CBD & Poetry
CBD & Poetry
Felipe "Negro" Roberson: Renaissance Athlete, Season of Sheltering in Place
Lifelong athlete and capoeira instructor, Felipe "Negro" Roberson talks about embracing the cultural aspects of fitness.
Resources
- freedomartathletics.com
- @negro_evolucao
Teresa Y. Roberson is a writer, visual artist, producer and Zilis Independent Ambassador (#7161976). Zilis does not endorse the CBD & Poetry podcast nor any material presented as a result. Statements made in CBD & Poetry podcast have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Non-prescription CBD is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease or medical conditions. The CBD & Poetry discussion is not intended as medical advice and should not substitute advice from a healthcare professional.
Music
- Intro Music: "Green Magic" Cabrini Green, Green Magic Album.
- Outro Music: "Sao Bento Grande De Bimba" Felipe "Negro" Roberson live recording
- cabrinigreenenterprises.com
Renaissance Athlete
AKA Negro
Lifelong athlete
From baseball to capoeira
Ultimate way of self-expression
Every injury has a story
In three different languages
Flowing musically, physically
Passionate personal trainer
Bringing practical mobility
To all students
Teresa Roberson
How did you first cross paths with CBD?
Felipe
I don't know if I can actually give a completely solid answer on that. I know I've always been attached to the cannabis plant. So, I knew about it since, you know, that college days. But now, I think in the last recent couple years is when I've noticed it being separated from it for medical purposes. So I guess…
Teresa Roberson
So, you started off, I mean, that was a really smooth answer, but you started off recreationally.
Felipe
You can say that. I plead the fifth.
Teresa Roberson
Okay. I'm not trying to get you in trouble. I'm just asking primarily about CBD use, but because I call you “my cousin”and we have the same surname and we haven't exactly identified that. We…
Felipe
It's there, though.
Teresa Roberson
I know. I think so.
Felipe
I think if we do 23andme or something and they like pull it out.
Teresa Roberson
Right, but then the government will have my DNA and, I don't, I want to delay that as long as possible. Yeah.
Felipe
I think they have mine already. I've been arrested.
Teresa Roberson
They do a little entertaining. "Oh find your genetics, you know, your, your, your tree and then it's like, yeah, now you have my DNA on file. Okay. Anyway…
Felipe
All right, get back to it.
Teresa Roberson
Because I do know you. The audience doesn't know you.
Felipe
All right.
Teresa Roberson
And for those who are listening, yes, his name is "Felipe," but I call him "Negro." That's his…
Felipe
That's been my nickname since forever. I'm Puerto Rican. So, that is we use, terms of endearment that have to do with how people look, react, so on and so forth and they're not derogatory at all.
Teresa Roberson
Fantastic. But because I know you, I do know that you have been athletic all of your life.
Felipe
Yeah since I was like six, I guess.
Teresa Roberson
Okay. Okay, which sports?
Felipe
Track and field.
Teresa Roberson
Okay.
Felipe
The track and field from 6 til about 10 years old. I was in a league in Puerto Rico called youth league, called AJI (Aletismo Juvenil e Infantil). I forgot what the acronym actually stands for right now. Then I started baseball. I played college baseball, too. Well, I played baseball as a youth kid and I played college baseball and AA. I stopped playing in 2004 I think the last time I played baseball, and then I started capoeria.
Teresa Roberson
Okay, so in 2004, you started capoeira?
Felipe
For 2005. I went, I went, yeah, I went a year without doing any actual form of organized sports. I was just training for triathlons, thinking that, you know, I wanted to be involved in something. Not that great of a swimmer. Can't float. It just, yeah.
Teresa Roberson
Well, you have to have body fat.
Felipe
It's there. Yeah, I go straight down. So yeah, triathlons weren't really working. Like I was running fine. The bike was fine. I was not having a fun time swimming. And then one day a friend of mine was like, I'm gonna do this capoeira class like, you mean that "banana way" stuff? That's not how it says. Like, okay, sure, I'll go try it. And then I tried it. And here we are 15 years later.
