The Love Project III: Closure - Ortizus

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Here at CopyWrite, we are always working behind the scenes. This week we decided to highlight one of our very own, Imani! While mainly known by her social media tag @ortizus, she is what can again be described as the jack of all trades. This week Imani released her final piece of her trilogy mini-documentary, The Love Project. In her final piece, she focuses on what closure means to Gen Z (people born between now and 1994) but the conversation is open to everyone.

“In the final part of my love trilogy, we tackle the concept of "closure." What is closure? What does it mean? How we look at things like this is important because what we may feel is a common conception is not defined by one singular definition. Are we bad people for understanding healing differently? Or do we all heal the same?

Sidenote: What makes these responses so unique is that no one was briefed what the project was about nor the questions prior to the interview. These are all honest and unbiased answers--off the dome. Thinking on your feet is a talent and I only let the participants have less than 20ish seconds before I asked them to start speaking. I wanted real authentic answers and here we have it.

Thank you all for your support and please watch this with open hearts and open minds.

You are always welcome to leave comments or thoughts below. Disagree? Have a different viewpoint? Feel moved? Let us know below or join the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #Theloveproject!”

There are three parts to this series: Love, Complications and Closure. All video can be found on her youtube: ortizus

So join the conversation and let’s discuss your thoughts on this project!

/CW

Young Deuces - Fly Me ft. Serita Campbell (Video Submission)

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‘Fly Me’ is a cry for clarity. Young Deuces calls about society in every line of the song. He talks about racism, colorism, stereotypes, lack of resources and so much more. It’s a very heavy loaded song. It's a song with a message we all know but most don’t want to admit--especially in a city like Milwaukee where racism thrives and lives freely.

Here’s some more insight, “With his continued fight to use his words as a message, Young Deuces Releases his first official music video from his latest album, Son of  Soldier.  One of the stand out tracks from the album, Fly Me, featuring the amazing soulful songstress Serita Campbell gets the Famous Motion Film Treatment for the video.  The visuals are a powerful reflection of where we came from and where we are headed and depending on how you view it, you may just want to Fly Away from it all.”

When I listen to music, I tend to compare underground artists to mainstream artists to give some type of lead way into what you’d be remotely listening to but in this case, I can’t. Young Deuces is very unique in that way. I can say, he sounds slightly similar to J. Cole’s flow on the Friday Night Lights mixtape but that’s about it. 

Check him out, listen to him yourself and let us know what you think. WATCH THE VIDEO, it’s that easy.  Y’all in quarantine anyways, y’all ain’t doing much. Stop playing in people's faces and listen to some new music!


Find him on the socials:

Insta/Twit: @young_deuces / @seritacampbell3g

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/YoungDeucesofSNYD 

/Imani for CW

Young Deuces - Fly Me (feat. Serita Campbell) (Official Music Video) From the Album "Son of A Soldier" available everywhere. Twitter: https://www.twitter.com...

Tye Motives - 24 Blessings [EP]

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I mean, where... the f*ck... should I... really even start?  *Drake voice* Tye Motives with the Tupac smile is back again with yet another hit EP. This is showing us a whole new side of Tye Motives and it just got a lot more personal.  “Coming from Milwaukee, WI artist Tye Motives delivers a tribute EP titled “24 Blessings.” In this EP, Tye showcases his elite lyricism mixed with melodic flows for a vibe you won’t forget.”

So let’s talk about it. 

The chill flow rapper starts us off with Windows97. In this song he’s talking about a lot of different things. He’s talking about his grind, the type of dude he is, his background, the city, it’s essentially an intro-freestyle. He’s setting up what we are to expect with the rest of the EP. If I had to take a wild guess, I would say that the title of the song is making a reference to an old controversial update of the infamous Windows 97 (which some argued never existed) but I could be looking way too deep into this so let’s keep it moving.

