We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Simon Howard known professionally as SiHow The Doctor. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with SiHow below.

Alright, SiHow thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

The most meaningful project that I have worked on is the current project I am working on now. I am working on an EP/Album titled “Revolutionary Summer.” with a planned release date in late August. Although I have only been releasing music professionally for about a year and half, I have written songs, poems, and spoken word pieces for a little over a decade. Most of those pieces have been social commentary on society at large and critiques of oppressive systems such as White supremacy, anti-Blackness, and capitalism. This next project I am working on channels this energy from my earlier unreleased work. I am a firm believer that art, in all forms, can be used to change the world, make it a better place, and inspire people to take action. With this project, these are my goals. Because of this, the project is going to be released in (Black) August. Black August is an annual commemoration that began in the 1970s after George Jackson‚ a member of the Black Panthers and co-founder of a Black-organized crime group, the Black Guerrilla Family. was gunned down on Aug. 21, 1971, while escaping prison as part of a prison rebellion in California. Black August takes place the entire month of August and can be considered a holiday to highlight Black resistance against racial oppression. In the spirit of Black August, annually, every August 50% of the proceeds earned from the streams of Revolutionary Summer will be donated to organizations centered on Black liberation.

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.

I am an independent hip-hop artist and a psychology professor at the University of Miami. My music is an auditory extension of who I am as a person: multifaceted, multidimensional, and authentic. After putting music on hold for ten plus years, I decided that there is no time like the present to pursue a dream that you have always wanted to pursue. When I started working on my first full length project, I gave myself about a year to put out my first album. I am happy to say I accomplished my goal and I put out my first album, PHD: Poetically Handling Doubt in September 2022. I am extremely proud of that first project because it is the culmination of hard work, determination, and discipline. When potential fans listen to my music, they can expect a little bit of everything, as I stated earlier, my music reflects me as a person, multifaceted, multidimensional, and authentic. They will hear songs that will inspire them, make them feel good, sit and be reflective, dance, and text that person they have been crushing on and ask them what’s good?

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

In my experience, the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is sharing your art with people. Knowing that something you created can have a profound effect on another person is an amazing feeling that is hard to describe and put into words. Knowing that your art has resonated with someone else’s lived experiences, has helped someone deal with some obstacle in their life, motivated them to do something, and/or shifted their mood for the better is the most rewarding aspect of doing art. Music is a form of therapy, for both those who create and for those who consume, so when people tell you how much of an impact your music has had on them, it is the best feeling. For example, a friend communicated to me that my song, One Life Blue Sky, which is a song all about pursuing your dreams now and living life to the fullest instead of putting your dreams and your life on hold, really helped motivate them to start a new life goal that they had be delaying for several years. I could not believe that something I had created mainly for myself could have that impact on someone else. It’s a memory I will keep forever.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

The main goal driving my creative journey is happiness. At the moment creating music makes me happy and life is far too short to not do things that make us happy. I know far too many people living unhappy lives where they do not pursue or do the things that make them happy. Of course there are numerous reasons as to why that may be and I am in no way trying to minimize that, especially systemic and structural barriers. Some barriers are psychological and again I am in no way trying to minimize psychological barriers either. I know some people doubt themselves, others are worried about what others think, and some feel that it is too late to start some goal or dream. Whatever the reason might be, I want people to really think about this; we are alive! And our time on this floating rock in the middle of an ever expanding universe is limited so please try to do things that make you happy.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/SiHow
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sihowthedoctor/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SiHowTheDoctor
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-howard-0639522a/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/SiHowTheDoctor
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNEt2KuerOX89ZDAb_sUJkw

Image Credits
Patrick McDowell (@expattheratch) @loadedupvisuals Leonce J. Luma Jr. (@iamleonceluma_jr) Alla Bogdanovic (@allaphoto.art)