Nationwide-conversation-sparking tragedies
regularly dominate news coverage, and artists like
Jackie Hill Perry feel a burden to contribute to those
conversations with their art.
โNina Simone said, โHow can you be an artist and
not reflect the times?โโ Jackie Hill Perry told Rapzilla in an interview at Legacy Conference 2016. โOn my album which was two years ago, my song โThe
Solutionโ, I wrote that after Jordan Davis was killed
after having his music up too loud.
The guy
thought thought that it was justifiable for him to
shoot the gun into the car. And so even then, I was
writing about these issues because itโs like, if thatโs whatโs on my heart, thatโs whatโs going to come
out.
โI feel like, as an artist, Iโm equally an artist and an
influencer, and so itโs like, how can I create songs
or poems or blogs that will influence peopleโs
thinking to right thinking โ not away from Christ, but how do we see the scriptures, how do we think
through this stuff and how do we apply it to our
lives and our hearts where it affects how we love
people and how we love God? And so I canโt help
but talk about it.
โIf you just want me to talk about justification and not talk about loving your neighbor who may or
may not be a believer, then Iโm not the artist for
you.โ
Hill Perry referenced a spoken-word poem that she
performed at Legacy, โ7 Things I Want to Say to Americaโ, as an example of her art reflecting the times.
โI just had a lot of issues that I wanted to get out,โ
she said, โand so I wanted to talk about why are
black neighborhoods food deserts? Why are there
no grocery stores, but why are there liquor stores
and Popeyes Chicken? If we donโt die by the bullet, we might die by high blood pressure. I think thatโs
a problem.
โI also talked about my increased fear of the police.
I donโt trust them cats. Itโs hard for me to believe
that when you pull me over, Iโma leave alive when
Iโve consistently seen that not happen.โ In the interview, Hill Perry also talked about her
husband, Preston, being racially profiled, her job at
GRIP Outreach For Youth and the Poets in Autumn Tour.