Get You Right is hilarious but it’s not supposed to be. It’s such a great song but what makes it hilarious is the voicemail hater on the intro. We not gon’ waste a lot of characters on her but what I will say is that the voicemail here is necessary. You’re going to have haters. There’s people who don’t want you to succeed. You have to step on their necks and don’t let up. In her words, “period.” It’s that interpersonal moment on the EP that Tye shares with his audience. It’s like the “before I do my thang, listen to what I have to deal with… anyways.”  He wastes no time disregarding whatever she is talking about with the line “I make you nervous how I get you right, huh, aye, shit ain't perfect but it’s feeling right. Yeah I’m on my mack who you with tonight, shawty super bad, I can't let her be the kryptonite.” That’s super self-explanatory. He goes on to talk about how carefully he maneuvers around people ‘cause you never really know what people be on. He talks about his trust with other people and how you really have to be careful about who you’re calling your friend because people really don’t have your best interest. All you have at the end of the day is yourself. Yeah… this def gettin’ added to the library. Wild Things slows the tempo down. This is more of a dreamy sound but then here comes the bass. Perfect. He starts off with one of the last lines of the previous track. “Things get wild where the wild things are, say you got dreams lil n*gga dream far, yeen’ gotta leave the city just to see stars. We ain’t tryna be great [like] lil n*gga we are.” In this song, he talks about looking past the things around you. Just because things aren’t too spiffy around you doesn’t mean you have to give in to it. We all have choices. He’s “seeing fiends out his window” so his choice happened to be “pen or pistol?” Nice, niiice. The track “Mo Where You Been?” is very generous with the bass and airy keys. Tye comes out the gate spitting for this interlude and he barely gives us time to catch up--which is good marketing because guess what? You have to restart it. How fast is he going? Find out. Stream the song, goofy.  Light in the Dark is nicely produced. It’s two different flows but the second flow really had me nodding. He takes us on a journey through his thinking process but leaves us hanging a little--which is intentional. All she wanna do is smoke Doja. Light one and get high is the message. It’s another soft and dreamy track. It’s definitely what you would call “a smokers’ song” but we are not putting him in a box. He’s talking to a girl for most of the song so that’s interesting that the vibe is changing from the previous voicemail. There’s redemption with someone else and I'm here for it. He defines “Recouping” within the first couple bars. This is another Wiz Khalifa “Rolling Papers” type beat. “24 Blessings one of them is them knowing my name. 24 Blessings is me seeing my son through these rays. 24 Blessings don't compare me, we never the same.” Although alliteration and repetitiveness is one of the many themes of the EP, this part is super important. Tye is calling attention to the title and message of the entire project so listen closely here. Finally we have “Mind, Spirit & Body.” The beat is like a churchy trap beat and I'm feeling it. “I took some time to get shit right and concentrated on hobbies. And now my spirit feelin’ light. I guess I'm feeling Godly.” TAKE ‘EM TO CHURCH TYE. They ain’t ready bro! There’s another switch up in the flow and beat, man. He’s really goin’ nuts. Can’t even lie to you. He lets us go with his iconic laugh and one last point: This track was a freestyle. 

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Tye Motives takes us on a journey inside his life and even in his head. He opens the door and shows us how he’s coming this year. This year is you, T. Take it. Keep going. Don’t stop. We’re listening and we hear you. Make everybody feel you by all means necessary. You even have a tiny human looking up to you now, what more do you need. 

As always, it’s always love here at CopyWrite Magazine. Check out the artist of the week, Tye Motives! “24 Blessings” is streaming on all platforms so y’all knooow what to do. Stream, follow, subscribe--all det. My dawg!

Soundcloud: Tye Motives

Instagram: @tyemotives

Thank you to everybody thats been rocking with me on this musical journey. Let's keep growing! Here I present to you, 24 BLESSINGS!!! RIP TO KOBE AND GIGI. THAT INSPIRED THIS 02/24 DROP.


/Imani for CW

EBONY GALA - UW-MILWAUKEE’S BLACK STUDENT UNION (2/22/20)

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“Lift every voice and sing, til Earth and Heaven ring,” echoed through the Union Ballroom as around a hundred beautiful people of all parts of the African diaspora sang the Black National Anthem. Greeted warmly by the Black Student Union’s current president, Tanasia Shaw, we were welcomed to the very first Ebony Gala that has ever been on the campus of the predominately white institution of University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Throughout the night, we shared laughs, accomplishments and conversations about what blackness and black history is. The lineup of live performances were very diverse. They had rappers, singers, musicians, you name it. Justus was the first performer of the night, followed by Xarion. Xarion surprised me because live performances are scary and nerve-wracking… but she killed it. She sang so beautifully and lightheartedly, the audience hung onto every-single-note. And boy did she have a vibrato… shesh. Did I mention she also was playing a guitar? Mhm, mh, mh. Next, we had a surprise performance by Cam Will. I know y’all remember him. He performed his single “Down” and of course, I got super excited because I’m like aye, I know this dude. I’m familiar with his music so that was a cool moment for me to see him doing his thing knowing the scrutiny he’s faced in the past. Refer to the write-up about him if you want to know more. Shout out to all the performers including Afrika, Lonnie, Scotty and Manny who held down the rest of the Gala. To be in an audience where black performers were being respected and encouraged to express their talents was humbling, to say the least. I say that because whether the performances were good or bad, they had the courage to share that moment with us at a Gala that is glorifying all things Black.

The first speaker of the night was one of UWM’s very own Black faculty members and Black student advisor, Ms. Victoria Pryor. Victoria shared with us the importance of Black resilience on the campus of UWM, where the Black population is represented by less than 8% in a city that is almost 40% Black. She went on to honor the Black Cultural Center’s staff and also the former Black Student Union presidents, which included myself. The keynote speaker for this event was no one other than the first Black Lieutenant Governor in Wisconsin, Mandela Barnes. In his inspiring speech, he talked about the importance of Black history in Milwaukee. Next, Dr. Biko Baker spoke about the importance of family and staying humble throughout your journey of success. And lastly, Jacarrie Carr spoke about his non-profit organization, Jacarrie Kicks for Kids. He also stressed an important fact about distancing yourself from people who aren’t on the same path as you. Choose your friends wisely. Everyone can not come with you. 

As the night of ball gowns, heels and ties came to an end, the feeling of comfort and progressiveness did not. Surveying a room of collegiate black bodies engaging in a space where we once were not allowed gave me butterflies. BSU President, Tanasia Shaw, and the Vice president, Coretta Dishmon, wished us well for the evening before adjourning the elegant Ebony Gala. With kind words and thoughts, we were dismissed.

A room full of love and Black excellence… What a way to bring Black History month to an end. 

“Facing the rising sun of our new day begun

Let us march on 'til victory is won.”

/Imani for CW