Making It Your Own

Making it your own is  a necessary part of any situation. What will you learn from this? How will you make your stamp? What does it mean to carve your lane? We’re digging into it all on this episode with bi-costal artist Jabari. 

The Hot Girl’s Healing podcast is about healing in community and covers diverse topics, and how they relate to healing. 

Salenna Green (she/they)  is an organizer, creative, speaker, healer and leader. Salenna has a degree in Community Psychology and a background in nonprofit leadership and program development. Salenna is carving her own lane in the healing industry, promoting self love and relationship healing. 

The Hot Girl’s Healing podcast is one of the offerings through Salenna Green SPC (SGSPC) that promotes self love and relationship healing. This podcast is for everyone but centers Black, queer people as holding truly safe space for their community was a predominant motivator for creating this show. Salenna enjoys creating art, reading, leisure and travel in their free time. Follow them on social media to stay updated! @salennagreen #HotGirlsHealing

Transcript

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SPEAKER_04 0:08

Hello, beautiful healing community. It's your girl Selena Green, and this is another episode of the Hot Girls Healing Podcast. If you have never been here before, this is a podcast where we discuss all things and how they relate to healing. And I'm your host, Selena Green. This is the fourth season. Okay, so we in here. We know how to act. We know what we're doing. It's all very sophisticated. Alright, so today I am joined by an amazing artist. Honestly, y'all, I've talked about this before, but I will say it again. This healing journey has led me to cross paths with some really amazing people. You know what I mean? Like, you know, when you encounter someone's work for the first time and you see it and it just like it just feels right, you're like, oh, like, yes, like, mmm, okay, those are all the sounds that I made when I first saw Jabari's art. That was exactly the clicking that like, wow, that is what I felt. So I am really happy to be having this conversation with you, Jabari. Please do introduce yourself to the people, and then y'all, we are gonna be talking about making it your own today. Okay, how do you make it your own? Or as I like to say, put your little shank on it. Okay, so Jabari, let them know who you are, and then we'll hop right into the conversation.

SPEAKER_01 1:36

Thank you for having me, Selena. My name is Jabari Jahi Babatiri Dia. Uh, I go by eye-bombs, that's illegal beauty on my streets, and um I'm a multi multidisciplinary artist.

SPEAKER_04 1:48

So yes, multidisciplinary artists, two multiple disciplinary artists. I really enjoy seeing your art. I love like the thread that goes through it.

SPEAKER_03 2:00

Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 2:01

And I felt like when when I first encountered your work, um, and then when you agreed to be on the podcast and we started having the conversation around what are we gonna talk about, yes, making it your own was such a natural conclusion. It was such a good thing because um, and mind you, I I'm like, this is my first impression of you. No, like when I met you at CDR Walk, that was my first impression of you. And I was like, okay, so you're doing like some type of figure work, you're sketching, you're I think painting, you're drawing, you're um doing some craftsmanship, and I would say fashion as well, because the straw man costume, you know, so it's just um so many things. And when I think about being a creative or a multidisciplinary artist, because for me it's a lot of syllables to say multidisciplinary artists I'm like, I'm a creator.

SPEAKER_01 3:02

Right, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 3:03

Literally, but um there's something about you know finding your lane or your voice as an a multidisciplinary artist, finding your style that I feel like you did really well. There's definitely like this thread, there is this style that is in all of your art, whether it's a sketch or it's painting or it's a figure that you created. So I want to talk about that part of making your your own. Because for me, when I say making it your own, that's what I'm talking about. It's like where I have figured out myself so well that no matter what I'm doing, you know I'm doing it.

SPEAKER_03 3:48

Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 3:49

You know, I think I think of making it my own. What is your definition of making it your own?

SPEAKER_01 3:55

I like how you put that. It definitely feels like a fingerprint, is something that's unique to you, you know. And um I I I kind of explained this once you uh once you learn all you need to learn from the people that need to teach you, you know, you you have those weapons or those tools in your in your tool bag and you get to use it how you want to use it, not just how they taught you how to use it. So, you know, just I find it like when I'm being my what I feel like I'm being my most defiant against the system is when my true style comes out because then it's like I'm doing what I truly want to do, not what somebody told me to do.

