Expressing being Black is: it’s cool to dress a way, wear your hair a way, talk a way, have a certain aesthetic.
The world expects Black to be represented as an “Aesthetic Object” (AO). Instead, present BLACKness as an intellectual and creative SOURCE.
How do you present Blackness as a creative and intellectual source?
The world treats Black culture as something to experience, imitate, enjoy, and escape into, without having to take the people and realities behind that culture seriously.
Do you want people to take the people and realities seriously? Do you care?
I don’t care, as long as I can profit from it.
As long as I can sell an aesthetic and make money from it, it doesn’t matter to me. You can dress, talk, walk, and get all the cosmetic work, and you will still never be BLACK. The aesthetic isn’t what makes us Black. It’s an object used to represent BLACK. It’s not BLACK.
Our music is a reflection of our spirits and souls.
Our clothing is a reflection of our spirits and souls.
The hairstyles, makeup, body features, music, and cooking are all expressions of epigenetics that have been developed and passed down for thousands of years.
You can hold it from the outside, but it will never be within you. It’s in us, not on us. So if I can create something that allows you to experience Black intellect and creativity, and profit from it, while giving you a way to respectfully “hold” the culture, then I’ll take that.
Now, how do you do that?
The quote I have was: “Changing the expectation that Blackness must be represented as an aesthetic object, and instead presenting BLACKness as an intellectual and creative source.”
AO allows someone to put on a “uniform” to feel a part of this.
Instead of presenting a physical copy of Blackness on a platter as an “aesthetic,” present it (physical, because that’s how the profit is made). But it’s no longer you being seen aesthetically as BLACK. You are being seen intellectually and creatively as BLACK.
I’m taking the past, present, and future and packaging that for you to take part in.
You won’t look BLACK. You will look intellectually aware of BLACK in a creative way.
I-CS allows it
