THIS, THAT, and THE THIRD | 2024 End of Year Reflection By Lexi S. Brunson Editor-in-Chief of /CW
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Grab the scissors [or a sledgehammer], there is some undoing that needs to be done.
I love how obligated I feel to write these yearly reflections [even though, according to my records, 2023’s brooding does not exist, LOL]. Why spend so much energy sharing my untethered thoughts after having them bound into strategic literary bows for 364[ish] days straight? Huhhhhhhhhhhhh!?!?
It’s complexly simple. THIS is for the future.
Some people are living for today, and many are dreaming for tomorrow, but I just so happen to be cut from an obnoxiously irritating cloth that urges me to plant seeds for future growth [absolutely obnoxious]. It’s a tricky weaving of doing the work, while archiving the work, while creating an ecosystem of validating the work of others, so that there is a more equitable “echo” system of validation of the work, so that there is a historical narrative that documents the shift of that validation, that is archived in a society that values all active contributors, of diverse skillsets, to ensure the sustainability of our species.
THAT, run-on sentence is exactly what I have been doing throughout this year [& the vast majority of my adult life]. It’s that un-categorizable NAICS code of a business yall may have heard us reference as CopyWrite or /CW. It’s the reason why I had to send out two cease and desist this year [Yall have been busy boi boi, I hate to have to do it]. It's the reason I had to troubleshoot 1/3rd of a slated budget & make those ends carry 4 loads [Go ahead & math the math. It's public. You know I have the “receipts”]. It's why I don’t take many meetings before 11:30 am, and also why deadlines & bylines are not synonymous with deserving credit.
That’s why there is a need to do a little snipping here, a cut or 400 there, and maybe bust up some gargantuan underachieving, underproducing, underwhelming attempts at getting by, over yonder. There is always space for growth. But you have to continue to make room for that growth. The year 2024 has taught me that I have outgrown the orchard and these seeds are going to need a more sophisticated irrigation system.
That means collaboration can no longer look like charity [take that in slowly]. Those who serve must also be of service to themselves. The cloth that I am cut from must now be tethered to cloths of endurance, cloths of joy, cloths of nurturing, cloths of stardom, cloths of influence, and cloths of dark reality [even though society hates to broadcast that bond]. We must reinforce these seams, making sure that we survive [like we survived 2024] but also create a garden that thrives.
You should not have to lose your community to serve your community. You shouldn’t have to undercut our collective value in this “market”, and that should be overstood! You shouldn’t have to put your life on the line for your livelihood [& lawd knows I did it this year. That’s how I secured 1/3rd SMH].
So as 2025, rolls in, I’m going to be rolling up my sleeves and getting a little “Dirty” [See how I can never really shake that moniker fully *shrugs*].
The first seed has to go to the pulse, CopyWrite Magazine paved this mission for me. So the media company is going to get some overdue love [I know what value it holds].
/CW Creative Services will be featuring some quarterly opportunities that will allow me to share my skillset that brings me joy & value. [Specials on creative Resume & CV creation, show-stopping bios, and other forms of written posturing that will help all of our community members level up].
& THE THIRD thing that needs uprooting is the weed that /CW Creative Studios + Shop has become. “This is where we show that space is only defined by its cultural functionality [place] and programmatically assert that art is a reflection of our experiences [seen & unseen]” - from CULTURE: BETWEEN SPACE & PLACE. What I built with my hands is a testament to what I built with my soul…but it ain't gon be none of what we thought it would be.
So inclosing all 2025 is going to be prep for 2026, 2027, 2028, and beyond.
Watch me work.
Love & All Things Urban,
Lexi S. Brunson | “Whatever I need to be” & Editor-in-Chief of CopyWrite Magazine
Clyde's | SnapShot Press Release
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“Do I look hungry?”
The question was rhetorical but I took the bait, blurting out from the darkness of the theater. .
“Yes! You do!”
Hunger exists where there is a void, or need for something more. It is the lack of satiation that we feel [& fill], that urges us to find a means of sustenance. Without it, we are empty, weak, and coercively vulnerable.
Excuse my pepper-jack cheese of linguistics, but Clyde is a hungry B*tch.
Sunday’s [November, 9th, 2024] Milwaukee Chamber Theater’s performance of Clyde’s, showcased the unhinged reality of the people who serve our society. This form of service comes with being a scapegoat for the power structures we call capitalism that demands the use of bread, lettuce, or cheese [those are all words for money, depending on who you are asking] as the means to survive.
From behind the kitchen door of a truck stop sandwich shop, this staff of “rehabilitated” individuals, shows us through the erudition of Lynn Nottage, a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwriter, how hard it can be to do better when surrounded by misery, after being locked away from the world.
Clyde’s is a purgatory-like place, equipped with stainless steel food prep islands, a smokey flap-top grill, and a loud commercial-grade refrigerator [It was real! I could hear the motor kick on and off like we were really in the kitchen. Nice Touch!]. But here there will be no Michelin stars. Instead, it is where Montrellous (Bryant Bentley) carefully crafts aspirations of hopes, one slice of bread at a time. It is where Letitia (N’Jameh Camara) grapples with her value between every piece of cheese and where Jason (Nate Press), repents through sprigs of parsley. It is where Rafael (Justin Huen) grieves over the grease. It is where dreams go to be broken, and souls go when they are desperate to survive.
This kitchen is a symbolic prison and Clyde [Lachrisa Grandberry] is the overseer, warden, and the Devil herself wrapped in spandex and pleather! Her abuse [mental, emotional, and the bruised back of Rafael proves it to be physical] is a reflection of her self-loathing. As an ex-con, she believes that hiring what she frames as a societal outcast gives her the prerogative to treat her employees like they are less than human [which sadly they are used to]. But it is the way Grandberry postures her raunchy, classless, erotica torture that makes her character so cringe-worthy. To make the crowd love you is beautiful, but to make them despise you is a wicked deed that pulls from the worst parts of humanity, forcing us to wipe crumbs of blissful delusion off our faces. Lachrisa girl, YOU DID THAT!