SPEAKER_04 4:33

So yeah, that's huge for making it your own too. And I know that when we're talking, you're talking about you know, having certain representation, um, growing up of different styles of art. Yeah. But you know, as a black artist and as a youth, you don't always see like the styles of art that you like representing black people in them, or very often, or very well when they do.

unknown 4:59

Right.

SPEAKER_04 4:59

So what is that experience like for you and how do you make that your own?

SPEAKER_01 5:05

I kind of cling on to the ones that came before us, you know, uh what was that Andre 3000 class of rock or school of rock, something like that. It was a cartoon that used to come on either Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network, but he had a cartoon, Afro Samurai, the Boondocks, um, Little Bill, you know, I'm just like uh the the PJs. I I attach myself to all of those cultural, you know, things like animation.

SPEAKER_04 5:30

And um PB and Jay Otter, they were hella black.

SPEAKER_01 5:35

It's just it is it has a certain flavor to it. So it's like even though it's like far and few between, you're like, you gotta grasp you gotta hold on to those, you know. Yeah, so those those definitely develop my style a lot. Um, like some artists, like Hebrew Brantley, um Frank Morrison. Um, there's an artist um he goes by walk that's W A K. So definitely had huge African-American influence in the art.

SPEAKER_04 6:01

Uh, and it's so important too for building up that fingerprint that you were talking about. You know what I mean? Because how I'm making something my own, I don't even know who I am.

SPEAKER_03 6:13

Like it's so important.

SPEAKER_04 6:16

And I think about, you know, some of the artists that I was um exposed to as a kid, their artistry, they're the reason why I want to be an actor, the reason why I wanted to be a you know director, the reason why I wanted to dance or do all these things was because I saw someone black do it before me. And I think that's really important and it really shows in your art. Like it's so playful. There's this part of being an artist. Um I feel like being an artist, you know, you experience such a deep and wide spectrum of the experience of what it means to be human. You know what I mean? Because we're not worried about being like, oh, I'm this age, so now I have to do this, and I'm this, so now I gotta do this. An artist is gonna be who they're gonna be. And it doesn't necessarily matter what period of time we're born into, it doesn't matter what everybody else is doing, it doesn't even matter. I was thinking about growing up, and I'm like, oh my god, it was I was so cringy as a teenager because I was not on what other teenagers were on at all. Like I was worried about being cool and like fitting in, and I'm like, no, y'all, like, how do you not understand? Like, we don't know what's in the ocean.

SPEAKER_01 7:30

Like, yeah, I feel that it's yeah, because you be on your own wavelength sometimes.

SPEAKER_04 7:40

Say that again because you be on your own wavelength as an artist sometimes.

SPEAKER_01 7:45

Yes, yes, you do. You know, it's it's like it's crazy because I find those people that were a lot different that kind of sometimes shun me for being a little bit different when I was younger. I I find them coming around in my older age, you know, you like applauding me for not changing because they they see what the world does to people. You know, we see what the world does to people. It's like having that outlet to create, I feel like has anchored me and myself. A lot of people lose themselves because they don't have outlet, you know. Like all the stuff they hold inside kind of kind of destroys the essence, you know.

SPEAKER_04 8:22

Yeah, no, high key, or there's other destructive outlets that people take to process that shit out. And when I tell you, like art actually has both helped me heal and hold on to my inner child and to release some shit and process some shit that I needed to release and process that just wasn't serving my life. It really helped me to put it down, you know? And yeah, that helps you it helps you regain that youthful spirit because you're not boggled down by all these things anymore. But yeah, man, being a being a kid and being this like kind of version of myself, um, because as I'm healing, I'm finding I'm kind of returning.

SPEAKER_03 9:07

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 9:09

Not regressing, but returning, yes. Because like a bitch is still grown. Okay. But and yes, and I have expanded and evolved, which is another thing that I feel I not only witnessed in your art, but um I've experienced in my own artistry. If I can ask, what has the evolution of your art been? Have you found that you started with one medium or you kind of explored a lot of things and then returned? Like what was your evolution as an artist?

