22 Jun Hip-hop professor’s new “Ghosts” release honors losses that shape us
JANE DUNLAP SATHE [email protected]
5-6 minutes
Many voices clamor for attention in modern life. A University of Virginia professor’s latest album reaches for ways to honor the voices that influence our lives from a distance.
The isolation of pandemic lockdown gave A.D. Carson time to think about people he has loved and lost who shaped his life and conscience, particularly his grandmothers.
“I love the fact that both my grandmothers’ voices live in my head,” he said with a warm chuckle.
In “iv: talking to ghosts,” released April 12, Carson uses the structures of rap and essay as a framework for processing a simple conversation with his cousins back home in Decatur, Illinois, and other moments of ephemera, heartache and simply living life.
What started as lighthearted reminiscing with his cousins about hours of carefree fun on a basketball court that used to be on property once owned by their grandparents became a time capsule of connection once one of those voices was stilled before its time. The pandemic happened, traveling and gathering with others got complicated and soon forbidden — and then one of his cousins died.
The final conversation that no one realized would be a final conversation ended up in Carson’s new collection.
“There’s actually a portion of the album when me and my cousins are standing in front of my grandmother’s land,” Carson said. “We were in southern Illinois for a funeral and did not realize that the pandemic would not afford us an opportunity to be together again.”
Carson is assistant professor of hip-hop and the Global South in the UVa’s Department of Music. He first united academia and hip-hop by earning his doctorate in rhetorics, communication and information design at Clemson University by writing a rap album; a mastered version of his peer-reviewed “Owning My Masters: The Rhetorics of Rhymes & Revolutions” is under contract to be released by an academic publisher.
The pandemic shutdown afforded time to stop and reflect that normally wouldn’t have been available.
“It was pressing on me really heavily during the lockdown,” he said. “How do I honor the really heavy losses — the ones that aren’t from COVID?”
Carson, who brings a scholarly approach to hip-hop and rap and a hip-hop sensibility to academic pursuits, realized that his search for elusive peace during the tension of the pandemic would resonate with others. The timeless wisdom of listening to the voices of the ancestors felt new, and more necessary than ever.
“How do we honor the people who are with us, but who are no longer living?” Carson asked. “If it’s anything, it’s listening and being receptive. You want the grounding in the midst of the chaos. The way to get that grounding, for me, is to listen.”
When he first started working on his new album, Carson was using an essay approach, and he was considering a different thematic direction.
“I thought the album would be something about breathing and relishing the moment, and the incredible opportunity we have,” he said. “The talking-to-ghosts thing really snuck up on me. I paused and really heard it.
“This album is receiving that call and responding in kind.”
Listeners who spend time with “iv: talking to ghosts” are encouraged to explore their reactions to see where their emotions and reflections lead them. And as the arts, especially music, can invite conversations not only between performers and perceivers, but also between perceivers and their own inner listeners, try not to edit or sanitize your responses. Sit with them, acknowledge them and see what insights they may reveal.
“My hope is that folks listen and respond in kind,” Carson said. “They paint about it, or write about it, or listen to the music and sit and sway about it.”
His own reaction to finishing the album?
“I wanted to drive to Illinois and knock on my mom’s door and give her a hug,” Carson said.
“I wish I had another conversation with my cousin. What also needs to be done is take the time to sit with family. There’s no replacing it. I feel I got the kind of recharge I needed for all the heaviness I felt.”
That sense of recharge and reset can keep people going in the midst of troubling times, and one track from the new album already has offered solace in the face of tragedy and outrage.
When a gunman shot and killed 10 Black shoppers and injured three others at a Buffalo, New York, grocery store on May 14, “I posted the lyrics to ‘Good Mourning’ on Instagram,” Carson said.
It wasn’t long before a listener responded with, “ ‘Thank you for putting words to the way I felt,’” Carson said.
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