'Who's Krazy?' Rapper Ise Lyfe raises questions with his new one-man play
By Jamilah King
The definition of blackness is so highly debated that even black folks have a difficult time defining it. Oakland-raised rapper Ise Lyfe looks at blackness and some of these questions associated with the concept in his one-man play, Who's Krazy? Told through spoken word and monologue and accompanied a '70s soul and hip-hop sounds, Who's Krazy? revolves around Victor, a 31-year-old African American man who runs from anything he considers "black." Victor's journey takes a staggering detour after he has a mental breakdown and locks himself in his basement. I spoke to Lyfe recently about his work.
SFBG: What have you been up to since the release of your last album?
Ise Lyfe: Mainly I've been traveling and performing, teaching a bit. I started an educational company that basically explores the roots causes of violence in our community. It got to a point where I realized that the material being taught in our schools didn't relate to the realities that a lot of people face at home or in real life. So we created a program that teaches young folks about the history of violence against women, our internal impulses toward violence and the systemic causes of violence in our communities that we may not think about in our daily lives.
I've also been working on an album. The project is called Prince Cometh, and it's probably one of my proudest accomplishments to date. I'm releasing it independently and it should be out in May or June.
SFBG: Now let's talk about your latest project, Who's Krazy? Where did the idea come from?
IL: Since I've been traveling a lot, I always encounter interesting people. A while back I was speaking on a panel at Smith College, and the guy sitting next to me was this brotha who was a total tight ass and seemed hella removed from his blackness. It was a trip.
Then a little while after that I was sitting next to a brotha on a flight. It was a three-hour flight, and we chopped it up about everything, including politics, then at one point it he told me that his wife was white, and all of a sudden my perception of him shifted. These kinds of encounters made me question how we form identity and maintain our sense of self while adhering to our environment or what's expected of us.
The play basically chronicles the life of a man named Victor, who's a 31-year-old black man. He's a total sell-out in every sense of the word, a guy who runs from anything he considers to be "black." He works for a big marketing company and is trying to market a product to appear cool to ghetto kids so that rich white folks will buy it. At one point, he has a breakdown and spends weeks in his basement grappling with questions of who he is, who he wants to be. Basically, dude is buggin'...
SFBG: I read a quote recently by James Baldwin that said, "The purpose of art is to unmask the questions that have been hidden by answers." What questions are you grappling with in this piece?
IL:There are no rites of passage to being black. You can't call someone out for their "blackness" just like you can't call someone out for not being black enough.
The play is meant to question who's crazy. Is it the dude wearing a helmet and poka-dot pants kicking a bottle down Telegraph? Or is the woman who works for the same company for 30 years, retires when she's 60, and then dies when she's 65? Is Victor crazy before he decides to lock himself in his basement? Or is locking himself away the most sane choice he can make? The play is really trying to uncover what we consider to be normal behavior in our society and why we're brought up to think it's "normal."
SFBG: How is this new piece building off of your previous work?
IL: Spoken word is cool, and I love performing hip-hop, but I think theater allows me to have a more honest discourse with the audience. I feel like it's a bridge between all the other vehicles I use to express this message.
Also, and I say this very humbly, but I'm a very cool dude. Very laid-back, in a sense. This piece is definitely not cool. It's very raw, edgy - some might even say crazy.
SFBG: Are there any plans for more performances?
IL: I performed it at the National Black Theatre Festival, and then there's this upcoming Bay Area premier. Hopefully we'll bring the right people out and hopefully spark up some more interest.
Who's Krazy
Fri/21, 8 p.m.; $15-20 sliding scale; $8 for youth under 17
Malonga Arts Center
1428 Alice, Oakl.
(510) 601-0182
info@speakoutnow.org
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