BJ The Chicago Kid Brings A Different Idea To What It Means To Be A Successful Artist
Photo courtesy of Allison Ten Eyck
As I was biking down Milwaukee Ave. headed towards downtown Chicago for a lecture at Columbia College, I realized I was a little more hungover than I wanted to be. My fellow collaborator and homie Juttin, a former student of Columbia, invited me to catch the BJ the Chicago Kid seminar Aemmp Records and Cuma were putting on and I didn’t hesitate to say yes. Not only do I love lectures, but I have been following the progress of BJ since his release of “Pineapple Now-Laters”. BJ to me seems like the man who brings positive energy to every collaboration he’s involved in from Schoolboy Q to Vic Mensa to Joey Badass. All these artists are great in their own realm but BJ elevates each of these tracks to become hits. There were a lot of Columbia College students waiting to hear how he got to this level of success.
A Motown signee, BJ began singing in church like the majority of R&B singers, but one thing to me that sets him a part from most other artists is that he has learned to stay trusting of his religion in an industry full of temptation. He doesn’t really view Christianity in the conservative sense where there are strict regulations on what you can and cannot do, he believes that your faith is relative to how you view the world. A self-proclaimed believer, he answered questions from students such as “How do you keep your faith when you’re put into uncomfortable situations?” with the idea “Nobody can get you into Heaven. Your mom can’t get you into Heaven, your dad can’t get you into Heaven, your Pastor can’t get you into Heaven. The only person that can get you into Heaven is yourself, so how strong is your faith in God?” which is a powerful message to be preaching to kids looking to find an unlocked door to an industry that praises ego. It is an interesting take on Christianity in an era where the church preaches exclusion more than inclusion in how your personal relationship with God is not affected by your surroundings, it’s affected by the strength of your mind. If you take any career or any faith and apply this message to them it seems to be a pathway to success and BJ exemplified how this mindset can be of use.
Photo courtesy of Allison Ten Eyck
Now one thing that was a little upsetting about the event is that it was scheduled to start at 10:45 and end at 11:45. As I usually do for business, I got there directly at 10:45 not really wanting to socialize before the event but unfortunately for me BJ didn’t make it to the building until 11:45. There wasn’t any real reason and the students of Aemmp and Cuma did their best to keep students from leaving, which was semi-successful but once BJ arrived all of the frustration of waiting immediately left and everyone was relieved he had even shown up. He talked for about 10 minutes going back and forth with “Your voice of the streets” Vicki Streetz an ambitious host (who impressively kept kids entertained for an hour) and then opened up the discussion for questions from the audience. BJ really dropped gems such as “Being lost is one the best ways to be if you haven’t found yourself,” “If you’re great there is no one competing with you,” and when asked about how he started songs, “ It might not be where you want it to begin, but you have to get the dirt off to get the gold.” BJ’s a man of humility.
Immediately upon BJ entering the auditorium you could tell that he is a different type of artist. In an industry that celebrates ego, BJ seems to possess a humility that is radiant and infectious. Every kid in there was hanging on to his every word, maybe because that’s the only reason they were skipping class but I believe that he speaks with such an honesty that texting while he’s around is asinine. From a man that claims he’s “felt like an alien” his entire life you can see that art seeps from his pores. He doesn’t do this to be famous, there is a need to create, a need to love, a need to spread a gospel that if you do what you love you can have an impact not on just your life but on the lives around you. This man evokes the very meaning of what it means to be creative and I look forward to seeing the impact he had on not just these Columbia students but on our generation.