Teresa Roberson
Where were you living when you first tried capoeira?
Felipe
Corpus Christi.
Teresa Roberson
Okay.
Felipe
I was in Corpus. I was, I had finished my second year of playing AA baseball. I knew I didn't want to live in Puerto Rico. I wasn't sure where I wanted to live and I still have friends in, in Corpus. So, I actually stayed there for a semester without going. One of my really good friends had a dorm room, but he was living in his girlfriend's house, outside of campus, so I basically lived in campus without going to school for a semester.
Teresa Roberson
So, you weren't a student there?
Felipe
Oh, yeah. I was not. The last semester I was there that was Ron's house.
Teresa Roberson
Oh, okay. Okay. I've never heard that story before.
Felipe
Yeah, college is wild. So that happened. That's the, I stayed on campus for, people will be like, yeah, I haven't seen you in class. Like you're not gonna see me in class. I'll go to the gym. That's about it.
Teresa Roberson
And then what brought you to Austin?
Felipe
Capoeira, actually. The, the student that started it over there. I don't think you ever met her, Eliana. She trained here. And she went to Corpus to do marine biology because the program over there is awesome. She asked Mestre Rodrigo, "Hey, can I start a little chapter of the group and in Corpus just to keep it going?" And she did. And I took that first class and we would come back and forth from Corpus to, to Austin to train with a big group and get, you know, movement sequences classes, then go back and pass them down to, to everyone else there. But then she got injured and couldn't really teach anymore. And somehow, I started doing the class until I was like, "I'm gonna move to Austin, guys." So I ended up moving to Austin, that fall, fall of '05 after being pretty much here all that summer.
Teresa Roberson
Okay, and for people who don't understand, or have never heard of capoeira before, can you briefly explain that because I think most people will know what baseball is. Then is like he quit baseball to do what?
Felipe
Some people call it "dance fighting," but that's completely killing a whole lot of the essence of what it is. It's an Afro Brazilian martial art that got its origins basically in colonial times in Brazil. Now to say that it's completely, completely from Brazil also does discredit to its origins 'cause, you know, colonial times involved a lot of African slaves coming from, you know, Africa, which is a huge continent, not just a country and they spoke a bunch of different dialects and had different ways of defending themselves. However, when they got together and they saw themselves in prison and enslaved and not being able to communicate in the same language. Yet, they found a common bond by being able to pass different forms of self-defense or tradition that then became, I guess, the route platform broke up with not just the music part, but the way in which they move 'cause a lot of the movements can be attributed to this part of Africa or this other part or this region over here, so on and so forth. So, to say that capoeira was just Brazilian or just African. It's not. That's why I say it's Afro Brazilian in essence.
Teresa Roberson
Okay. And what did you find in capoeira that you didn't find in baseball?
Felipe
An ultimate way of self-expression. I stopped baseball because I felt unfulfilled as an athlete. Like I was that guy and in practice that was diving headfirst in every second practice, going balls out like it was, you know, the game. Then one day, I just didn't feel like doing anymore. I felt like I needed to do more. That's why I tried triathlons. It wasn't enough. Started a capoeira class. And I was like, "Oh, I guess, I guess is my group now. So, if I knew of something cooler I'd be doing it.
Teresa Roberson
That's interesting you could you say that because around the 43 or so I felt like I aged out…
Felipe
Oh really?
Teresa Roberson
Of capoeira and now you're not anywhere, you're…
Felipe
I am.
Teresa Roberson
Definitely.
Felipe
I'm 37! What are you talking about?
Teresa Roberson
Oh, 37. Don't, you know what, I'm gonna stick to the subject here. You're still not at the age where I quit. So, or actually…
Felipe
You haven't quit. You're still training. What are you talking about?
Teresa Roberson
Right, right, right, right.
Felipe
Now stop getting cordas, I guess. Right?
Teresa Roberson
Right. Right. So explain what cordas are.
