learn about where we come from. I listened to this seminar about how not having black skin is a mutation. We're all at least 40th of cousins.
MH: Hmph.
JC: Yeah man. It's nothing different but shades. To see this stuff still all go down about color.
MH: In 2015!
JC: In 2015 it's unbelievable that this is still going on about that. Scientists prove that everybody comes from Africa.
MH: Alright brother you've said a lot. I have one last question for you. Would you shoot the sheriff or would you shoot the deputy?
JC: I would shoot the sheriff. [SMILING] I would shoot the sheriff. [LAUGHING] Sometimes when you shoot the sheriff like it's like in Power Rangers they're fighting the Puttys and then the Zorg comes out and they fight the big thing. Once they take down the Zorg the Puttys are like they don't know what to do anymore. They don't have the direction or the person to follow who gives out orders. So I would definitely shoot the sheriff. [SMILE]
MH: [LAUGH] Thank you very much. Jackson Carrera everybody. Peace.
JC: Thanks.
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