I found myself rooting for the world's underdog as they spilled their hearts out sharing the stories of how they became incarcerated. Montrellous story offsets the scales of justice, as Bentley’s delivery demands you listen with your chest, and question how much you are willing to sacrifice for the greater good of others. Letitia, tormented my maternal instinct [first when she chopped that lettuce into oblivion], N’Jameh playing up her ability to evoke empathy with her climatic cadence [Stop trying to make me cry now. You already had me with ILLIAD, LOL]. Rafael’s desperate need to prove his love to others is a fatal flaw, and Huen seems to be a master of humility and sensitivity. But Jason. . should we forgive him? The Black woman in me tingled with the, “now you know how it feels” mantra, that is only triggered when “justice” falls on the door of the socially privileged. But Press, made me believe that the internal torture he felt was real.
Kudos to Director, Dimonte Henning, who did not skirt away from the “nasty” [metephorically and literally]. From the scandalous gestures of Clyde [I mean Rated R and Rated Hillarious] to the transitions of BTS kitchen life between scenes, it was a glimpse into the world we don’t often get to see.
It also made me crave a sandwich, something serious!
Clyde’s is for those who dare to eat havarti on a butter brioche, with heirloom tomatoes, a slather of cajun-style hot sauce, and a cucumber chutney [See I can make an epic sandwich recipe too. LOL], and dare to call it a “sammich”. In other words, it is the hole in the wall of art we should steep ourselves in because you never know what might send you to Hell, purgatory, and back again.
Let’s stop judging, and well. . .Do better.
Lexi S. Brunson | Editor-in-Chief /CW
You're Invited to the opening Exhibition of CULTURE: BETWEEN SPACE & PLACE By Lexi S. Brunson
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You're invited to experience a spatial art installation created by CopyWrite Magazine's Editor-in-Chief, Lexi S. Brunson. Also, get your copy of Issue 21 Back to Black at the exhibit [where the installation is featured].
Through my professional practices as a writer, researcher, media maker, interior designer, and creative, I have noted that between Space & Place, we find Culture [Big C]. Since Culture is nuanced, it creates an opportunity to reimagine what space is through the multiplicity of mediums, contextualized via identity, locality, and temporality.
I have taken this concept, through a casual practice of interpersonal interviews, observation, and pursuing/inhabiting spaces where cultural dialogue [spoken & unspoken] occurs. By creating a series of “vignettes” that exist [& will exist] in multiple mediums, I share cultural narratives that reflect the internal perspective of the BIPOC community. Not as a monolithic lens but as a note of existence we often assign with diminutive importance. The nostalgia-induced conversations that transpired during installation with staff, visitors, and other people popping by, validated that these places [even when repurposed as art] are truly threads of understanding in a web of misinterpretation WE do not subscribe to.
HYFIN Anti-Gala: Recap Video
/They have messed around & made our Editor-in-Chief, Lexi, the cover photo to the HYFIN Anti-Gala Recap Video! Did make the event? Catch this “Connecting The Culture” Vibes!
SnapShot Press Release | To Be Seen [Milwaukee Film Festival 2023]
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We love the Milwaukee Film Festival, not just because it's the one time of year we can do our job while sitting around eating popcorn [yes, we will mention popcorn every year because we trying to get a popcorn stipend too lol]. But because every year it gets better. More films we love, more screenings of things we are interested in, and more programming that makes us feel seen. Being seen is something that is undervalued. But we know that representation changes how the world engages with differences. It is how we find understanding in the unknown and clarity in a vision that is not our own. CopyWrite explored the Milwaukee Film Fest 2023 through the joy of being SEEN, and here is what we found.
BAD PRESS [Directors: Rebecca Landsberry-Baker & Joe Peeler]
We take our profession seriously!
Where it is in CopyWrite’s nature to bend the rules, redefine tradition, and grapple with the culture of “Media” we do so with care [& strategy], that is thoroughly directed by research, transparency, grappling with the woes of disenfranchisement, and engrained with the responsibility of Free Press. So when these ideologies were at risk of being dismantled in Directors Rebecca Landsberry-Baker and Joe Peeler, “Bad Press”, my soul jumped out of my chest and I felt that my own livelihood was on the line.
If you look up the saying, “If you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything”, a picture of Angel Ellis should be attached. Her controversial approach to defending Muscogee Nation against press censorship is GAWDS WORK, okay! To not only go against a political institution, but also the corruption that is unnerved by the historical rhetoric of Native American need for sovereignty, had everyone I saw in the film screening break into mass hysteria [or was it just me?].
With this feverish concept that the press is a unneeded, sh*t show of falsity in today’s society, running at an all time high, to note that my freedoms as a “media maker” are seldom called into question, had me in tears for Angel and her other “native” press counterparts. How dare anyone try to put their hyperbolic feet on the necks of truth [just because it's not always pretty]. How dare you use the tactics of your oppressors on your own people [my Choctaw, Blackfoot, and Cherrokee blood was boiling]. How can you not see that the historical lack of information to these people has left them all traumatized by genocide and the true ills of treason.
Lexi acting like she wasn’t just crying after the screening of bad press
Every time Angel's anxiety shot her into a frenzy that sent her running to the door to spark a cigarette, [I don’t smoke] but I felt the need to light one up with her. The attempt to get protection of the Free Press as an amendment to their nation's constitution was unprecedented in “Indian” Country but with Angel, and the true staff of Mvskoke Media, the fight was on. I think “Bad Press” should be a reminder to all that what is privileged in your reality is not inherent in all futures, cultures, and lands.
Just know at CopyWrite, if we have to fight for our rights, we absolutely will. They will never take our voice!
Lexi for /CW
BLACK LENS SHORTS: BLACK REMEMBRANCE
Somebody clap for this year's Black Lens Programmers, because THEY - DID- THAT!
You don’t even know how good it feels to be SEEN. Not that fake “lets hit this quota” monotony most institutions try to pass off as diversity & inclusion [Y’all are shamefully fake] but the real attempt to dig into culture as a reflection of its genius as nuanced as a day in the life of some, not all, and more, not less. The Black Lens shorts at Milwaukee Film Fest 2023, did that for me.
proof we were there!