SPEAKER_01 9:48

Yeah, I I pretty much I kind of well, my mom was um pretty creative. She liked to do like scrapbooking. She was like a um what is it, cabinetry maker? She she makes like all types of furniture, she restores furniture. So I've always had like my hand in all different mediums. She always had like all the up-to-date tools. It's like a running joke that she knows more about tools than most of the men in our family. It's true. You know, she's a that's where I learned most of my stuff prior to military. Um she's really you know, boots on the ground type shit. So I would say the thing that I noticed most is just like subject matter. Since I've always had like just like the multimedia aspect, it's just the subject matter has changed. So it's like I started off like really cartoon and then I like transitioned to like this like when I was in high school, like 10th and 11th grade, like this really woke version where I started to learn more about slavery. It's like I was already privy to it, but now that I was in an older age, I could really understand it and feel it. So like all of that was coming out, you know. My mom always had like a lot of African American books, is like to the point where they like showing people getting hooked in the rib cage, you know, hanging from the tree type shit, stuff that they used to be. So it like went to like this really dark period where I was just talking about that. And then like I evolved into like street art, graffiti, and then um then I started realizing I could break my personality down into different characters, and then that's when I started where I am now, it's just like building up this world of a world that I want to see and not the world that I live in. And it's like it's this thing that I always battle with. It's like I'm either gonna lie and create a better world or tell the truth and keep the trauma going. So it's always like that that balance, you know.

SPEAKER_04 11:43

Ooh, ooh, that's so much. Y'all, you talking about the ancestors and the true history, like almost brought a tear to my eye because people don't know. So it's like it is so hard. Because I also had a mom who taught us like history. By the time I got to school, I was like, they left a lot of shit out.

SPEAKER_01 12:03

It's like I'm knowing more than a history teacher. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_04 12:08

Literally, it was it is crazy, but we it is hard, ain't it, to hold space for what our ancestors really went through and how recently they went through this and function in society today because the cognitive dissonance that our society functions in. I'm like, I will knock all this shit over. You don't understand. For my ancestors, okay? Don't play with them because yeah, they were putting home to our people and turning us into lampshades and all kinds of evil, unspeakable, way worse than we learn in school, yes, type shit. And we're the we're the only ones who really know. You know what I mean? So it's like, how do we tell the truth and at the same time create this better future where we're not all just being re-traumatized?

SPEAKER_03 12:59

Because we know we we somebody else know.

SPEAKER_04 13:04

Somebody else conveniently has forgotten and just didn't see or hear anything, right? But we know. So um that has been such a a journey with my art as well. Um I was just watching this podcast clip with Loretta Devine. You know, she played like everybody's mama. I love her skin, green girls. Okay, so she was talking about how like as an actor, and mind you, I saw this clip out of context. I just think I know what she was talking about. But she was saying how like acting, black people have been acting, like we know how to act in different situations. We know how to be over here and how to be over there, and how to be on the phone and when we go in in person, and it reminds me of artistry because black people, we know our we know how to create, we know how to in innovate, we know how to pivot, we know how to make it and then make it better, and then make it again. We know how to take the scraps and make it into gold. Like that. We don't even have to try to be artists, we just are.

SPEAKER_03 14:06

Yes, facts. Right?

SPEAKER_04 14:09

Like it's it's it's it's so powerful. I'm like that that truth comes when you know your ancestors. That truth makes it easy to make whatever you're doing your own, and not in a way that's like colonizing, like we're not making continents our own that people already live on. We are approaching an idea, situation, a some art. I've been inspired by other artists, I've been inspired by nature. We're taking this and being inspired by it and making it our own in that way.

SPEAKER_02 14:41

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 14:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:48

I never I never thought about that. We you said it's like we're we've always known how to act, you know. But they say like code switching, you know, it's just it's just something that we had to do to survive, and it's like it's become a beautiful thing out of that survival.

SPEAKER_04 15:07

Yeah, we we literally can do anything, and people don't know really what they've come from, or they don't know what their family has come from. And I say this as someone who, you know, my family has been through some stuff. We all I was I'd be talking to my co-workers, um, because I luckily work somewhere where I have black people around me in professional settings. Um pretty much every professional because I'm an entrepreneur, but every professional setting that I'm in, there are other black people there. And so it's important to have that, and it's also important to lean on each other in those spaces because even as artists, like we need to be around other black artists, other indigenous artists in these artist spaces.

SPEAKER_03 16:00

I definitely agree with that.

SPEAKER_01 16:05

So I would say Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:07

Have you collaborated with any other artists?

