Mother Nature: A Revolutionary Duo
Mother Nature is a duo of artists, educators, healers and black girl geniuses. On the music side their lyrics open your mind and push you to experience your ‘true godlike nature.’ While on the education side, they founded The Miseducation of HipHop, a program designed to focus in on community development rooted in mental health, HipHop scholarship and entrepreneurship. These two are always working, but most importantly having fun through all of it.
Read more below as Mother Nature discusses their new Summer program for The Miseducation of HipHop, teaching virtually, creating through fear and anxiety, and their must read book.
In 2017, you were able to participate in Next Level, which is a hip-hop cultural diplomacy program, in which you were able to travel to Azerbaijan. Its mission is to use hip-hop music, dance, and art to foster cross-cultural exchange in diverse communities. What was your biggest takeaway from this opportunity?
Klevah: Next level blew our minds. We really stepped into a new world when we started working with Next Level. A world of artistry, education, and activism. We met mentors, people who have been traveling the world, putting their artistry next to their passion for education. So, ever since then we’ve been on our journey. Miseducation of Hip-Hop is really what got us into Next Level. Afterwards, we were able to refine ourselves, both Miseducation and Mother Nature as a brand. Really just step into our purpose, you know our purpose is to be global leaders, global musicians, but not leaving behind our connection to education.
Returning from Next Level, that trip really helped spark the drive to further develop your Miseducation of Hip-Hop program here in the states. Talk through the Inception of this program and how it’s developed over the years?
Truth: Man, the inception of it, I feel like we just came to be in spaces together. This was before Mother Nature, the actual rap group. It was just Truth and Klevah in Champaign. Klevah’s hometown where we met at the U of I campus. It was really a need because there was a lot of things not being funded for the youth. The money that was going into the system was that to build institutions jailing more youth. They were basically building juvenile detention centers, rather than using funds to build infrastructure for the shorties. We just used what we know which was Hip-Hop, which has allowed us to grow so much and understand. Man if we had this sense of understanding of the culture of Hip-Hop, the entrepreneurial spirit of hip-hop and the ability to gain knowledge in a fun and exciting way - we would be further along than we were now. We utilized that to build the first Miseducation of Hip-Hop workshop series and had it in Cleveland. It was our first time writing up a proposal in what we were doing and submitting it.
“THERE IS A RENAISSANCE THAT’S HAPPENING RIGHT NOW. BLACKNESS, BLACK HEALTH, BLACK LOVE, BLACK UNITY, BLACK ECONOMICS”
Klevah: This was after Trayvon Martin, and BLM was in its inception. For us to be apart of that, it really just made sense to our path. We are pioneers, revolutionaries, in the sense of using Hip-Hop as a way to help this renaissance. Because there is a renaissance that’s happening right now. Blackness, black health, black love, black unity, black economics - you know what I’m saying. It’s just something that we always been working towards. It’s beautiful now to be able to have Miseducation start in 2016 with us being babies and here now in 2020, it’s like the ground is finally fertile.
Truth: We’ve been fertilizing for about 4 - 5 years, so it makes perfect sense to be where we are now. For being that this is how it started, it pushes the drive to go even harder when it comes to us building, growing and expanding. We want to get this rhetoric out, this type of understanding that we have enough, we are enough, and we have the ability to create what we see and what we dream. Because it’s all through Hip-Hop that we’ve built our lives and careers.
Klevah: The ability to travel overseas, through what we’ve done, with hip-hop and workshops, our mentorship. For kids to know that they can do that, or our peers who might be trying to find their path. Yo, you can do whatever it is that you want to do. You just have to follow your omens.
You are currently in the Summer program, which started July 6th goes through August 14th. You’ve partnered with After School Matters and Guitars Over Guns. Talk to us about this camp as well as the partners/sponsors you’ve selected.
Klevah: Big love to Guitars Over Guns
Truth: We got connected with them through Next Level by somebody that was a mentor at the time with Guitars over Guns. She was also in the program and while we didn’t know her, she was from Chicago as well. From there, once we got through the program, it was natural sisterhood that was built. She got us connected to Guitars over Guns. We’ve been working with them for the last two or three years now I’d say. Both in partnership and really just as a mentor in what we are trying to do as well. It has been an expanding experience to gain knowledge from a bigger organization that also does music mentoring in a sense.
