By Erin Shanahan and Alvin Halimwidjaya
Akua Naru and Dr. Naison met in 2009 and they have been “cool ever since.” Akua Naru, a notable international figure in conscious rap, has worked with Fordham’s own Dr. Naison, professor of history since she “blew his mind” with some freestyle in his office.
“For four straight minutes she came up with this overview of black woman’s history in rhyme… She has the whole package because she can make you move with her rhymes, but also these images, bringing in literature, history, in rhyme [and] on time… I had never heard anything like it.”
Following her debut in his office, Naru spent time at Fordham as an artist-in-residence for the Bronx African American History Project (BAAHP) in 2010. Post Fordham, her international career has flourished. Naru has traveled throughout Europe and Africa with a home base in Cologne, Germany. Naru took some time to sit down with Dr. Naison and The Fordham Ram and expand on her upbringing in music, discuss how her art has evolved and contemplate the evolution of modern day hip hop.
Naru expressed that art has always been a part of her. The outward expression of her art was cultivated through her exposure to diverse poets at a young age.
“I just was always writing rhymes from when I was a little girl, I liked to write and read poetry… And then I started writing my own at some point. I was always someone very interested in literature and reading, and reading at some point becomes writing.”
She attributes her aptitude for a verbal artistic style to her childhood experiences in a black congregational church.
“I grew up in a really heavy black church environment, so the whole tradition of holidays, getting up on stage and saying something, even if you can’t speak at three years old. If you just get up and say, ‘Jesus wept’ people will say, ‘That’s right baby, that’s all right, yes!’ There’s a culture of presenting something before people who are super happy about receiving it and celebrating whatever that is.”
Naru attributes a great deal of her personal growth to her time traveling abroad. She feels that this personal growth may be reflected in her current music. Particularly, Naru describes her internal transformation from an African American to a Pan African and the effect that has had on her art.
“In my first album I was traveling through Africa too, and there were more African influences, and my music has evolved from [writing] as a black American who is living abroad and traveling, I mean, now I’m doing like 100 shows a year. The more I live outside of the country the more I become to be from pro black to being Pan African. Now my music represents more of the African Diaspora in the continent. At least, that what I’ve noticed in my own personal music. I’m not sure if that comes out in my music. Because my music is about black women. Period. Where as before, I may have been talking about the African American experience, I think now, over time, I’ve leaned towards talking about being a black woman in the world. But it’s always been about being a black woman, so I guess it’s really all the same. “
Naru’s newest music video, My Mother’s Daughter, provides a rich narrative of black womanhood, agency, West African spirituality, lineage and sisterhood. The video was filmed in Lome, Togo, West Africa and directed by Hamburg based artist Joachim Zunke. Naru explained that the inspiration for this music video came from her reaction to Beyonce’s video, Lemonade.
“I wanted to do a video kind of like Lemonade-like. But there are things that I’ve found problematic with that video. I wanted to answer some questions that were not answered with that video. So we shot the video. But what I was asking for, like- I want some sexy guys with no shirt on horses… running through the streets of West Africa. I want to have a drone. I wanted to be underwater. And people were saying to me, and mainly white people, ‘come on, this is ridiculous. How are you going to find this in Africa?’ And then when the video came out I cracked my ass up. I just laughed and laughed and had a drink in my right hand, and I just laughed as the people were shocked. Because I had my horses. I have my drones. I was underwater.”
Naru’s music and lyrics are geared towards political and social “consciousness.” This differs from some mainstream rappers and the glorification of rich lifestyles, trap life and gang activities. While Naru takes issue with multiple forms of ignorance in music, she asserts the right for all people to express their art however they choose. She nods to the musical talents of her contemporary artists.
“I feel many things day to day. Some of those things might contradict themselves, minute to minute. I feel like, as an artist, people should be able, whoever you are, to create art. And I don’t believe that it should be censored. But of course, I have a problem with patriarchy. I have a problem with white supremacy. I have a problem with predatory capitalism. I have a problem with misogyny. I have a problem with these things. They affect my lived experience in this, so that’s not going to be cool with me under any circumstance no matter how dope the beat is… I mean [in] trap, I’m not gonna lie, the beats is hot. Sometimes the beats, they ridiculous. You just like what you like. I’m not mad… but that’s not my issue. My issue is with these system that oppress me on a daily basis when I’m trying to advocate what it means to be free. And although I am a keeper of the traditions of my people and my music is all about that, other artists are free to tell whatever story they want to tell.”
However, Naru rejects the idea that this claim of starting “from the bottom” is only valid for some artists. To Naru, it’s about bringing your personal perspective to the music.
“When you read Shakespeare, for example- he’s no longer with us. We could debate Hamlet, and we could sit and talk about it to this day and debate what was meant when he wrote this. But your relationship to a text even as the writer changes over time. So there’s songs that I wrote, like when I wrote ‘The World is Listening’ and somebody asks, ‘When you wrote that, what did you mean?’ All of this is speculation. It doesn’t belong to me anymore… That is to say that when you consider ‘Started from the Bottom’, there’s a writer, and then there’s the character who was the I in the text. He is free to be all of that… ‘the bottom’ is wherever he was. Let’s focus on what it means for us. It ain’t gotta be about what it means for him, and for people to question that authenticity, I think that’s not fair.”
