The Real Reverend Doctor

What kind of project are you working on currently?

Thanks for having me!

I actually have a few different irons in the fire. I write essays with intersections of race, mental health, pop culture, and have been expanding the number of articles I’ll be writing and releasing this year. I also have plans to release singles regularly and I’m currently working on my next titled “Woman being”. I’m probably most excited for a series of video essays I’m putting together around gaming and gaming culture. My goal is to help gaming reach the popular consciousness even more so that it’s art on par with something like graphic design: games fulfill their function because they’re fun, but they can also help teach us things about ourselves and the world around us.

And this is still just maybe a quarter of what my ambitions are for the year.

How do you outrun yourself in every project you do?

What a wild and awesome question!

I feel like having a creative disposition automatically means you have way more ideas than are ever practical to execute or see through to completion. For me the way to outrun myself is to give myself a purpose for choosing which ideas see the light of day and which sit simmering on the stove, or maybe even get put away in a cupboard. That way I’m both motivated to finish a thing and have few, if any, regrets about things I do or don’t choose because I’ve tried to put something that tries to make the world just a bit better than before.

Which is more important, being inspired or staying inspired? 

En fuego with these questions! I think it’s up to the individual to decide whichever is harder. For me, retaining inspiration can be difficult because I can get distracted easily and love learning! So one week I’ll get wrapped up in learning everything I can about sundown towns, the next child labor issues, the next on food shortages, it really depends. So, it’s important to focus on whichever one you’re weaker at as a creative person that loves to see their projects take a life of their own in the lives of others.

How do you make sure your music is staying true to yourself? 

Ohh! Great question! I kind of interpret that as “what is authenticity?” I’m actually not great about trying to write experiences I haven’t lived or about subjects I just investigate through research. This makes all my works incredibly intimate. Sometimes I back away from the songs I’ve written and I ask myself “why am I telling people this?!?” I guess I believe in the power of good story and narrative to be relatable and motivate positive personal change, otherwise it’s hard for you to help move people to feel anything. If you can’t do it with a song, you need to rethink your purpose and goal with your art. I could be wrong, though!

Tell us a cause that is close to your heart? 

In LA? The aching scar of homelessness is unavoidable. I partner with an organization called “PATH” https://epath.org that is dedicated to fighting homelessness. Overall, keeping children and their families out of hunger and poverty. In Minneapolis, there was an organization I was close with called “Every Meal” that did and does powerful work in the cities keeping kids out of food insecurity.

What are you looking forward to personally this year? 

Engaging the people that have been on the front lines of protecting human rights and helping them find ways to heal and encourage them to rest in whatever way my hands, feet, and works of my hands can find. For the people that haven’t, speaking the same love and compassion that I hope one day they’ll speak to me.

Give us your favorite quote that you repeat to yourself constantly?

“To whom much is given, much is required”.

When I was younger I was capable of a lot of different things: I was tall, athletic, bookish, and outgoing. My mom made it her mission in life to make these words both a blessing and a silent curse over me. I think partially because her weirdo son looked like he might turn out to be a shiftless adult, but also because she envisioned great things for me. That’s what every parent should think of their kid: “You will do amazing things! Or you might be a horrible disappointment!” I might be the latter, but I try every day to do the former! I imagine what I am is both unexpected, yet a pleasant surprise. That’s how I see it, anyway.

Socials to connect and stay connected! 

https://www.instagram.com/_reverenddoctor/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7xIeLgp-4zs7_a7d0krYIQ?view_as=subscriber

https://reverenddoctormusic.com

For Press Inquiries: bsquaredmgmt@gmail.com