The Scholar: Verdi Degbey
The Project: Before We Go to Sleep (EP album)
The Essential Question: Drawing from poetry written just before he fell asleep, Mr. Degbey created a spoken-word EP with original music about self-identity and other late night thoughts. He points out that while his music has the form of rap, it has a slow pace that suits its purpose: to be listened to before going to sleep.
Notable Quote:聽鈥淚 made this project for people who struggle with 鈥榝itting in,鈥 which is something I go through all the time鈥 It wasn鈥檛 until recently that I realized that it was totally okay to be different. Being different is actually way more of a gift than a curse. I see social isolation as more of a distinction. I use the large amount of alone time I have to create art that is well received by the public. Being the outcast gives me that path to create work that is out of the ordinary, or out of the box, which brings not only personal joy, but joy to others.鈥
Biggest Challenge:聽鈥淚 started writing poetry before I came to 91大神, and I鈥檝e continued to do a lot of writing. But I never thought about recording what I wrote and putting it on a beat. I found it really hard to sit down, record something, edit it, add a beat, add another beat if that beat doesn鈥檛 work, and change the tempo of what I鈥檓 saying. The original idea was to make a spoken word project with music and it turned into a rapping project, which was a new experience and fun but definitely challenging.鈥
Surprising Discovery:聽鈥淓very day I鈥檇 come in to the studio and I鈥檇 be surprised that I鈥檇 create a new piece. Then I wouldn鈥檛 use it. I think it鈥檚 that I have a lot to say and I just would want everyone to hear everything.鈥
Tip for Future Scholars:聽鈥淭he biggest thing is come knowing what you want to do and what you want to accomplish by the end.鈥
