A Golden Milestone:
The Golden Infamous da Angel Interview
Part 2

Written by: Ccep J. Dew, West Coast Editor
All images provided by Golden Infamous da Angel and are the property of their respective photographers

 

In Part I, we talked about Goldie’s newest novel, The Death of Innocence (a must read), and Black Gold Models. In Part II, she discusses returning from her open mic hiatus and much more…

 

The [clothing] line that you do, is that something that you do by hand or do you have people assisting you?

I do it by hand.

 

So, you do ev-e-ry-thing?

Yes. I sew alllll the clothes. But… The thing with me is, the type of person that I am, when something comes into my head, I don’t draw it like a lot of designers draw and sketch. I don’t draw or sketch. I mean, I can draw. I know how to draw, but I don’t draw my designs. They’re just in my head. So, I just take what’s in my head and sew it or make a pattern for it. It would be hard to relate it to someone else the way that it is in my head. And it’s like that with everything I do. My creative process is a little bit different than some people’s. When ideas come to me, they come in total packages, which is really weird ‘cause I’ve never met anybody who gets images the way that I do. So, like, if I put on an outfit—when I go into a store and I see a shirt on the rack, instantly, in my head, I see an entire outfit that goes with that shirt. And I have to have the entire outfit that goes with that shirt. And I’ll spend hours and hours and hours looking in every store to get that whole outfit that I see in my head. And if I can’t get it, I don’t want to do it at all. And that’s the same way that I am with everything else. With poems, they just come to me. They don’t come to me all the time, but, when they do, I just sit down and write them and it may take me like 5 minutes to write a poem. Or when I get an idea for a fashion show, I’ll sit down whenever the creative spurt hits me and I’ll plan out the whole show in about a half an hour. And that’s the same way I was with both my novels. The plots just came to me randomly…

 

“I saw a lot of people within the poetry circle who I felt were out for themselves and a lot of them I felt, if you
got to know them as a person like I’ve gotten to know them as a person, you might see that they have
different intentions than what they portray themselves as on stage. And I don’t like that and I’ve been very
vocal about that as I am vocal about everything because I feel like the person you are should be the person
you are all the time…”

 

As far as your poetry, have you had time to write and develop new material to go to open mics and perform your poetry?

Yes. I’ve actually started going back out again. For about the past 8 or 9 months, prior to my novel being released in August, I didn’t go anywhere. I just was shut in ‘cause I had to finish my novel. And, like I said, that was a long, arduous process. It got to a point with my novel where, if I didn’t work on it every night, it wasn’t gonna get finished. And I shut myself in like the whole winter. I was like a bear, in the house, every night. So, once my novel was done and I had my book release, then I started coming back out again. I’ve been working on a lot of new material because, during the process of me not going out, I had a lot of material I was sitting on. I have poems that I’ve been dying to perform for like a year now that I haven’t even memorized. So, I got a lot of material coming out in the upcoming months. But, it feels good to be back out again. It really does, especially at my book release party because I got a lot of support at my book release party. It was a good event. It was at Storytellers [in Baltimore, presented by Ravolution Multimedia, LLC].

 

Speaking of Storytellers, what do you think about the venue? I haven’t been there yet. My first time will be [November 2009] for the [eXcape the matriX] anniversary weekend. So, as someone who’s been there as a performer and in the audience and who also had your book signing there, what is your opinion of the venue?

Storytellers is great. That’s actually the first place I went to when I came off my hiatus from poetry. When I was in my “I don’t know if I’m gonna get back into poetry like that” phase Hanalyn, who’s a good friend of mine and who’s also a great poet, said, “You should come to Storytellers with me.” I said, “Okay. I’ll go.” And I went with her and I was like, “Wow! This is great!” It’s just such a nice, warm atmosphere, Raven [Ekundayo, CEO of Ravolution Multimedia, LLC] is a great host, and the crowd is great. I said, “Okay. I like this.” So, I started going there regularly and it’s really, to me, one of the best poetry venues in the city right now. It’s the type of venue where you don’t feel afraid or you don’t feel intimidated to do something. You can try something new. You can go against the grain. One month, someone came up and danced. We’ve had people come up and sing. We just really have a good time there and that’s actually why I chose that venue to do my book release party at because it’s so inviting.  And at my book release party, it just was great. I felt the love all around.

