Indie Author Tuesday: Amarii Davu
Amarii Davu
Enter Nashville's homegrown Amarii Davu: a prolific hip hop artist with a veritable voice that places you right in the center of his multi-layered story of overcoming pain,mental illness, poverty, and celebrating success. After moving to California and spending seven months homeless in his car, Davu completed his debut album Roses 4 tha World. Now, he’s offering his life story through his poetry book series, five.
Amarii Davu released five: childhood/identity in December 2021 and I’ve read it at least four times, made a reel about it and scribbled notes, underlined stanzas that hit me deep and honored the places Amarii allowed us to see poetically. five is a poetry series that conveys Amarii’s journey of healing through poetry. five: childhood/identity unveils the first two parts and hot damn, ya’ll
The last time I got ta scribblin’ and highlightin’ in someone’s collection was Dara Kalima’s, Two X Chromosomes With An Extra Shot of Melanin.
The poetic shout-out to his parents in, My Sun, My Moon was sweet but sturdy. Another featured poet who, although uses metaphor, it’s tangible and I love that. My favorite section in his poem was:
Just because I can’t see the Moon
doesn’t mean its power can’t be felt
and it doesn’t mean the Moon is less important than the Sun,
I need them both,
My momma is the Sun and my dad is the Moon
-Amarii Davu
Throughout his collection, there is this mix-tape vibe that mumbles underneath his lines. I’m thinking late 90’s Hip hop and early 2000s. As he bleeds in black ink, Davuconveys his heart in a way that many others have felt…but haven’t dared to say it, let alone write it down. Yes, this collection is about Amarii Davu. But I feel as though it’s a collection that speaks for the hearts that can’t find the words to say what’s really hidden.
Sooo, Davu got a poem titled, ?!?!!!!?!?!. Being that it’s the final poem in the collection, I’ll just say this:
YOU BETTA PERSONIFY THE MESS OUTTA PEACE!
The bare and unfiltered piece is a craving that we all know of. The journey to peace is never the same. And, I’ve always been fascinated with people’s journey to it and what it took to get there. Loved it. Although I wish it were longer, it felt complete (I’m just nosy) The hunger, the authenticity, and desperation for the priceless thing was a heavy pen to push. I’m thankful Davu allowed readers to see it.
So, throughout the collection, there are essay-like pieces that were clean. Identity: Growing Into My Crown, Davu shares the meaning behind his name, the weight of his childhood forming his identity, and how that transpired. We learn about the wonderful support system that held me down throughout his years of teen and young adulthood- it’s a marvelous read. Within the first five lines, I was lured in.
“I believe that the understanding and love of our own identity should always occur before attempting to love others. I learned this gem the hard way.”
The final lines were just as potent though. He writes, “…There are layers and versions of myself that I’m not proud of. However, I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge and pay homage to them. They taught me that beauty can be produced from brokenness. I am more than antiquated layers and faulty version. My power rests with my evolution.” (five.Davu.p28).
Shiiid. MY POWER RESTS WITH MY EVOLUTION TOO!
The aforementioned line is underlined and starred in pencil. He’s got a few long-form pieces/ essays smoothly penned, but Identity: Growing Into My Crown is my favorite.
Amarii Davu’s E-Interview
1. When did Nashville, Poetry, and Hiphop collide for you? How?
I had to be around 14, maybe 15. I’d been writing poetry since I was about 11. I used to read poetry by Maya Angelou, Nikki Giovanni, Tupac, E.E. Cummings, Edgar Allen Poe and I loved the way that they all could make an emotion feel tangible. Like you could touch their pain, their joy, and their lives. It was so beautiful. But then, when I was 14 I really started getting into hip hop, right? I used to joke about being a rapper because I thought that I was the furthest thing from what’s stereotypically hip hop during that time. But I had a homey from Chicago that would always make me sit down and dissect hip hop albums. One day, he slid me Common’s Be album and it’s like my mind exploded! I had no idea that you could mix poetry with hip hop! I was like, “These two art forms can chill in the same space?!” I also used to draw and hearing that album made me want to paint pictures of my experiences being born and raised in Nashville with my words through poetry and hip hop.
2. Who are your top three writing inspirations? Have you met any of them?
A top three? That’s so…difficult. Three? I would say… J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar, and Andre 3000. I’ve met J. Cole before during his tour for 2014 Forest Hills Drive. I had a family connection inside of Dreamville and they let me hang on his tour bus. This was probably the day that he found out he went platinum with no features and they were all on the bus buggin’ out about it. It was so dope to meet him and all I told him was that I appreciated what he’s doing for the culture. I have yet to meet Kendrick or Andre, but I’ll probably meet them when it’s time for a collaboration.
3. This collection feels like it’s been a years-long journey. Is it? If so, how long did it take to compile and write your pieces?
five: childhood/identity was definitely a decade long process. From 2008-ish to about 2021, I’d written about 500 poems. In order to compile them, I thought about the theme and story that I wanted to tell. My poetry often feels like creative journal entries so I knew that the story was there…it was just a matter of organizing it all. The time it takes me to write a poem varies, of course. Sometimes it’s like…I’m in that zone, ya know? Gotta get that emotion off and it’ll take me 10-15 minutes. Sometimes it takes 30 minutes. I never really know what I’m going to write about before I create. That’s why I love free verse so much. I don’t have the constraints of committing to a rhyme pattern. I can just feel what I feel and flow through it.