Felipe
"Cordas" means "cords," but it's what we call our "belts." Some people call them "cordaos" also. It's just basically your advancement in the martial art. Some groups do it to where it's once a year, twice a year, once every other year. And then depending on what level you're advancing to, and how long you've been in the art, and what responsibilities each belt or corda has. Then you might sit on a one for, you know, exponential amount of years. Like for example, the one that I'm on now I received in 2014. So last time I got a corda and I'm set to move up this year, but we'll see what happens.
Teresa Roberson
And what, what certain skill set you have to have or?
Felipe
Well yeah, different groups like have a, what's the word that I'm looking for? I'm thinking about it in Spanish and I can't say it in English. Different criteria to get to a certain level. Like, you know, just like if you were in school, like you cannot advance to this grade if you can do you know, multiplication or addition so on and so forth. So, in our group, at least, and we'll you know, we'll start at the highest level. The highest level is Mestre. And in order to be a Mestre in Evoluçao, you got to be 40 years of age, have had 20 years of capoeira, bring someone from zero to Professor, which is the level that I want to get next. Have your own group, have traveled to Brazil, know the language, culture and be able to play all the instruments. That's to get to achieve the last, latest, latest level. Then before that, we have three levels of Contramestres. I'm still not there. And then Professor which is the one that I'm about to achieve. You got to have your own group, at least for a year. Know the culture or the language to be able to be proficient at disseminating the knowledge, not just being able to you interpret the movements but also be able to pass them on to other people. So that's what part of the aspect of having a group for about a year it's important to move on to that. Language, instruments and culture.
Teresa Roberson
Okay. And now you see why I stopped getting cordas. When I
Felipe
I mean like you stopped at a good one. Normally and this is something that I find across the board. Like when people really enjoy the camraderie because capoeira there's so many things where they enjoy the camaraderie the aspect and they don't really want the responsibility, usually yellow or or blue yellow is when they tend to go like, "I'm happy here and I'm going to enjoy this.” Much, much respect, but I want to be able to, capoeira has done so much for me that I would feel hypocritical if I don't try to do as much as I can for it.
Teresa Roberson
Right. I look at people like you and I think well you, you guys are Olympiads. Whereas I'm an enthusiast. I'm an enthusiast. You know, I'm a supporter. I'm an enthusiast. I have positive vibes for capoeira.
Felipe
For days.
Teresa Roberson
But it's not my passion compared to the Olympiads. When I see you and other people capoeira Evoluçao, it's just like wow. And it's really beautiful to watch you guys flow. But at the same time, I don't even like sparring, which you can't be serious.
Felipe
I want to do the kicks, but I don't want a kick back. Okay, okay. We'll see, we'll work with that.
Teresa Roberson
But I love the conditioning. The first time I ever did a capoeira, I was teaching in Mexico, Monterrey, Mexico.
Felipe
Ah, yeah you told me.
Teresa Roberson
And I was actually supposed to go to a Zumba class.
Felipe
Aren't you glad you didn't?
Teresa Roberson
And I looked and there was just this cheap canvas banner hanging off a balcony.
Felipe
Probably handwritten.
Teresa Roberson
No, it was printed. Come on! And I said, "Oh, I rather try that instead." So, I went up and it was just fortunate. Well in Monterey, I think at least when I lived there, every fourth person could speak English, or at least well enough.
Felipe
To get by?
Teresa Roberson
Right. My Spanish has never been fluent and living in the States.
Felipe
But you understand it pretty well.
Teresa Roberson
Right, but not really to speak it.
Felipe
Okay.
Teresa Roberson
I mean, I've always taught in English when I was outside the States. So, if I had to teach in Spanish, then it probably, my language would be better, right? But that is what really got me excited, because I just went, tried the class and at 33, I was the oldest person there. And then I went home, I felt really self-conscious and uncoordinated, but I went home and just had the best sleep ever. I was like "whoa."
Felipe
Woke up the next day like, "I found it!"
Teresa Roberson
Right, but I was teaching middle school math. So, you know, middle schoolers are hormonal, and…
Felipe
They're funny.
