We recently connected with Kokayi Walker and have shared our conversation below.

Kokayi, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

My journey is unique in that as an artist and musician, i never opted in on the “starving artist” thing. I had a job, As part of my journey i learned early on that sometimes we as artists rely on art to be the sole provider of our needs, in addition to the catharsis of our process, we expect; healing, love, approval, peace, and financial stability. That’s a lot to expect from an ecosystem built on the subjective. What having a job did for me was afford me the necessities of living, especially in America, and the fulcrum on which to balance my choices, meaning do i want a job or not? Having a job was either going to make me comfortable or realize that I hate working for people and work that much harder to be able to secure enough resources to sustain myself and my family.

This thought process was not an overnight thought process, especially when you come from the 95% of people who believe that everything should be practical, there are very few dreamers and even fewer that move that dream into reality, so opting in for a different version of life that that which you have been taught and that which society, especially in the Unites =States where art holds very little value, looks for income-based resources as the standard.

I don’t think there were milestones, rather there was a series of choices that helped me to understand that no matter what the process, the outcomes would be the same. if i worked 8 hours at a job and traded time for money or worked 8 hours on music and whether or not that paid or not and the surety of that helped the choice along. I also made sure that whatever time i traded i also gave to myself in the form of career building so that each thing received the same amount of time..

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

My name is Kokayi and I am a multidisciplinary artist and Grammy-nominated musician, husband and father. I started rhyming early in my life and by the time i was midway through college i was rhyming in ciphers so much that college was never finished. I worked odd jobs until i was “discovered” and after my 1st professional record was released I’ve been in the business of music for the past 30 years. I’ve taught classes on hip hop as an art form and means of conflict resolution at colleges and universities, from Ivy League to community colleges across the globe, and have performed in over 50 countries. As an artist, i’ve won a number fo Fellowships and Arts Grants and have created two exhibits entitled “HUBRI$” and “Blackness and the Infinite Potential Well”.

Currently, I consult tech companies, arts institutions, and Fortune 500 companies providing creative solutions, provide music supervision services, and am the author of “You Are Ketchup; and other fly music tales” a memoir about surviving the music business. What sets me apart are the various positions I’ve held throughout my career in music, my career as an artist and my unique perspective and network of resources and professionals to both provided create creative solutions as well as provide the needed personnel to enact the recommended solutions. I feel most proud of my children who have turned out to be good people, i feel good about being a solid life partner and friend as well as a doer of good business having maintained my integrity and have the reputation as such.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

There are 3 main books that have informed my career. “ZAG” by Marty Neumeier, “Do Cool SH#t” by Miki Agrawal and “Steal Like an Artist” by Austin Kleon. Each of these books provides unique perspectives on marketing, starting over, and being creative, respectively. There are many other books out there that give have great messages and are inspirational but for me these three resonated more with me and helped shift my perspective so that I looked at what i needed to do for myself and my career in a way that was unique.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

As a citizen of the United States, the idea of art, creativity, and creative ecosystems are buzzwords and odd concepts for a society built on being practical and not having the infrastructure and societal folkways that help to move art beyond the space of art as a commodity. So asking society on a whole to shift these viewpoints is mad altruistic, what’s more sensible is the shifting of the mindsets of those closest to you as the artist or creative, when folks see that your business is not a hobby and that “your little…” is not a little anything but the foundation for a profitable business model is where each artist/creative will start to see shifts in perspective. My thought is that it’s always those closest to you who are both your biggest cheerleader and detractor based on their ideas of practicality and their fear for you and what they believe are your best interests.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.kokayi202.com
• Instagram: @kokayi
• Facebook: @KOKAYIMUSIC
• Twitter: @kokayi
• Youtube: @kokayimusic

Image Credits
Fred Yonnet Jati Lindsay Dimicology