SPEAKER_01 16:10

Oh yeah, yeah, quite a few. Um mostly um back home, back home in Florida. Um, me and my my good friend Zulu Painter, he he taught me a lot how to do murals and stuff. We did a group show or like a two-man showcase of the whiz, uh the the black version of the Wizard of Oz. We did like our recreation of that. That shit was dope. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:36

I literally love the Wiz. Like, I don't even like the Wizard of Oz or really wicked. Like, I'm so sorry.

SPEAKER_01 16:42

Like, same. They they ain't got they got the whiz that little dude that we walk around with little doot doo doo that's a nigga. I like him.

SPEAKER_04 16:55

Right. Uh the culture is so good and so rich. That's really cool, though.

SPEAKER_01 17:01

Thank you. But what about yourself?

SPEAKER_04 17:04

Yeah, I didn't even know that you did mural work too. I'm like, hey, now we need to add that to the list though.

SPEAKER_03 17:10

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 17:13

Because I know scaling your work up is is definitely a thing. I haven't done that so much um because I don't like I'm barely a sketcher. I scratched, I sketched to watercolor, so I'm getting better at sketching, but it's not something that I would say is my strong suit. The most that I've done to scale up my work is like prints of one of my photos larger, um, or start working on larger canvases for some of my collage mosaic work. Um but I know mural work, scaling your work up like that is a trip, and it definitely takes some skill.

SPEAKER_01 17:53

Yeah. Sometimes it's like if the wall isn't too big, then I have enough courage to just draw it big, you know, just fix it as I go. But for the most part, we use projectors or we use something called the doodle grid, where you just draw a bunch of symbols on the wall and you um use your iPad and you kind of transparent what you're painting and you trace over it that way. So it's mostly um projector to get it up there big, trace it, turn out the projector and paint it.

SPEAKER_03 18:22

Mmm, okay.

SPEAKER_04 18:25

There's more method to the madness than I thought.

SPEAKER_01 18:29

Yeah, it's not that hard. Get yourself a projector. If I get a projector, I'll send you one. Yeah, you'll be set.

SPEAKER_04 18:40

I love it. So I definitely felt like when I went to the exhibit at Matespace that I was introduced to your art at, that I was stepping like into your world when I stepped into that space. I definitely saw the reality of that world that you started creating. And I want to like hear a little bit more about that as far as making that your own. How much of the world you created is of you know the truth, and how much is of the world you want to live?

SPEAKER_01 19:17

As I I I like to do a little bit of both in each piece, um so it's not too imbalanced. You know, I sometimes I really just want to create like violent work, but then when I get to the end of it, it's like I'm not teaching anybody with this, so I'm most likely not gonna put it out in that way. So if I don't feel like there's a lesson or there's a journey of like learning in the piece, like I won't create it. Um so like with that one piece ancient agent Aztec, the icebreaker. I had like the the phrase Aztec on my mind for a while. And I was just like, I I don't know if it's respectful to play with the Aztec name like that, but I was like, let's make it mean something. So it's like, what is the reason that they're going for the indigenous people the way they are? It's like because they're indigenous the same as they went for us. We have a type of power inside of us that is like I had a friend that told me it's like they're not going after you because you're a weak target, they're going after you because you're a strong and powerful target. So it's like, okay, so how do I make this strong and powerful? It's like, well, what are your desires? It's like I'm attracted to women, I'm attracted to strong women. It's like, well, let's make a woman that is strong defeating the foes. So it's like trying to mend all of these things together with trying to be respectful, trying to be creative, and trying to be impact impactful all at the same time.

SPEAKER_04 20:44

And was that was like the exact print that I bought, and somebody else bought the buttons that piece, um, yeah, it definitely brought me into your world. There's almost like this like dystopian aspect. Then some other ones just feel so free and joyous and like boundless, you know what I mean? Like really realistic, honestly. It feels like the world. I always remind people like the bad and the good, there's equal and opposite, are just as true and real. So I feel like you really capture that reality.

SPEAKER_01 21:21

Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 21:24

Yeah, it's uh man, our work is a trip. Oh, yeah. Are any of your the figures um that you create, are those like based off of you or yourself or sorry, your family members, like anyone you know in real life? Because I remember the it seemed like either similar or you know, the same character.

