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

Marlon, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I’ve known since I was about 10 years old, I wanted to be a performer of some sort. I would often find myself writing poems, freestyling raps, dancing or drawing at this age. At 13, I committed myself to being a rapper, which helped me gain popularity and a reputation in my neighbor and throughout high school and college. I actual left college to pursue a career in music, which didn’t turn out good, Nonetheless, even as an adult with a regular 9-5 job, I would find ways to pursue and invest in my passion.

It wasn’t until I was in my 30’s, that a artistic trip to Havana, Cuba, opened my eyes to the potential of being an artist educator. Within a year from that trip, I quit my day job and bet on myself to be a full time artist and artist educator.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m a born and bred product of New York Hip Hop music and culture. As a kid who grew up in the 90s, my coming of age story took place dead smack in the middle of what many people call Hip Hop’s Golden Era. I was inspired by rappers like Nas, Biggie, Tupac, Rakim, KRS One, Wu Tang and others to think differently and express my honest emotions with passion and conviction. As a teenager, in hopes of getting a record deal, I interned at most of the major Hip Hop labels around; Loud Records, Bad Boy, just to name a few, while my older brother interned for both Def Jam and Roc A Fella records. I not only understand Hip Hop from the music industry stance,m but definitely from the grassroots culture of it; the block parties, the MC battles and all artistic activities happening in the streets.

It’s this experience and passion, paired with the Hip Hop concept of “Each One Teach One” that led me to wanting to do community work, while leveraging Hip Hop culture and my personal story of how it transformed me. It is this experience that is baked into my ethos as a community organizer, educator and Executive Director of the non-profit Hip Hop For Change, inc. We specialize in teaching the true foundational history and Principles of Hip Hop culture as a means of self empowerment and positive community impact.

What I am most proud of is being able to articulate who and what I wanted to be at a very young age and being able to be consistent and determined enough in my own convictions to manifested the reality that I dreamed of.

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

This is very important. Support of local artists to be successful is truly based on two things, spending and sharing. It’s important to patronize an artist you like or may be inspired by with your dollars! BUY their art, support them by paying for tickets to go to their shows. Further, you can shared their art with others, write about it, talk about how it resonates with you. This act is 100% free. It cost you nothing to spread the word about an artist you think is deserving of more attention.

The more conversations we can have about certain artists, the more awareness will increase. The more we spend on an artists, the more they have to invest in themselves and enhances their production value to make better art and reaches more people.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

My artist name is “UnLearn The World”. This means my whole life has been dedicated to Unlearning all the things society and the world at large has conditioned me to believe, most importantly about myself. It’s about breaking down societal narratives and whether or not they align with what you believe your purpose to be. I feel as a general practice, your personal growth should be aligned with your development as an artist. The more personal blockages you remove, the easier and clearer your artist vision become, because you’re empowered to dream bigger and act braver.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.unlearntheworld.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/unlearntheworld
• Facebook: facebook.com/unlearntheworld
• Youtube: youtube.com/unlearntheworld

Image Credits
Sarah Arnold Photography Noble Cinema