Eye for an I [Director: James Grisom]: To be seen Vulnerable. This short is a music note of the burden of Blackness & the beauty that straddles that space. If you love hard it may mean death comes with vengeance. If you forgive easily, that puts you at risk. It is a trauma we did not create but a lexicon that gathers a dark cloud above our legacy. The rules of engagement simply mean we never win.
By Water [Director: Iyabo Kwayana]: To Create a sense of seeing. This short had me like, “What in the Black art school?”. And that tickled me. It tickled me because in my life that was the space I felt the most unseen. Where representation is not only willed by those inhabiting the space, it is disregarded by the work that they make. The characters seen in “By Water” of curly fro like beards and fluffy naturals on well groomed women are not common. Nor do they ever allow for the Black image to be whirled into the figurative where nature is as natural as the city and black memory is championed by Black creation of new or different worlds. I like that space of little clarity and big exploration.
Port of a Prince [Director: JR Aristide]: To never Unsee. This short is the moment when you finally can stomach that you too are desensitized. Desensitized by violence, corruption, and the ills of capitalism. You can't unsee the first death, and somehow every death of innocence, youth, friendship, family. . .it all just becomes a thing you live with. This is the untold truth of the African Diaspora, we have suffered so now we still suffer, at the hands of many and even our own. Don’t you ever put a gun in the hands of a child, for that is the moment they will unsee what joy life can bring.
T [Director: Keisha Rae Witherspoon]: To be seen Vividly: It is the cadence of art. It is culture and freedom. It is neon lights and innsense. It is memorial tee’s and talking spirits. It is to live beyond the time you are alive. Now without context you probably have no idea what this movie is about, but everything in me said this was for homegoings and healing. This is for my people and after looking at the shorts description, everything in me was right.
We Were Meant To [Director: Tari Wariebi]: To be seen in Flight. Why are we great like that? The metaphorical thought of rite of passage for Black men as the first time he takes flight sent me! It was clever in its social commentary, “The No Fly Zone”, is everywhere you are Black man. To have your wings clipped is a way to keep you down, without, undervalued. And the production was clean! It was thoughtful and nuanced beyond need [the Vitruvian man with wings] but because it was I bought into it like it was a thread of reality that was beyond plausible. It had me grappling with the surveillance of Black bodies [is this body not my own?]. It had me checking for my own super pours [& as a Black woman I know I have many]. This was by far one of the best films I have seen in my life because I know what it feels like to fly without wings.
Lexi for /CW
DEAR THIRTEEN [Director: Alexis Neophytides]
The world has changed a hell of alot since I was thirteen. That was circa *cough cough* LOL, social media was in its infancy, my mother was still trying to hide our working class poverty from me, and there was no wifi [first world problems]. So to see life through the eyes of today’s thirteen year old is an unsavory pill to swallow, yet it comes with a glimmer of hope that this generation is not lost, but very much misunderstood.
Being Thirteen is weird!
You're in this inbetween space where you're not a little kid anymore but you still don't have the full blown privileges of a teenager. It’s like being in limbo and that purgatory at minimum lasts a full calendar year [Yikes!]. But the issues of the world are noticeable at that age. The fears of the future strike you and thus it is a period of grounding oneselves, as depicted by the film, that gets lost in translation. Who narrates for this age? Only someone in the thick of it can. So the lack of adult commentary [besides editing] was vital to noting, thirteen year olds have something profound to say!
We brought our fifteen year old “intern” to see the film and she too had to reflect on who she is and why she is in this space in time. Too see that reckoning kindled by a global perspective of young reality, she murmured, “That was good to see”, which is more than enough in our book.
LEXI & /CW YOUTH INTERN JAZALE AFTER SCREENING OF DEAR THIRTEEN
“Dear Thirteen” is something that everyone, but especially everyone who has a child should watch. Often, adults tend to feel like teenagers don’t have problems.There is this belief that since a child is free from the burden of finances and large responsibilities like mortgages and car notes, that they live a worry and stress free life. But on the contrary, “Dear Thirteen” narrates how society impacts the lives of children in the same ways they do for adults. Each of those 9 children, whether they were a gun-toting American boy or an Australian trans girl starting her first day of puberty blockers, will all experience things that will transcend race, gender, socio-economic class, or geographical location. I appreciate the lengths Alexis Neophytides went to to establish diversity. I believe it really helps the claim that although we all come from different places, there are life experiences we all share. Australia, America, India, Europe, no matter where you are, adolescent years come with similar trials and tribulations. This film wasn’t a tearjerker, it wasn’t a comedy or a horror, it was the reality of adolescence and a voice for the unheard 13 year olds around the world.
Lexi & Peazy for /CW
LITTLE RICHARD: I AM EVERYTHING [Director: Lisa Cortés]
“Tooty Fruity” was the first song that I ever heard by Little Richard before I knew who he was. It was considered “grown folks music”, the stuff you can’t listen to because it has too many foul words or because they’re talking about some that isn't appropriate for your age. But that only increased my fascination which ignited the interest to find out who Little Richard was.
Lisa Cortes’ documentary puts to bed everything you THINK you know about the true King of Rock and Roll. Richard was labeled as “the one of a kind icon that shaped the world of music” and throughout the story that claim has been supported a thousand times over. But she also focuses on the imbalance Little Richard faced, which truly intrigued me because I think this a battle we’ve all faced: the battle between secular and sacred. On one hand, Little Richard is a worldly icon, doused in glitter and gold from his wardrobe to his makeup, he is the king of a people yearning for soulful music. On the other hand, in his heart he knows he should not conform to the desires of this world because he’s called to be a servant of God and create a new foundation not built on sex and fame but the love and obedience to God. I think it’s these details that fans don’t know that allow them to create the idea that celebrities aren’t human. Some of the most notable names recalled the best and worst times with Richard: Billy Porter, Tom Jones, Paul McCartney, John Waters, Pat Boone, amongst others.