Teresa Roberson
They, you know, it takes a lot of energy and I thought, "Wow, I will do this twice a week if I can just sleep. So, I've never really bought into that yeah I'm gonna be, you know, this capoeira Olympiad like you guys are advance belts. I purely wanted to and I did enjoy learning about the culture. I did enjoy the community. Even doing yoga now I enjoy community, so…
Felipe
There's so many aspects of it that you can, people can gravitate towards, depending. I mean it doesn't really, you don't have to maximize in each you got to make it be your own. Just like in the words of Mestre Pastinha like, you know, capoeira is for everyone, but not everyone is for capoeira. Just like now that we're facing this, you know, social distancing, so on and so forth. There's still aspects that we can learn the language, learn the culture, play an instrument, even though that you can't have, you know, a regular roda with 10-20-30 people, but you can dive into other things that will actually help the practice more.
Teresa Roberson
Exactly, I totally agree.
Felipe
Like when I got into Portuguese and like really deep into Portuguese and reading and understanding the music, I was like,"Oh, this is what they've been saying all this time." And you learn to appreciate it a whole lot more.
Teresa Roberson
But you're also fluent in Portuguese.
Felipe
I am now. Like when I started it I wasn't. I was, I spoke a lot of "Portunhol." What they, what the Brazilians would call my Portuguese. "Você fala Portenol." You're speaking Spanish and Portuguese at the same time. All right, sure. Whatever.
Teresa Roberson
You know, that was another thing that somewhat stressed me out was thinking like, I learned the names of the movements in Portuguese. That's fine. I could pretend that I was singing in Portuguese. But when it came to, "Oh, it's your turn to lead a song." It's like, I don't know any songs.
Felipe
Not me. Pass it on to the next one.
Teresa Roberson
But you've been singing the songs. It's like I've been faking it.
Felipe
Mimicking the whole thing. Watermelon, watermelon, watermelon.
Teresa Roberson
So, that was another reason. It's like, I don't need to advance another corda. I'm not advancing in anything else. It's purely,I'm an enthusiast. I love and I find, because I have trained other martial arts before, but the music is really enticing. You get into that.
Felipe
It's a, it's very, very transic. If there's, if the music is right, it's not right then I don't feel like playing. There's been rodas that the music so on and so forth. And we'll just, you know, like stop it. Like we got to get this music right if we're going to do this.
Teresa Roberson
But the distinctive sound of capoeira is the berimbau and you make berimbaus.
Felipe
I do make berimbaus here and there quite, quite a bit. I have about a couple at the house that are waiting to dry. I think I have about 15 that are waiting to dry and 15 that are dried. About five that I got to ship out. Should have been shipped out already, but when I go to the post office is either closed or there's a line of people. So, I'm staying away from them. I've been making them for about 10 or 12 years or so.
Teresa Roberson
Okay, so almost about as long as you've been practicing.
Felipe
Yeah, I learned quickly after I started practicing, but didn't really start making them til a couple years later, and then didn't really start selling them until...when was the year that I started selling them? I think it was 2012 or 2013 that I started selling berimbaus. And before that I would just make them for myself or for our students or for people in the group just so we can have a plethora of them you know, in case they break or whatever. But once I started traveling more with capoeira and thinking to myself, "Maybe I should sell them. So that's, that's yeah 2013. I think is when I was.
Teresa Roberson
Okay, now I want to circle back with when you tried CBD. I know as a youth it was recreational, but you have been an athlete all of your life.
Felipe
Pretty much.
Teresa Roberson
And because I have trained capoeira, not at the level you have, but even I injured myself in capoeira.
Felipe
Yeah, I mean injuries is a part of life. You can walk down the curb and there goes your heel. There goes your ankles. It's like ah, no!
Teresa Roberson
Right, but is that what got you eventually to try CBD?