SPEAKER_01 21:46

Yeah, so um for the one I did, he he kind of had on like the Rasta, he was a figurine had on the Rasta um kimono, and he had the the blade, so he had like four wicks on his head. So um I I I noticed that you got the five five five on your that's that's my number. So my mom had five children. Um my elder sister Ebony, uh middle sister Candy. She passed um when she was born, but I still count her as a sibling. Ivory, Ashanti, and then me, which is the fifth. So when I do the wick numbers on the characters, they symbolize a different person in uh you know in the family. So the fourth the one that had the four wicks is my older brother Ashanti. So he's um he went to the military, he's a soldier, he went to the Marines also. So he's he's the soldier. So that's when I want to get to that one. And then there's another one where I kind of mix it up. He has five wigs. So it was me speaking about my um my uncle that had recently passed. It's like there's this weird connection that I have, or I wouldn't say weird, there's this ancestral connection that I have when people in the family pass. There is a character, there's a creation that happens in the midst of that. And I believe that it is uh me assisting in that uh person's passage to the next side. You know, there's more to it than just uh painting pretty pictures. It's like we're oracles, we are the one that connects the people with the spirit, we're the ones that can see those things. So just trying to be the mediator.

SPEAKER_04 23:20

That's so real, and it makes the art even more powerful. That connection, like that shit is your own, you know what I mean? It's your people, it's your blood, it's the it's the soil that we come from and that we return to.

SPEAKER_02 23:34

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 23:35

Yeah, that's real art. That it makes so much sense to me because I'm an artist who definitely believes that I uh not all of the art that I do I share, not all of the art that I do is for other people, it's for production, you know. Art is it's not about whether it's put up for display or not necessarily. It's about why are you creating yeah, and the why is so deep and rich with you that I'm just like, yeah, of course the work is striking because I've even found that in my own art, you know what I mean? Like this the stuff that I connect to and that I'm the happiest about I didn't even necessarily have a good time the whole time I created it. I'm like, that makes you stressful. But the reason I was creating it was why it made it meant so much for me. Yeah, and that's why, like when it's done, you're like, oh thank God. Yes, that that is who we're meant to be. Like that is what I was creating. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 24:39

Yeah. For real. I don't think people realize it's like this is some grueling work, you know. It's self-imposed torture, but you know, it's rewarding at the end.

SPEAKER_04 24:52

Dramatic artists were like painting, but then like let me get back to it. It's so real though, but I really love art so much. Um, and it's it's so worthy. And I feel like when it comes to making it your own, I'm not only talking about art, I'm an artist, so look, I do tend to move with that lens. But making it your own is everything. I make it my own in my day job, I make it my own on the committees that I'm a part of. And that doesn't mean that I walk into the room and I start trying to command it and take over. I mean I make that experience my own. I honor why I am there. How does this fit into my life story? How does this align with my life mission? These are all things that I'm thinking about from the meetings that I accept to the events that I go to. If it doesn't align with my personal mission, if it's not a part of my life story, then you ain't seeing me there.

SPEAKER_03 25:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:54

But if it is, I'm gonna show up in a way that is sweet. I'm gonna be present, I'm gonna be invested in there because I'm making it my own. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 26:04

Yes. That's when you start radiating.

SPEAKER_04 26:08

How do you make it your own in other places? Oh, oh sorry.

SPEAKER_01 26:16

No, no, you good. It is kind of I kinda get in the zone.

SPEAKER_04 26:21

Oh yeah, I was Oh no, you good.

SPEAKER_01 26:23

I I I I get in the zone. It's like I smoke, I drink. And then it's like when I do that, you know, I just radiate. You know, like what you said is like I'm not commanding. I'm not trying to command attention. It's just I'm being who I'm supposed to be in that. You fit in your place and you command attention if that's the role that you're supposed to be playing in that moment. So it's like when I went into made space, it's like being respectful, it's like knowing that this isn't my space. So it's like being taught by the right parents, you know, growing up right gets me into these places and uh teaches me how to be the right person. It's like sweep up after yourself, clean up, ass, don't just take shit, you know. Don't just uh assume, yeah. Assume it makes the ass out of you and me. It's like I go into most of my spaces thinking like that, as if I'm gonna go meet my mom.

SPEAKER_04 27:19

Yeah, and honestly, that's another thing that I feel like is kind of our own as a community. Black people are hella respectful, like as that each individual may not be, but our cultural standard is respect you and respectful. And that's the thing about us don't start and I won't be none, right?

SPEAKER_03 27:37

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 27:39

We ain't starting none.

SPEAKER_03 27:40

Oh, yeah. You don't gotta worry about it.

