New Orleans hip-hop artist Kr3wcial usually has no trouble captivating his audience. He has a charismatic presence and dynamic lyrical style on stage, whether performing solo, with the glbl wrmng collective, or as a guest with a band like funk band Water Seed. An occasional gruff call-and-response of “Kr3wcial!” helps keep people in the crowd with him.
In recent years, however, Kr3wcial has been thinking more about the artistic nature of hip-hop, the genre’s deep roots and cultural significance, and has been looking for places where he can get audiences to slow down and engage with the music in new ways.
It’s “more about interpretation and reflection than call and response,” says Kr3wcial, sitting in front of Cafe du Monde in City Park. Not far away is the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA), where Kr3wcial has been participating in the organization’s Creative Assembly program for almost a year.
Each year, NOMA selects a group of New Orleans artists, musicians, dancers, educators, and other creative minds to collaborate with the institution on special projects. Kr3wcial launched last September, almost immediately after completing another residency at A Studio in the Woods.
“Before I got these two residencies, (I said) I wanted to go to more places where the work was perceived as art and not entertainment,” Kr3wcial says. “Entertainment is such a demanding field right now because people have parties every day, do (brand) promotions, and sponsors want people to have fun and do things they’re used to so they can keep the business going. So the art field is new to me.”
On Wednesday, August 28, Kr3wcial presents “Breaking Boundaries: The Art of Hip-Hop,” his second Creative Assembly event, at NOMA’s Lapis Center for the Arts.
Kr3wcial will screen the new video for his song “Carry Me” and participate in a panel discussion with the video’s directors, Dexter Williams, aka DexStr8Dope, and Jovan Hernandez, about his work. N’Dia Dugue, a social media producer at BET, will moderate the discussion.
“Breaking Boundaries” follows Kr3wcial’s “Urban Mosaics,” which combined hip-hop with the cultural significance of New Orleans’ neighborhoods. For this music-focused show, Kr3wcial collaborated with singer and performance artist Charm Taylor, who is also part of this year’s Creative Assembly.
“I wanted to bring hip-hop to NOMA in a way that was different than how it was perceived in any other social setting,” says Kr3wcial. “This is an art form, so we’re going to have seats. You don’t go to rap concerts and see chairs unless you’re in a stadium.”
The video for “Carry Me,” which premiered last month at the New Orleans African American Museum, was shot in the atrium of NOMA and finds Kr3wcial rapping the patient song alongside harpist Cassie Watson Francillon and flutist Cinese Love. The song also features bassist Jemila Dunham and Lauren Fuller on keys.
Inspired by the film “Chevalier,” about the 18th-century French composer Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges—a free man of color whose music gained recognition throughout Europe—Kr3wcial plays with the sophisticated museum setting by wearing a period coat contrasted with a jumpsuit designed and painted by New Orleans artist Jacques Francois.
“I wanted it to look like something you’ve never seen before, in a way you’ve never seen before,” says Kr3wcial.
glbl wrmng also announced a new distribution deal with Beatroot.
Kr3wcial grew up in the West Bank with a father and brother who are also musicians, and began releasing his own songs in 2012. He is also a producer and has released a handful of compelling EPs and collaborative albums in recent years, in addition to his work with hip-hop collective glbl wrmng, and scored a hit with the song “504.”
The EP “Bon Sol: Excerpts from the Woods” was created during his residency at A Studio in the Woods in December, and “Carry Me” will ultimately be part of a larger, more meaningful project he calls “God is With Us,” he says.
Following “Breaking Boundaries,” Kr3wcial will next perform on Saturday, September 14 at the Virgin Hotels in New Orleans as part of the intimate Couches concert series. Ghazi Gamali and DJ MadSpinnz will also perform. Kr3wcial will then fly to France for a series of shows.
“Maybe awareness comes in waves, and once you realize you’re more than just a commodity, you’ll feel like, ‘Nah, I need to be valued as an artist,'” Kr3wcial says. “Even if I go to a museum now, I don’t even know half the people who made half the pieces there. But the appreciation of art will never change if it’s treated as such.”
“Breaking Boundaries” begins at 5:30 p.m. and admission is free. For more information, visit noma.org.
“A collection of reflections.”