Richard Wayne Penniman is not unlike many other queer or trans people who’ve been outed by the ones that they love and forced to create a new family through a talent like music or art. He is one of the blueprints to androgyny and queerness, one that has even now, in 2023 remained relevant because so many people can now be comfortable in their identity because of artists like Little Richard. Lisa Cortes accurately depicted each phase of Richard’s life. In the church where it all started, to the stage where he grew into an icon, back to the church where he renewed his faith and restored his relationship with God, and then the end of his story.
I appreciate Cortes’ understanding of representation in music, not only do I believe this greatly directed documentary re-established that Richard was the true originator of rock but it gave space for his intersectionality. Richard Wayne Penniman was a queer, black, Christian, rock and roll artist and creator. He walked so our generation could run, and “Little Richard: I Am Everything” depicts that in the most notorious way.
Peazy for /CW
RISE AND REBUILD: A TALE OF THREE CITIES [Directors: Asako Gladsjo & Sam Pollard]
We chose, “Rise and Rebuild: A Tale of Three Cities” as our community partnership film because when the world see’s Black America it often sees what we don’t have and not what we have had that has generationally been taken from us. Where the film captures Wilmington's Brooklyn, Atlanta's Sweet Auburn, and Chicago's Bronzeville, those localities might as well be Tulsa’s Black Wall Street, Detroit's Black Bottom [Lafayette], and Milwaukee’s original Bronzeville. But with Tulsa being a trendy storyline Directors Asako Gladsjo and Sam Pollard thought it best to highlight these other narratives that hold just as much weight. The pivot to black communities that once prospered, were harmed, and now are looking to reinvigorate their communities as they rebuild are stories that should be cautionary [as gentrification is at an all time high] and inspiring as now more than ever before the Black dollar, the Black education, and the Black voice has leverage.
The quote, “It's not about politics. It’s about people”, that Mayor khalid kamau of South Fulton said during the film, was one of those notes I don't think enough people comprehend. At the end of the day the value of our quality of life is not determined by the parlor tricks of politics but the people who enforce politics as a tool in which one secures the value of that quality of life.
I saw my city in that film. I saw our hardships like a mirror. I know what is at risk if we don’t carve out the infrastructure and let “them” take the wheel. We don't want a repeat. We want ground breaking change. This film shows us exactly what that can look like.
Lexi for /CW
THE ANGRY BLACK GIRL AND HER MONSTER [Director: Bomani J. Story]
Viewing “The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster”, a top-tier thriller/suspense film that in my opinion personified the pain of a Black child’s trauma surrounding death, was a pleasure. Although inspired by Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein”, this film provokes deep thought about the trauma of experiencing death at a young age and how death is disproportionately in closer proximity to Black children more than it provokes goosebumps. Vicaria, the main character, is almost stalked with gun violence as it has plagued her family, killing her mother and her big brother. Meanwhile, on the opposite end her father is still alive but fighting the battle of addiction that will ultimately lead to an untimely demise. Life hasn't always been like this for Vicaria, we see this through Bomani J. Story’s allusion to better times during the intro of the film. Evidence that Vicaria has a loving relationship with her father and a pretty normal life outside of her mad science lab is pretty clear; the only thing that is truly wrong with this seemingly normal teenager is her perception of death.
Because of the randomness and aggressiveness of her mother and brother’s death, Vicaria is convinced that death is a disease, one that can be cured through science. Through the doors of her abandoned science lab, Vicaria takes the body of her slain brother and attempts to revive him to prove that death can be cured. She connects every source of power to his lifeless body, hits a switch, and after a citywide power outage, the monster awakens. But things start to get out of hand quickly, “Frankenstein” has no concept of life, he only knows death and to destroy.
As the plot thickens, Vicaria’s invention has taken his place as a true monster, [& here is the part where I am tempted to give the full story away]. In the end, she has no brother, no mother, father, family or even Kango and his henchmen, which in my opinion validated her hypothesis that death is in fact a disease. Once it claims someone close to you, the cycle continues until there is no one left to kill. I wouldn’t categorize this as horror, this film falls more on the suspense spectrum but the suspense kept us at the edge of our seats at every turn. Bomani took a classic horror story and turned it into an attempt to fix and cure what we have all deemed as incurable, and it worked. The ending scene shows a scientific genius grin into the camera as she brings her sister in law back to life using the same tactics she used before only this time…they WORK! I loved this film and I truly believe Bomani J. Story has earned his flowers.
Peazy for /CW
BLACK LENS PRESENTS WRITING IN COLOR [Event]
Santana Coleman, Paulina Lule, Derek Jay Garlington DURING WRITING IN COLOR PANEL
I love to write, but I’m not sure if writing a movie is the best place for my skills. However, after attending, Writing In Color, I might just change my mind. Because the word from the judges is i [& my random collaborative team] are pretty good at it. Well, at least that little trophy sitting on my desk says so.
Being at Radio Milwaukee [my media home away from home] for an event that showcases film through the writer's lens was fascinating. Did you know that there are local & Black filmmakers accessible to you in Milwaukee? I Stan [as the kids say Lol]. The panel to bless us with insight about the film industry at a micro and macro level included Milwaukee’s very own Emmy Award winner, Santana Coleman, the amazing Paulina Lule, and Pitch It To Me, game designer Derek Jay Garlington. They told us their perspectives of the tumultuous realm we call Hollywood, the glory of having Milwaukee [a non permit film city], and the nuance of being Black in the world of film. When creatives get to speak no holds bar, I live. You can always learn something worth holding on to.
But it was the game for me! Pitch It To Me, is a fun way to get those gears turning in your head. The game is noted to be “your chance to pitch the next hit film or tv show! Pitch It To Me is an entertaining card game that builds collaboration and creativity through the journey of storytelling”. And it did just that. My team won the pitch competition by putting together a new era story of Isis and Osiris set in dystopia Milwaukee. We named it, Gods of The Eastside. We set Tyana Taylor as Isis and Damson Idris as Osiris and it was a rap!
“If you're scared just say that!”, was my snark at the competition [but I don’t talk sh*t unless I can back it up].
Like I said, the trophy is sitting on my desk.