 

“When you say things that you don’t adhere to or that you don’t believe in or that you’re just saying because it
goes with your rhymes, you’re sending a message to people that you can’t even back up. Or that you can’t even defend. That’s like lying to the people…”

 

Having your eXperiences in different open mic venues and having your hiatus and then coming out to Storytellers, do you see any type of shift in open mics? I know a lot of people feel like certain open mics are just out for themselves and nobody wants to come together or it’s kind of cliquish—

Oh, I felt like that before. I felt like that before my hiatus. [laughs]

 

That’s what I mean. Do you see anything changing in the poetry circles in Baltimore? What is your opinion of what’s going on over there?

Okay. Let me think about what I’m gonna say before I speak.

 

[laughs] Okay.

[laughs] Before I went on my hiatus, I had feelings about the cliquishness and the eXclusivity of the poetry scene and, going to certain venues, I felt like I wasn’t respected as an artist. There’d be times where I would go to a venue and sign the list and never get called, then go back the next week, sign the list and never get called. Or sign the list #1 and get called at the very end of the night and I can only do one poem for 5 seconds. I just got frustrated going to certain places and I started going to other places. I saw a lot of people within the poetry circle who I felt were out for themselves and a lot of them I felt, if you got to know them as a person like I’ve gotten to know them as a person, you might see that they have different intentions than what they portray themselves as on stage. And I don’t like that and I’ve been very vocal about that as I am vocal about everything because I feel like the person you are should be the person you are all the time. Of course, everybody has mood changes and ups and downs and good days and bad days, but the person that you present yourself as on stage should be the same person that you are in the audience… and the same person that you are if I see you on a Thursday at the mall… and the same person that you are if I see you at the club on a Friday night. You should be the same no matter what or who is approaching you and I’ve seen this thing where artists portray themselves as something on the stage and off stage they’re a totally different character. It’s like they’re acting. And I have issues with that because I don’t like that kind of a person.

 

Now, do you think it’s the whole “persona” thing? Like, for me, Jenise is different from Ccep. Jenise is very shy. Very to myself. I tend to not open up to a lot of people. But, once I get on stage, take my breath, get into “Ccep mode”, I feel more confident spittin’ my piece. But, when I come off stage, I’m still a little shy. So, is it that where “you get on stage and transform into someone else” or is it just “you get on stage, then you get off stage and you have a stank attitude”?

Totally different. I’m gonna tell you why: the reason why it’s totally different is because you might get on stage and feel bold where normally you’re shy, but you still have the same opinion. And you say the same thing. You just might say something differently. Like, if you say, “I’m a strong woman,” you might say it on stage a little more loudly. Off stage, you’ll still say, “I’m a strong woman.” Just more quietly. The message is the same… What I’m talking about is you have people who get on stage and say things that they don’t practice at all or that they don’t even adhere to. And I’ve seen it, literally. I’ve spoken with people and had conversations with them and found out that the things that they were saying on stage were totally untrue. It’s just something that they thought sounded cool. And I’ve told people, “You have to watch what you say,” because, once again, I believe that the words that you say are energy and you have to watch the energy that you’re giving to other people because of the fact that you never know what situation someone in the audience is in. And people take things that they hear seriously. It’s been plenty of times where I’ve heard a poet say that a poem that they’ve done has impacted someone’s life and they would have never known it. So, you have to keep in mind that a lot of people coming to poetry readings are coming there for a reason. They’re coming to get inspired, to hear a message… A lot of the times, it’s therapy for people. So, when you say things that you don’t adhere to or that you don’t believe in or that you’re just saying because it goes with your rhymes, you’re sending a message to people that you can’t even back up. Or that you can’t even defend. That’s like lying to the people, to me.

 

Yeah.

It’s one thing if you want to put yourself in character. That’s totally different. Like, if you write a poem from someone else’s perspective, that’s totally different… Sorry, phony people. I don’t mean to call you out, but… I do. [laughs]

 

***Part III***

 

***Part IV***

 

 

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