Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ademola Oyewole-Davis. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Ademola, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

I moved across the country, all because I knew I could make it. I’m from Brooklyn, NYC, New York, where I’ve been told, “If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere” I always believed that New York would be where I would thrive as an artist. When the pandemic shut the world down, I started to expand my thinking, letting go of my past expectations. I knew I had to travel and find somewhere I’d be able to develop myself more as an artist and create in peaceful surroundings. My now fianceé and I traveled to 4 different states to see where we felt most comfortable, where the opportunities seemed to flow abundantly. One day it happened, and we both received an opportunity to start new jobs in a new state, leaving New York and trusting that these jobs, and this new location, would help usher in our new phase in life. We barely spent time in this place we were offered to come to live in, but we took the opportunity anyway. When she asked me if we should, I replied without second guessing. I trusted my heart, and even though I hadn’t laid eyes on this new place, this risk that I would take to expand my career in a place that I’d barely heard of ended up being the most perfect move that I’d make in my life. The following year, this year, I released a new song and performed in New York City, and headlined a show in Los Angeles all because I took the risk. I know there’s more to come and more risks to take.

Ademola, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

There wasn’t a time I wasn’t writing, singing, or dancing. Under 2 years old, I memorized poems and performed them on stage with kids much older than me. When I was around 8 years old, my mother took me to the writing workshops she would facilitate, and I assumed I was a student like the teenagers. At 10 years old, I would sing for my classmates and, at the end of the year, in front of the whole school. My path became very clear to me I’d take every opportunity to learn more about my voice, so I was a part of the Region 8 Choir in middle school; that’s where I started learning technique and learned that my voice is a tenor. There wasn’t a choir in my high school, so we made one, and I played clarinet in the school band, whatever I could do to keep myself involved in the arts. Then came along poetry, giving me the words from my heart and soul onto the page. I started writing more in my sophomore year and never looked back. Then when I went to college I started the journey of putting it all together, the poetry, the music, and the performing together. Now I use every tool in my artistic box to be a dynamic, critical thinking, revolutionary, joyous creative in everything I do. Whether I’m teaching a class or I’m performing in front of an audience, I give it my all.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

Michael Jackson represented a lot for me. The original sound he produced was a gift that we’re now able to cherish, and because people listened, he could talk about problems in our communities across the globe. My mission is to let the voices of my support system be lifted up, for black people to feel like they can achieve greatness in this life too. Racism is a plague, colorism is a disease, and I want to do what I can to use my voice to dismantle the lies my people are told in this white supremacist conditioning to a place where they can thrive. To live for life’s sake. My art is a key to unlocking the tools of your mental and emotional salvation. I want to do for others what Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Earth, Wind and Fire, and Prince did for me.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I have a lot of non-creative friends/family members/loved ones, and I use that term loosely because I think there’s a creative bone in every person’s body. The struggle for them to understand my journey or that others like them are they don’t see how it’s a necessity to live as a creative. Even if they listen to music, buy art, and support creativity in their own way, they just don’t see how important it is to everyday life. Creatives are like the sun to their moon; we need balance in this world. As a creative, I can draw out words that you might not be able to grasp at the present time, helping explain something that seems difficult. The emotions that I’m unafraid to tap into might hold trauma for others that are diligent in their line of uncreative work. I might have words that make you see the creativity in your own job. I’m also a lifeguard, and there’s poetry in everything that’s being done. That first responder position gives me the ability to watch and react when necessary, like a job in an office. When you’re needed, you respond, react, and do what needs to be done. Creativity helps you remember who you are, why you get the work done, how to check in with yourself, and so much more. We are the exhale to the inhale, just as necessary as the structure we have in life is our freedom to choose the life we want.     

Contact Info:

• Website: ademolatheartist.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bksademola/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Adetheartist/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lewisxdavis/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz36trPsqO8b23lzHnJPNLw
• Other: My personal instagram https://www.instagram.com/theprincepoet/