Lexi for /CW
To be seen in film is to be seen in mediated reality. We love it. Please keep it going!
Love & All Things Urban,
/CW Fam
SnapShot Press Release: Milwaukee Pull Up, It's a "Partyat4" | A Milwaukee 'Ish interview with Partyat4
/I believe the phrase “renaissance man” is overused.
Where it is defined as, “a person with many talents or areas of knowledge” that theory of humanism has long been surpassed by the reality we call the 21st century [You know the era of social media, Artificial Intelligence, BBL’s, Catfishing, & fake “real” N*gg*s].
But with that critique also comes the opportunity to coin a new phrase for a man who embodies various talents, has an authentic aura, and carries his grace with just enough posturing to appeal to a mass audience of tastemakers and fan like dreamers. Maybe we should call him a “virtuoso of the era” or maybe we can just make the moniker fit the prototype.
Let’s just call him . . . Partyat4.
Now everybody knows that I firmly believe [& I have the receipts] that Milwaukee breeds creative genius [I said, what I said. So fight me!]. However, that creativity is usually mystified by the infantile infrastructure big money has mishandled. So our talent usually sees a need to leave our “little big-city” to make things pop. The problem with that is some never come back and totally disown their 414 roots. So when we were informed that Partyat4 was repping his native land and showing his face around these parts, we were pleasantly surprised [& also curious what part of town he is from, where his grandma stay, and what he rep when “Who You Wit” by Lil John come on LMAO].
So when your /CW Fam was invited to his Meet & Greet / Listening Session happening at Scene 1 Restaurant & Lounge MKE [5526 W North Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53208] on April 27th, 2023 we accepted [with the caveat that we would like to chat with the man of the hour]. What follows is that very casual, “Let’s just do a Milwaukee a** interview” we had standing on the block in front of a red sprinter van covered in images of Partyat4, with all his people around [What a mutha f’n sight to see LOL].
CW: “First of all, why are you HERE?”
Partyat4: “It was my son's birthday. My first born, London. Then after that I had the listening session. So I felt it was more conducive to stay the whole week instead of flying back.”
Back to ATL that is. With a buzzing music & creative market, Atlanta has become the base camp for many Milwaukee linked talents [Including K Camp, Lakeyah, and Josie Thompson]. With one of his good friends from high school [S/O B] moving to Atlanta and him feeling Atlanta to have a strong music culture when he made his decision to move three years ago, it just felt right.
CW: “There is this idea that people don’t make it out of Milwaukee or that there is no talent in Milwaukee. . .”
Partyat4: “It’s a stigma.” He said with a playfully smug look on his face.
CW: “It is a stigma. It’s definitely a thing. But you are a multifaceted talent. Of course, I have interviewed many recording artists before. But I was really intrigued [that, that's not all you do].”
His creative punch card includes, Fashion [yep, he can design & sew], visual arts [like drawing & painting, somebody get this man in the gallery], culinary arts [his PR team informed us he was once upon a time a Hyatt chef], and his music lexicon includes rapping, singing, song writing, and production [get’er done then!]. With those skills fitting several of CopyWrite’s pillars of focus [Art, Music. Fashion, Community, and Culture], we could do a whole magazine issue on him.
*wink wink, nudge nudge*
Partyat4: “Yea, I just hate to put myself in a box. I’m all about expression and creativity in general. So I paint, I sew, I am definitely into fashion. I just hate everybody wearing the same sh*t, so to speak. Excuse my belligerence and what not. . .”
Belligerence, Sma-lligerence! I have heard and seen some crazy sh*t in my time covering the creative scene. One of the craziest is that cookie cutter, straight off the mannequin style that these “sheeple” try to pass off as originality. Speak your truth my guy! No apologies needed here.
Partyat4: “I just try to be unique the best way I can. It’s 2023 everybody is doing their own thing. Whether it’s podcasting or selling something or cosmetics. . . I just try to be me to the best of my capacity.”
And that's not that easy to do in an industry that is known for making individuals “more marketable”. But maybe that’s just it. Maybe there is really a space for someone to fit the mold and break it at the same time.
CW: “How did you figure out that you had all of those different types of talents?”
Partyat4: “Just being bored really. I had a sewing machine a few years ago. But I just got another one [a gift]. . . I was kind of board at 3AM and I had just smoked my last blunt and the weed man was sleep. . .” [That’s what we call a tragedy lol]. “So I just got the f*ckin with the sewing machine. I probably watched a minute and a half video on how to thread my particular model. After that I just got to freakin’ sh*t.”
But hear me out though, ya man's is cold! I checked out a few of his pieces on IG and he takes that DIY steez to a whole different universe. [Those Beatles and Mushroom Booty carpet pants go crazy!]
Partyat4: “I think people, as individuals, we get stuck at the learning curve. We be scared to initiate things. But once you get past that and jump off the porch, if you will, you can be surprised at what you can do. Like ingenuity wise you can do anything.”
Partyat4 & Lexi S. Brunson, editor-in-chief of /CW | /CW image
Now of course I didn’t stray away from the big question of “Why” leave milwaukee when his talents would allow him to probably make it anywhere and he was honest that something just didn’t make this space feel like the catalyst.
Partyat4: “I just felt like in Atlanta the culture was more music oriented. People there are helping each other. They are more intune with what is going on and on an individual level it feels like people want to see each other win. Not to say anything negative or cognizant of Milwaukee culture. But I just feel like something here, whether it's gate keepers or something, it keeps us in a shell.”
Are y'all listening out there? Hello, is this thing on? *pats imaginary microphone hard*
The narrative is repetitive. We have heard this story and thus, it holds weight. A weight that is quite costly in an era that no longer relies on manual labor but on the contrary Culture [Big C], Community [Bigger C], and Capital [C.R.E.A.M. , Biggest C].
Partyat4: “I appreciate [Atlanta] for that. I mean I be low down there. But still.” He laughed humbly.
There is nothing wrong with being low. It actually allows you to analyze a space, then ebb and flow as you desire. Its strategy and it creates the spark of greatness.