SPEAKER_04 27:45

But we will finish that shit, right? And that's the other part about it. Like, we do come into spaces respectful, and we do take the lead from um people who have been there before. I actually had this conversation recently um with one of my friends who's from the continent, she's Kenyan, and we were talking about how when black people and I'm like, girl, I can only speak for my particular tribe in this conversation, but we're not taught to go into places acting like we already know what's going on.

unknown 28:19

Right.

SPEAKER_04 28:20

We go into places and we act that ask the nearest black person who've been there longer than us what's going on in here.

SPEAKER_02 28:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 28:29

Okay, you're not gonna see us walk into the space and tell the black person there what's going on in the room that we just walked into. Right. That's not how we culturally move.

SPEAKER_01 28:39

That's where I get jacked up in the alley or something. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 28:44

Right, okay, because that's one not that's not even respectful. How I'm coming into the room last, but I'm telling you who've been standing in here for 20 minutes what they're talking about.

SPEAKER_01 28:54

That's when we just wouldn't do that.

SPEAKER_04 28:56

We're not jumping in the Kool-Aid, not knowing the flavor.

SPEAKER_01 28:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 28:59

I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_01 29:00

I I said that's one thing I do appreciate about the black culture, is like how they taught me how to move through spaces. It saved my life on many occasions, just like showing respect. You know, it you never know. It's people out there just like ready to offer motherfucker, but you show respect that day just because that's who you are, and it's like it saved you and somebody else. That's just crazy how far it'll go.

SPEAKER_04 29:24

Yeah, and how far it has gone. And I think even in today, we have this culture where it's like if you show people basic respect, then you're a simp or you're trying, or you're I'm like, it's like what? Like, we're not doing none of that.

SPEAKER_01 29:44

I don't I don't like it. I don't like that.

SPEAKER_04 29:50

Look, I don't like it and I don't identify it with it either. I do like to keep it cute, I like to keep it respectful. I ain't starting none. You don't either, and then there won't be none. Um, because respect is extremely important, and that's kind of one of the ways that I make things my own too. When I come into a space, like you will notice I'm gonna come into that space and hold space. Yes, like I'm gonna hold my own space. I'm gonna take up the room that I am meant to take up. I actually really liked when you said that about how when you make something your own, a situation, uh a room that you enter, when you make it your own, you really do show up and appropriately play the position that you're meant to play.

SPEAKER_03 30:34

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 30:35

I have been to a lot of events where I mean, I wouldn't say a lot, but there's definitely been an okay, um, events where you go and there's that person who's like trying to make it their thing. I'm like, girl, did you plan? Like, did you coordinate you organizing? You with one of the vendors? Like, who are you?

SPEAKER_03 30:54

Yeah, you can't rip. This shit crazy.

SPEAKER_04 31:00

Yeah. And it's um, yeah, it's just it really is a thing to come into a situation, be appropriate, play your position. Um and I this may be my like AHG brain or ADV, but it also reminds me of how people talk about Raven Simone's uh wife. I don't know if you heard about that at all, but I love Disney Channel. I love Raven.

SPEAKER_03 31:25

What happens?

SPEAKER_04 31:26

Okay, so Raven Simone has a white wife. Yeah, and she be in her feelings about the community, not like rallying around her wife and like being her best friend, or I'm not even really sure. I don't want to speak on her too much, but it's like the way that the community accepts her wife, I want to say most accurately, is my away from it. She felt like you know, is rude or whatever. And she's like, would it be the same if it was a husband or if they were non-white? And people are like, baby, it's not about your wife. Like, first of all, you don't even know her. That's the thing in our community. Do we know you? Okay, so yeah, that makes sense. Come in the room, act appropriately, yeah, let people get to know you. You kind of go right, and then you build a relationship.

SPEAKER_01 32:17

Yeah, it builds.

SPEAKER_04 32:18

We don't even know you.

SPEAKER_01 32:20

Because like it is it's really not about who she's married to, it's like what type of rapport does that person have? Like, you don't just get a pass because you are in a relationship with this person. It's like, who are you really? So I I understand.