Klevah: They allow us to use our programming, because it’s a little more radical than most programming. It’s very unique to our experiences as black women pursuing Hip-Hop. Guitars over Guns have put their wings over us. They are so supportive of everything that we do. They were the ones that made the After School Matters connection happen. They were already working with them before Quarantine and we had plans to become part of their Southside Hub, but then quarantine happened and everything went virtual.
How has it been handling these programs virtually? What are the major differences you’ve noticed from in-person camp to virtual camp?
Klevah: That’s been an experience in itself because now we are able to really envision what we can do in a classroom setting. For awhile, it was like we weren’t going to be able to tour and do this program. What if something happened or pops up, how would this be sustainable? And I feel like we’re really getting that answer now. Like, this is how you sustain it.
Any ideas for a fall or winter program at this time?
Truth: Those type of ideas we have to keep on the hush. But they are being built.
With everything you’re working on as it relates to the nonprofit, have you taken any steps back from making music?
Klevah: Man, it’s real interesting. I think this is the most integrated we’ve seen our music with our education. We dropped Portalz and already knew we were going to have the summer to work with the kids. A lot of the topics and experiences we talk about in Portalz are the same things that are running through the Miseducation right now. So it’s real interesting how we are able to use the music that we are working on as context for the things that we are learning. But, no, it’s one of those things when we are in workshop season there’s a lot more attention that goes to that. You know, we definitely have to divide our time, but we are going to begin working on an album this weekend.
“MOVE THE BODY, KEEP THE MIND ROTATING. ALWAYS STAY IN CONNECTION WITH OUR PURPOSE AND THE SOURCE”
Life right now is filled with chaos - from political issues to social/economic issues to living in a pandemic. How have you both been able to manage work in the face of fear and anxiety?
Truth: Move the body, keep the mind rotating. Always stay in connection with our purpose and the source. I feel like in the beginning of the pandemic there were a lot of things that were changing rapidly. Being in such a standstill, we had to make sure to prepare and get ourselves together. But it became a thing to not worry about things outside of us, but understand that the highest power always has us secured. Let’s keep building, working, keeping our head down and continuing on with our goals. It’s been dope to be able to do this virtual schooling during this time because we can do it virtually. We can reach and interact with more kids this way. It’s been a dope experience just to be going through so many different things at once. Even in the beginning, we had dropped Portalz. People were going crazy and showing hella love to that, but then we had to stop and slow down for a minute because everything was shut down.
Klevah: I would also say the collective, The Gr8thinkaz. If we did not have our brothers here in this space, it would be a lot darker. It’s so interesting because they get on our nerves so much, but they are truly like a source of light. A good balance. They got good energy flowing and good inspiration. But, it also goes the other way. They can also lean on us when they need that energy or inspiration. Having everybody’s mind together and being able to go through this as brothers and sisters I think has been huge for me because not everybody has that. A lot of people have been at the crib by themselves, or living with people they don’t like. But for us, it’s been like a party. Every single day has been a Saturday, but we are managing to get everything done.
What’s one book you both swear by that you’d encourage readers to read right now?
Klevah: Seat of the Soul.
Truth: Sound System. It speaks on the political aspect of music overtime and how we’ve been rebelling music over centuries and how its shaped law and policy.
Over these 4 months of quarantine, what’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned that you’d like to share with others?
Truth: Everything is god, so everything is great. That’s the motto that we live by. When things get dark and you don’t know your left from your right, just know everything will be straight. Everything will be cool. Just keep doing what you’re doing.
Klevah: God is in everything and god is great.
What does being a hero mean to you?
Klevah: A hero is somebody that saves themselves. First and foremost. For me, I feel like you can’t be a hero to nobody until you find it within yourself to be capable of being reliable to somebody.
Written by: Nico Rud
Photos by: Nicci Brian