4. What was the process like for you when organizing your poems?
I wanted to share my life story through poetry so I broke the poetry into five themes of my life. Childhood, identity, and love are the themes that I’ve released so far (five: childhood/identity and five: love). I’ll wait to share the last two themes. But once I figured out what story I wanted to shape, I organized them from there. Luckily, I’ve been blessed to remember what I’ve talked about in poetry over the entirety of my life and titles of those poems so it was just a matter of finding them, transcribing them, and allowing the work to speak for itself.
5. So, for your poem, My Sun, My Moon you consistently switch from metaphor to real-ass lines. One of my favorite pieces from this collection. Why choose the sun and moon? What significance do the sun and moon have in your life (besides basic human existence)?
So when I thought about my childhood, I tried to go back to the simplest creative thing that I did back then. I remembered how I used to always draw suns at the corners of my pages and how something so small would make me happy. I know it sounds goofy, but drawing those little suns gave me so much peace. When I think about my Mom, I think about how much she did for her children and it made me realize how much she’s my Sun. As a kid, she was my light, my provider, my yellow, my joy. And my Dad wasn’t in my life back then, but he was still someone I needed to guide me through my darkest nights. And I still need him now. My parents were never together during my lifetime (kind of like the sun and the moon), they were just good friends prior to me coming into the world. But I am so grateful that I am the piece that connects them to each other for the rest of time.
6. I most DEFINITELY read, Dreamz of a Better Tomorrow in your voice. Your vulnerability and transparency are honored, always. Was this based on a journal entry? A word vomit on paper? Did you intend to write a piece like this for the collection? Let us know!
So I wrote DOABT when I was 18 years old. I was definitely not the healing version of myself that I am today! I was angry, I was bitter, I didn’t want to be on this Earth anymore. When I wrote that poem, I felt like I had the weight of so much on my shoulders. I’d seen way more than most people and I was tired. That poem literally reads off like a painter throwing cans of paint at a canvas. It feels like beautiful chaos to me now, but then it was just raw emotion that I didn’t want to make sound pretty.
7. I love internal rhyming and the end rhyme. I think you never forced a rhyme scheme-it just flowed that way. Did it just flow out or did you have moments where you had a strict rhyme scheme for your poems?
I never approach a poetry piece with a rhyme scheme in mind. Well, let me take that back. In some parts of the book, there’s a sort of chronological order to the poetry. My older poems are at the beginning of each theme (childhood, identity) and then my more recent poetry is towards the end. The older poems were definitely me trying to have a stricter rhyme scheme because back then I needed more structure. Not just in poetry, but in life, right? And as I got older, it felt easier just going with the flow in life and in poetry which is where you find more of the free verse poetry.
8. What is the backstory behind The Anderson Poets?
I realized one day before Father’s Day in….2020, I think, that I had never really given my Pops a Father’s Day gift. I’d always called and said it, but I’d never actually given him a gift. And we’d gotten super close that year because I was growing more as a man. We were having way more heart to hearts that year and we truly became best friends to each other. So, I wrote that poem, made a big poster out of it with a picture of us in the background and sent it to him. Now mind you, it took a week or so for him to get the poster. It was completely out of my memory that I’d sent it to him. He calls me one day crying and I thought something bad had happened! But when he was able to talk, he just said that he’d gotten my poster and he was just grateful to be my Pops. Best feeling ever.
9. The 30-day creative prompt journal in the back—what encouraged you to create a space for your readers even after your poetry ceased?
I thoroughly feel like all of us have a story, but some of us have to be provoked to create. I wanted to be that provocation for somebody, anybody to get their story out. I had so many people that would reach out to me after the book was published and send me their prompts. That always means the world to me when somebody is able to create something and release that energy. Or embrace that energy. I didn’t want the book to just be an energy transfer from me to them. Transmute your experiences and make something beautiful out of it for the world.
10. Any upcoming shows or events, Amarii?
I just became a Dad in February to a beautiful baby girl named Femi. I’ve been taking this time to not only bond with her and my wife, Whitney, but to also create more. I’ve got about 90 songs that need to be recorded, the rest of the five series to publish, and I’m currently creating two different tv show scripts. I plan on returning to the stage, but I want to make sure I complete all these things I’ve been working on. So when I do start back doing shows, I’m going to have so much more to offer y’all.
💌💌Congrats to Whitney and Amarii on the new addition to their family: Femi 💌💌
11. How significant is writing poetry for you? How imperative is reading poetry for you?
Ya know…these days, poetry and I have a love/hate relationship. There used to be days I could write 5-10 poems and I felt so much joy. These days, I write when I feel the inspiration to do it. I think the reason for the difference is because now I know how to thoroughly communicate my emotions. I don’t have to hide my true thoughts under the guise of poetic prose. I can just say what the fuck I feel. I didn’t always have that ability. But I’m still a hip hop artist that uses elements of poetry and storytelling in my music so I know that I’ll always be a poet in some form or fashion. And I love reading poetry. Reading poetry, good ass poetry, reminds me that I’ve still got something to say and somebody still needs my voice to communicate their emotions and thoughts. It makes me find new and different ways to express myself.
five By Amarii Davu
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.five: childhood/identity serves as the first two installments of hip hop artist/poet Amarii Davu's five part journey of telling his story of healing through poetry. five reads as an intimate journal as opposed to a cherry picked collection of Davu's poetry. Experience the journey of a boy becoming a man and the inevitable evolution that had to occur to conquer the process