CW: “I think it's okay to be low down there and then somewhere like here [in Milwaukee] you could be a star. I think it's also about cultivating that love at home, and look, you’re here. There are a lot of people from Milwaukee that don’t rep Milwaukee. So the fact that you are even here we fux with that.”
Partyat4: “On the low, not to say no names but there are alot of people from here and they act like they are from where they got poppin at.” [Read between the lines this whole article is a smoke signal].
CW: “Ohhh you noticed that too?”. I said sarcastically. Because, yall funny and we see you!
Partyat4: “Yeaaaaaa!”, he said with the same sarcastic cadence. “That's cute or whatever. But like for me, I moved away but it was more for stimulation of what I had going on. And n*gg*s show love here and I had a great turnout tonight so I’m blessed for that. But it's something about when you can move away and I’m very competitive. . . but it just feels really good to not only come home and get support but be somewhere else, where you're not from, and get that same support where people come out because they believe in what you are doing. It makes you go that much harder.”
Partyat4 performing a live set a Scene 1 Restaurant & Lounge MKE | /CW Video
We believe that Milwaukee definitely has the fandom to pour into its talent but the creative infrastructure is still on the rise. We know big labels have been tip-toeing into our showcases, parlaying with the DJ’s, and sitting in our clubs looking for hungry MKE acts to sit on their rosters before the door burst opens and we are permanently on the map. It’s noted but transparency would probably feed more of us. Just sayin’.
The work Partyat4 is doing is a part of that story. It is a part of a bigger picture that has been shadowed by the decline of the industrial revolution in the midwest, the “I didn’t know Black people lived in Milwaukee” foolery that comes from the ignorance of our rich cultural history, plus the beer and cheese motif that disregards how many of us have more girth to us then that.
CW: “A part of my job is holding people accountable. So you are HERE. I am HERE. The request was to show up & show out. So I showed up & I’m showing out.”
Partyat4: “And I appreciate that.”
CW: “So I really want our audience base to know who you are and that is our Milwaukee Creatives. That’s who I serve. Since you are this multifaceted talent, you have something to share. That means you have to come home every once and a while for that to happen.”
Partyat4: “My kids are here so I have no choice but to come back. I’m blessed to have other obligations so I am on the road a lot but I’m here fasho. I’m only an hour and half away flight wise.”
CW: “Okay! And we are going to make sure of that!”
Real. Rap. Raw. It’s not a threat but a friendly promise. With a network of community supporting Partyat4 [like our media family at Hyfin and all the CORE DJ’s who showed up that night] and other creatives that blossom from “The Good Land”, we can change the game. Oh and trust, these ways we play to win.
CW: “We want to see you at the radio stations. We want to see you on our stages. So get you a** in there. You have to get acclimated. I think it's really important that when we have talent that is making the waves that you are making, we make a notation and vice versa. So we will be on the lookout. We will be watching for you. We want to see more of you. Bigger venues. Bigger turn outs. Let's make it happen. Let's make it pop.”
Partyat4: “Oh man, I’m trying to turn sh*t up. I’m Party for a reason.”
CW: “Emmm hmmm. Partyat4! Why didn’t this party start at 4? We were ready then!”
We all blurted out in laughter. “Noooo…it ends at 4!”said one of his guys standing nearby, peeping our whole conversation.
But my “still young enough to take risks, but too old to know better” aged self had to leave around 11:30PM LOL. But not before asking the classic journalistic question of “What can we expect next?”.
Peep the strategic timing of this write up with Partyat4’s remix of “To Da Moon” Ft. Toosii, dropping this Friday, May 12th, 2023, with Its original release honored on Billboard Top 30 hit singles. [Like I said, we are going to make sure that Partyat4 is on our community's radar, so go check that out].
Partyat4: “Y’all can expect my kids to grow. . .”, [Now everybody knows /CW loves a proud parent #CWLovesDaKids]. “Y’all can expect a project coming soon. I’m ready to rap y'all mutha F*ckin heads off. . .”
CW: “You got bars. I ain't even going to lie.”
Partyat4: “I appreciate that. Y’all can also expect some singles and I’m trying to get the song “Touch Down” dropped. I should have played that tonight. But I’ma get back to it. There's a lot of stuff coming down the pipeline for me. My mind is like a stock exchange board. It just ticks all day. . .I’m also going to put out a capsule of clothes that you can buy. . . we got all that coming. I’m just trying to captivate and entice the audience. No offense to anybody but sometimes music gets on dry spells and it has high notes but we are trying to be all falsettos. A whole lot of high notes.”
Ohhhhh dude said that! LOL
And we rock with it. Whether it's Rap, R&B, Country, Rock, or whatever he can do to hit y’all eardrums he is game for it.
Partyat4: “So respectfully, and again excuse my belligerence, we are here to stay!”
Now somebody gotta shake my hand folks because I got the commitment of a lifetime on the strength of me loving my city. . .
CW: “I have to put you on the spot now. Would you consider collaborating with some Milwaukee artist? And not just music, but art, fashion, all that?
Partyat4: “Indubitably. Yes. Absolutely. . . I mean I be talkin’ sh*t too. So we can get a stand up set and crack some jokes”.
Word? Well let’s do the damn thang! Because if you stay ready, you aint gotta get ready.
& Milwaukee, well . . . we been ready.
Love & All Things Urban,
Lexi S. Brunson | Editor-in-Chief /CW
Dangerously Doing Too Much | A 2022 End Of Year Reflection from Editor-in-Chief, Lexi S. Brunson
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shot by @carolinecavalcante.ph
So here we are.
I waited until the last minute to write this [not by choice] but the “happenstance” of life made sure I lived out at least 363 days of the year before I came to any conclusions. Sure, I am writing it now but I have been thinking about it since October, because at that point of the year I was through! I mean DONE! Feed up! Over it! I had already come to terms and accepted that THIS was what it was.
Is that vague?
Oh stop fussing. We will get there. [ Just admit it. Your nosey Lol. You will get random pics & videos of my year to look at while you read so your attention span will not fizzle cus I wrote a novel LMAO]
2022, had to be lived.
