Two rows of yellow Post-Its hang on the mirror in the dressing room of Theater Zuidplein. On the bottom row are the songs from the debut EP Renaissance which Mich ‘YMP’ Simon (33) will perform this Saturday evening during the premiere of the piece of the same name. Above it hang in an arc, Post-Its showing the dramatic story of the haughty, alcohol-addicted entertainer King, which he tells between songs.
In the backstage area, artists and employees walk around from production house FLOW, the company where YMP is artistic director. YMP (Young Mich Poetry) is the mentor of about 15 local makers; educated and unskilled talent from South Rotterdam in disciplines such as spoken word, comedy, theater and music. They help out with production jobs tonight, and go to the hairdresser in one of the dressing rooms. For the premiere, most are dressed in a tight black suit.
‘Make the impossible possible’ is the slogan of FLOW. YMP has an English version tattooed on his body. About ten years ago, he spent two years in prison. “I was convicted of complicity in a robbery,” YMP says in his dressing room over a paper plate of fried chicken. “I was a follower, looking for the recognition I didn’t give myself in a certain rush. Very tragic.”
On his EP he refers with ’14 Days’ to the first two weeks in which he was in limitation. “In a two-by-one room with one window,” YMP says, as his son plays a computer game on the couch. “I was confronted hard with myself there. My mother did not come to the Netherlands from Suriname to visit me in prison.”
During his sentence he met Rotterdam gospel singer Joany Muskiet, mother of the popular Rotterdam rapper Helderheid who died of cardiac arrest at the age of 25. “After her performance, she picked me from a row of thirty hardcore guys, and said: ‘Those are hard men but you have a soft heart’.” YMP smiles. “At first I thought: ‘Why!’ But in jail, I concluded she was right. I went to see her after I got out. At her house I met my creative partner BigJayzus.”
I was a follower, looking for the recognition I didn’t give myself in a certain rush. very tragic
turning point
While in prison, YMP read about black icons like Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and James Baldwin. He started writing again, the way he filled his school diaries with texts as a teenager. When he was released, he had a child. That was the definitive turning point, says YMP. “I grew up without a father. I thought: this is where the generational pain ends.” When a publisher offered him 400 euros to publish his texts, he refused. “It gave me confidence. But I also thought: if someone has money to spare for what I do, I should do it myself.” With BigJayzus he developed as a spoken word artist. Together they developed a music style between rap, spoken word and classical music, with which they performed several times with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.
on Renaissance his intense, poetic streams of words are framed by moody acoustic melodies, subtly produced by BigJayzus. YMP links his personal development to a ‘Renaissance of our time’ – a flourishing period for self-aware black creators whose Black Lives Matter demonstrations in 2020 mark the starting point in his view. “I try to be the example of that renaissance for the generations after me. I have young artists here who after three years are just as far as I after ten, because they have been able to see my steps.”
YMP’s artistic inspirations include black classical composer Joseph Bologne Chevalier de Saint-Georges, and rappers such as DMX and 50 Cent. “50 Cent is an incredible storyteller. I know the life he describes; my father was a big dope dealer. He grabbed me with every sentence – I immediately saw the street in front of me. But I also gained confidence from him. I was an insecure kid, and he was a strong black man who cared about no one.”
YMP makes his work for “my 17-year-old me,” he says. “I want to show him that appearance is not important. It’s okay to be insecure. We black men, we men in general – need to talk more honestly about our emotions. we have more real talk need each other.”
#men #talk #honestly #emotions