SPEAKER_04 32:34

And that's what I'm trying to say. That's what the community wants to know. And if you made things your own in a way that's appropriate, you go show up to the situation, play your position. I love to clap for other people. Like, I'm on the stage a lot. I'm a host, you know I mean, I moderate panels, I model. Um, there's a lot of reasons for me to be up on the stage getting all the attention. And when it's my time to do that, I will do that. However, when I'm in the audience, when I'm supporting one of my friends, you're not gonna see me like doing the most. Like you're gonna see me supporting my friend because that is the role that I'm there to take. That's my lane. Facts, and I'm gonna be in that lane, and I'm gonna expand that lane. We'll support in ways we ain't never supported before, okay?

SPEAKER_01 33:21

I like that.

SPEAKER_04 33:24

Yeah, because I'm just saying that's community, you know. I mean, so making community your own is a thing too. How do you make your community work for you? How are you showing up in your community? Are you playing your position, whatever that may be at the time, to make sure you're good and to make sure your community is good.

SPEAKER_01 33:43

Thanks. It remind me like when you go into a family reunion, you go meet your people. It's like, what do you do when you normally go in there? It's like, I'm the boy, so I pick up the heavy shit, you know. Pick up the heavy shit, move the heavy shit, make sure everybody okay. You know.

SPEAKER_04 33:59

Literally. And it's just like those things that you know to do, you know. In the black community, acknowledging people is very big. It's a very big thing to acknowledge people when you come into a room.

SPEAKER_03 34:13

And that's yeah, I love that actually.

SPEAKER_04 34:17

Yeah, I like that part of the black community. I think that's another thing that we do to show respect, you know what I mean to each other. So that's all I'm trying to say. Find your language, expand it. Sorry, there was a lag. What did you say? Yeah. But I feel like honestly, for me, like I don't have too much more to say about making it your own. You know what I mean? Like, for me, if I had any final words, and please do think about yours because I'm asking you to, but mine have come to me. My final words on making it your own is really find out who you are, who you wanna be, you know what I mean? Find out who your people is, um, and decide on your personal mission. Make it your own. Show up. Put your sink on it, put your sand on it, put your mark on it.

SPEAKER_01 35:20

I couldn't say it any better myself.

SPEAKER_04 35:24

Nah, Javari, what are your last words? Is there anything we haven't said about making it your own that we need to say?

SPEAKER_01 35:31

Um say don't don't be afraid, you know. Feel like your ideal is too violent, too lewd or lustful, you know, too dark. It's like that's not true. There's somebody out there that needs what you're about to say, regardless of how crazy you think it may sound.

SPEAKER_04 35:51

No, I actually think we need more disturbing art from black creators. So black and indigenous people start making it dark and weird, you know what I mean? Like tap into the And by darker I mean more melanated. Yeah, like make it even more melanated, make it more disturbing for the white gays, make it more uncomfortable for white people, because um if you don't, you're gonna make things comfortable for them. Comfortable for them. I don't wanna you know shock the class too much, but comfortable for white people was the you enslaved. So um, if you are black, get used to white people being comfortable around you, make that your new standard. I like that much respect. Just the thought, you know.

SPEAKER_03 36:38

It's the truth.

SPEAKER_04 36:40

All right, Jabari, where can people find you, buy your art, support you, put you on more panels where you can talk more about your art and where it's coming from.

SPEAKER_01 36:50

So mostly I operate through Instagram and TikTok right now. So Instagram is uh I B-O-M-S. There's um dots in between there, but you don't have to type in the dots when you um search it up. It's just i b-o-m-s. And then I have my links to all my other stuff um in my bio. And um it's Google. Uh you could Google Jabari Read Op iBombs, and then like all my things will come up. You'll be able to see all the stuff I'm doing.

SPEAKER_04 37:17

Yes, the revolution will be unhinged. All right, Jabari. It has been such a pleasure chatting with you. You definitely need to hit me up next time you're in Seattle because I need to see all the art that you're doing over here.

SPEAKER_03 37:35

I'll be back soon.

SPEAKER_04 37:37

I don't be in Florida, but just we in Seattle. Uh but all right, y'all. I am Selena Green. This has been another episode of the Hot Girls Healing podcast, y'all. This is where we come, we talk about whatever. It always lands in healing. You saw that, right? Because we went left and right and came back to Sunday. Um, I will see y'all out in community. Use the hashtag Hot Girls Healing to join me in conversation online. And if you see me out in Canadian, say hey. I'll see you next time. Bye.

SPEAKER_01 38:11

Peace out.

SPEAKER_00 38:53

We do my little way, I've got it.