It had to be lived with contemplation, irritation, affliction, and scrutiny. Now this is not to say there were not any moments of rest, delight, comfort, and applause. Those moments are the blessings that carried me on to the next day. They pushed me into fight mode instead of flight mode. . . They kept me grounded. But see, joy for me is a byproduct of responsibility. I carry my load and thus I carry the highs and the lows that come with it. My burden is MY burden. But somehow I have been lifting weight that is beyond my load without making any gains.
& that’s where we find my mutha-flippin problem.
On December 10th, 2022 at a “work” related event mid-conversation I blacked out, fainted, hit my left eyelid on a wooden ledge, collapsed to the floor, and had what appeared to be a mild seizure [Yes, I said mild like that makes any difference smh]. When I came to, I was calm and very much alert while most of the people around me were frantic because of the blood gushing out of my face. It was a freakin’ spectacle.
A spectacle that as shocking as it may have appeared to most, I knew exactly what had been the cause. I had dangerously been DOING TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH.
Again, the burden of that is mine but it is one that I am not insane enough to keep carrying.
Everybody repeat after me: “I’m choosing me. This time, next time, and EVERY TIME until the last time.”
[& trust, I will not be bothered if you do the same.]
This year I was called passive aggressive by a very close friend [Are we still friends?]. Passive Aggressive as in, “a pattern of indirectly expressing negative feelings instead of openly addressing them”. The “trope” was followed by listing all the emotions I had confided in her [just weeks before] that I had been experiencing with my mental & physical exhaustion, including: stressed, overwhelmed, frustrated, and anxious. To then posture with a verbatim, “. . . idk but your attitude has been a bit shitty as of late. You should unpack that.”
So here I am calling out for help, while providing help [I won't put nobody's personal business on blast with the details] to then be told, “unpack that”. Yikes!
Had I not said to the world and all the people contributing to my stressful load [my family, my partner, my colleagues, my friends, my staff, my self], “I no longer have the capacity to do that”, or “I don’t have the time & resources to do this”, and ofcourse the hated, “Please, do this thing you agreed to do how you agreed to do it, so that I may also do my part without having to do yours”???
I did. Many times.
Not from some extrinsic hierarchical pedestal that upholds systems of inequity and disenfranchisement. Not to stroke my ego because I hold some capitalistic moniker that says I’m in charge. Not to cause harm that can not be repaired through time, practice, and self accountability but with a stance of human respect and experience in spaces many of them have yet ventured and I was never guided through.
Unfortunately, whatever I was communicating [no matter how clear and logical it had been to me] was not working.
Where this year's word was intentionality, it was served with a push to rationalize this urge to be useful [the thing I have always considered my purpose of being]. As I ridiculously recited, “You can not pour from an empty cup”, I was pouring out way too much champagne to those who just really needed water, and didn’t necessarily need it from me. [I was not eating right, my insomnia was at an all time high, my energy was depleted, I was not drinking enough water. Ya girl was moving blind off faith!]
As transparent as I have been learning to become, most people don’t want to hear my truth. The truth is that as much success as I am experiencing, as much joy doing things outside the box has brought me, as much love from within and from others I get to bask in, there are some core situations that are messing with my peace, livelihood, and stability.
Like. . .
Being denied a home loan because your socioeconomic upbringing & ethnicity, when you have 2.5 streams of income, a 720 credit score, with all your finances in good standing [Tuh, this is America]
Being debilitatingly sick 8 times in one year and then developing chronic fatigue [It’s extra nasty out there. Wash your hands & take your vitamin C. I have a 3 year old so all germs on me Lol]
Someone attempting to rob you in your place of business and then coming into your office building to find a strange man sleeping outside your door [This is the trauma caused by people just trying to survive. This is not a them problem. This is not a me problem. This is a WE problem. WE are failing our people]
These are just a few examples of where my year could have collapsed under me but instead I just pushed on. Saying yes, showing up, doing my best, and giving my all.
But when I needed a break, I did not pause.
But when I needed to say “hell no”, I tried to compromise.
But when I needed to be given grace, I did not demand it.
I knew better & I didn’t do better because I felt useful.
And that failure is my own.
I say all of this to get to a place of yearly reflection that is not just a list of triumphs [because I could do that. I did some dope sh*t that I’m really quite proud of *does one of those corny “I’m feeling myself” dances*] but to really vocalize that something has to shake B! Things absolutely must change.
It literally took me getting bust upside my head to sit my a** down. [Okay, energies that be! Yall not about to play with me. NOTED!]
So in 2023 & for as long as they apply the following are up for debate, dismissal, and eviction:
Leadership: I never wanted to be a leader but I have been called on to that journey. It is an obligation I don’t take lightly and I know why this has been asked of me and not another for this season of life. I note that there are traditions of leadership that I embody but there are even more that I do not subscribe to. This is because there are some systems that are traits of colonization, patriarchy, and inhumanity. I will not speak the language of my oppressor to my people. I will not continue to repeat methods that have failed those that needed it most. I will not ask of you what I am not willing to do myself. I will lead where my experience gives me expertise and I will follow where I need knowledge and guidance. If you do not respect my approach as a leader, I do not take it personally. This mission is just not for you.
Friends: I am a lifer. Not a situational deflection. You owe me nothing, and thus I owe you nothing. Not a phone call, not a check in, not a visit, not a like. What you offer me I will appreciate with or without acceptance. What I offer you, you may take or leave without judgment. When we cross paths I will honor the moments we share. When we are apart I will value the memories that involve you. You don’t have to solve my problems, be my moral compass or even agree with me. All that I ask is that you respect my agency over me. [It's a swinging door]
Love: Me first. I love MYSELF first. I will love me wholeheartedly so that I can love others the same. I can forgive & love deeply. I can experience & love without holding a grudge. I can have loved wrong and still learn to love right. I am growing love and I am living love. This year was full of reminders that love, even when it is not contained in a pretty bow, can keep your soul alive. [To the love of my life & soul tie, Thanks for pouring into me the love I needed to get me through Papi].