Felipe
Oh now? As uh yeah, correct as uh after…
Teresa Roberson
Cause you've been knocked out. I mean, I didn't want to be all rude, but…
Felipe
No, but there's been like I've had broken ribs. I've had split eyes. Lost a ligament, but that was during baseball. So, it yeah,I mean injuries are part of life and even more so when you know you're a person that you're you use your body to, to do your passions. Then for me like when I actually discovered CBD as a form of pain relief aside from recreational. It was deep into my capoeira years. And I was recently that the ailments started coming along. That's a yeah, this when came back up.
Teresa Roberson
Using, using topical?
Felipe
And then at first I was somewhat skeptic. I was like, how is this gonna work? But what I noticed for me was that it would turn pain into mild discomfort, and then discomfort would just disappear. I wouldn't say that I was like, "Oh, my God, I'm dying!" And I would put it on. And I would immediately feel better. If we had a one on one of those cures then, you know, would be phenomenal. But it actually did allow for. Like for example, if I would wake up and my knee wasn't and feeling great and be like, I don't know how I'm gonna do these classes today. But then I would do an application. And as the day went by, like, Oh, I actually like they would turn pain into the discomfort of something that I could actually work through, as opposed to nurse and if it was just something that like this comfort me in a little bit. It would just completely make it disappear. And then I got into the habit of just making it so that every other day that way wouldn't the pain wouldn't build up at least when I was nursing the knee injury that I was recovering from. Which is great by the way now.
Teresa Roberson
Fantastic. Now you're, because I still take your class, but it's not a full-fledge capoeira class. It's conditioning, which I love. I absolutely love your conditioning class.
Felipe
Thank you.
Teresa Roberson
And so, one of the things, even when I took your full-fledge capoeira class.
Felipe
With the other studio.
Teresa Roberson
Right, I thought, "Oh, goodness gracious! Neg, Negro's like warm ups alone. Like I could just pack up my bags and leave out like, “Oh, that was just the warm up? I'm in trouble now.” Cause you know…
Felipe
You know we have people stop going cause of that? They will call Alex and be like who's teaching? Okay, I'm not going today.
Teresa Roberson
But what I noticed is you incorporate a lot of exercise or stretching that I would do in a yoga class. So, are you also a yoga instructor? Because you have more training than just capoeira.
Felipe
Well, yeah, I mean, so I've been a certified personal trainer. Besides being a long-life athlete, I spend a whole lot of time in the training room when I used to, when I was a D1 baseball player in college. And even though I don't have a PT degree, I pretty much could fix a whole lot of problems that come with the body as far as like, you know, dislocations like I put my friend's arms like back or shoulders back when they dislocate them.
Teresa Roberson
So, PT is physical therapy?
Felipe
Yeah, physical therapy. So, I don't have a physical therapy degree, but I spend countless amount of hours in Corpus Christi like in a training room there, because it was it was really close to my dorm. And after practice before practice in between classes, there was two semesters that I had a lot of free time. I don't remember why. So…
Teresa Roberson
Cause you weren't going to class.
Felipe
I was going to class! I went to my class and I did my baseball, but I was, I had a lot of free time. So, I was like, I'm gonna go learn some stuff. So, I would either go get some massages over there some sports massages for free because you know, they were learning or I would just sit and watch them do things and sit with them in class. So, I basically got a like a PT certification or bachelor's without getting one because mine is a mine is actually a psychology. So, but one, with that said, I try to incorporate in my classes, things that are very practical, not just necessarily for capoeira, but for life in general because I know that not all my students want to be, you know, a mestre, so on and so forth. Some people just want to be able to go to sleep well, better or not take the medication that they were taking before, or be able to, I had, I had a student one time that told me, "Now I'm able to hover over the toilets and not sit on them because you got my legs so strong." So,I want to try to be able to make people's lives easier. So, when I work out and when I stretch on when I plan my workouts, I make it. Yes, capoeira's in mind, but I also want practical mobility for everyone so that when they leave, they actually feel stronger or more flexible than they did before they walked in and also challenged.
Teresa Roberson
Well, thank you so much for talking with me.
Felipe
Ramble on there for a little bit?
Transcribed by https://otter.ai