Business: CopyWrite is going to be different. Progress is uncomfortable and those growing pains come with growing expectations. We can’t come to every event. We have children to raise. We can’t review every song. We got bills to pay. We can’t interview every wave maker, there are others who need a voice. Communal greatness is not complacent #SupportTheLocal. CopyWrite filled a void. CopyWrite changed the narrative. CopyWrite archived history. CopyWrite has plans. You coming or nah?
Extra: I’m not afraid to be wrong but I am damn sure not afraid to be right. I am afraid to give up before I am out of time. Let’s see what happens. “If they said I did it. I DID IT.”
So 2023, let’s ride it until the wheels fall off!
Love & All Things Urban,
Lexi S. “I’m resting” Brunson
Editor-in-Chief of CopyWrite Magazine
CopyWrite Magazine "IN THE LOCAL" | Getting Geeky w/ Geekset Podcast
/CopyWrite is “Getting Geeky”!
Our new homies at Geekset Podcast, Deuces, Bacardi, & Didge joined us at /CW HQ to talk about #AllThingsGeeky.
Check out what we learned about their up and coming project The Black Geek Documentary, “Blerd” culture, and how even when you're publicly a Stefan, there are things that still make you Urkel.
Interview w/ Lexi S. Brunson, resident Geek & Editor-in-Chief of /CW
Learn more at https://www.geeksetpodcast.com/
Music On The Beerline - A /CW Pre-Coverage interview w/ DJ Bizzon & Twan Mack
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We Outside!
[The “improper” syntax is intentional but if you read it right you know exactly what it means.]
The idea of leaving our homes to explore anything social, festive, or communal over the last few years has become risky, anxiety filled, and often polarizing. However, summers in Milwaukee are magical. One might even call them cathartic. Thus, it creates the same atmospheric presence as a well curated sound track, playlist, or mixtape. . . Summers here are just a vibe.
So what if we told you that you could experience that vibe live? Well, with Music on the Beerline returning for a three event summer series you absolutely can.
On July 15, August 19, and September 16 Riverworks Development Corporation will host a free outdoor performance on the Beerline Plaza performance stage [3350 N. Holton St.] from 5:00pm to 8:00pm. Just like the past three years, this 4th year of annual festivities will include food trucks, local vendors, and activities for the entire family to enjoy. The twist is that this year's multiple date series will allow for a diverse line-up of local musicians to perform providing a variety of music genres for all audiences, generations, and vibes.
Because CopyWrite loves music and community so much we are bringing you pre-covarge right before each event to get you “Outside” and in the mix starting with exclusive interviews from July 15th acts, DJ Bizzon & Twan Mack.
It is clear that both DJ Bizzon and Twan Mack are excited to be a part of the Music on the Beerline series. Though both of them are seasoned performers who have a prolific roster of appearances, showcases, and sets [Bizzon just days ago spinning at Summerfest, one of the largest music festivals in the largest music festivals in the world and Twan just coming back from a European tour opening up for 2 time Grammy winners Arrested Development], being apart of this community event still feels major.
When asked about accepting the invitation to perform at Music on the Beerline this year they both gave personal stories of how the event resonated with them.
DJ Bizzon had previously performed in this space and the opportunity to vibe out in an outdoor setting where noise is not a concern and everybody can hang out in a real inclusive way feels more free. [If you have ever been to a DJ Bizzon set, you know that he is bringing the Yams no matter what the location may be]. Twan Mack emphasized that though he considers himself a product 53206, a segment of his childhood was spent in Riverwest, one of the neighborhoods that the Beerline borders.
Twan Mack: “It’s the most diverse part of the city in my eyes. So when I got the call to be a part of this I could not turn it down.”
He also mentioned how much he values the work that Riverworks Development Corporation does in the community, and supporting local creative talent is just an extension of that.
As intentional as the selection of performers are for this series, it comes with noting a need for inclusive happenings that allows for all people to be invested and welcomed. The narrative given for the Music on the Beerline is clear:
“Make real community connections through the collective love of music”.
Across Milwaukee’s Downtown area, the nicheness of Bay View, and Eastside [proper] there are things to do and music happenings but the need for those spaces don’t stop there. They are more like precedent to do more in places that get it the least.
DJ Bizzon: “So much is happening in these other places. Having a space where all these communities connect is obvious.”
Twan Mack: “It really incompases everything I am about as a performer. My music doesn't have a color on it. Even though it’s coming from a Black man's standpoint, it's really for anybody. I tailor my shows so it can be child friendly as well.”
Merging socio-demographics authentically is something that creativity, especially music does well. This theme also allows for performers to actively address diversity through their sets. Where you can expect a mixture of family friendly vibes from both Bizzon and Twan, they will also be bringing their personas to the stage.
DJ Bizzon’s set will carry a mashup of Funk, Soul, Hip-Hop, and 90’s R&B. Twan Mack will be serving a mixture of social political thought, entertainment, and some education on Hip hop history.
See? VIBEY!
It’s important to note that beyond being performers both Bizzon and Twan are a part of Milwaukee’s community and as such they are also a part of the audience the series is hoping will enjoy the event.
When asked about what they were looking forward to the most about Music on the Beerline besides their performing their sets Bizzon mentioned how stoked he is to see the other dope performances and seeing how they create the vibe, in a setting where everybody can come out for good entertainment, gratis.
DJ Bizzon: “I’m never mad at a free show!”
Twan is looking forward to people coming together, being able to broaden their horizons, and to learn about people they may not really know.
Twan Mack: “I expect to see all kinds of faces. . . [For this] what you have in your bank account does not matter. Come have a good time. Eat some good food. Share some smiles and bring some positivity to the Summer.”
So are We Outside?
You better believe it . . . and that means ALL OF US!
Be on the lookout for new music and visuals from Twan Mack (@twanmack24). Plus, his other summer appearances at the Cactus Club and under raps project with The Cooperage [shh we can’t tell you what it is yet but it's going to be good!]
To keep in the loop with DJ Bizzon (@djbizzon) all you have to do is head to his website https://djbizzon.com/ for events, merch, and more.
See you on the Beerline!
Lexi S. Brunson for /CW
