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Nikki Lynette
174 Plays5 years ago
NIKKI LYNETTE is a performer, writer, and visual artist whose individual style is equal parts hip hop, alternative, and pop. A Chicago native, she fuses mental health activism into her performances and has created a lane for her music that is uniquely her own.
A proud independent artist, her self-produced tunes are currently featured in popular shows on Netflix, Hulu, Showtime and more. Lynette’s success in music licensing has earned its own accolades, including a prominent feature in Billboard Magazine and being invited to speak on a panel at South By Southwest.
After a hiatus from releasing new music, Nikki Lynette returned to the public eye with a confession: she’d secretly been battling mental health issues. She began writing articles about depression and suicide for prominent sites like BlackDoctor, Afropunk and AllHipHop. A newly appointed ambassador for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Nikki’s mental health documentary Happy Songs About Unhappy Things is also currently in production. Nikki has opened for Lion Babe and Leikeli47, and recently in Chicago, headlined her own sold-out show in the Foundation Room at the House of Blues.
After a sold-out run in Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s LookOut Series, Nikki’s autobiographical musical Get Out Alive was in conversation with multiple theaters to produce an extended run of the play. Get Our Alive continues to captivate audiences!
http://nikkilynette.com/
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Overview
00:00:00
Speaker
You are listening to something rather than nothing, creator and host Dan Vellante, editor and producer Peter Bauer.
00:00:17
Speaker
This is Ken Belante with the Something Rather Than Nothing podcast, and I'm very excited this episode.
Nikki Lynette's Journey and Advocacy
00:00:23
Speaker
We have Nikki Lynette. Nikki is somebody who I discovered through a play that she's actually promoting right now called Get Out Alive.
00:00:32
Speaker
And I'm certainly going to allow her to speak to that, but about her experiences as an artist and advocacy and experience within her life with mental illness. But incredible artist. Thank you, Nikki Lynette, for joining the podcast. Thank you for having me. It's been long overdue.
00:00:55
Speaker
Nicky, I've enjoyed the art that you create. But prior to getting into what you're doing now, what you've done musically and otherwise, what were you like when you were younger? I mean, were you a creative type? Were you around creative types? Were you writing? Were you singing? What were you doing?
Art as Social Impact and Mental Health
00:01:16
Speaker
I did not have a very fun upbringing. I wanted to do
00:01:22
Speaker
like little kids theater and like painting classes and that kind of stuff. But my family, we were going through some stuff. My father was a substance abuser. When he passed away, like when my father, he ended up being like clean and sober for like 15 years. But like during the time before he got clean and sober.
00:01:40
Speaker
things weren't so stable. So I didn't really get the opportunity to do that kind of stuff when I was little. So I became an autodidact. I taught myself how to sew, how to make clothes, how to paint, how to draw, how to rap, how to sing. Because when you're in the house or you're moving from place to place, you kind of have to entertain yourself. And so that's what I did.
00:02:03
Speaker
Yeah, and so you kind of picked up everything and did it on your own. So in chatting about your art, I was pleased. I mean, I think a lot of people might encounter your work through your music. I had seen that you also paint as well. And of course, as an artist, dancing and writing,
00:02:27
Speaker
Do you could you talk about, you know, the type of art that you create and, you know, what that's like for you and what it does for you? I call it social impact art, right? Because everything I do is informed by mental health. So you aren't really going to see anything from me that's not about that purpose. That's where I create from. And so whether it's a drawing or a painting or music or my play,
00:02:56
Speaker
everything is informed by the fact that I'm living with a mental illness and thriving with it, I would say. Yeah, that's, it's why I create and it's why I even get out of the bed every day. It's what inspires me to create. I'm really glad that I'm in an era where being a social impact artist, even an option is available to me.
Pandemic Impact and Online Transition
00:03:20
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I like your description of that.
00:03:24
Speaker
Can you tell me, can you give me your impressions about hip hop and what you're trying to do and the issues you're talking about, mental illness and otherwise? Is it a good place to talk about or is it a difficult place to talk about it? At this point, I live with it. You know what I mean? I have PTSD. So it is a reality of my life every day.
00:03:54
Speaker
So talking about it for me is not painful because it's my reality. You know what I mean? So talking about it is relatively easy. It's not triggering because of the fact that this is like, whether I talk about it or not, I'm still going to have moments where I have flashbacks. I'm still going to have sleep disturbances, like until I just no longer have PTSD. Right. And so I'm doing the work.
00:04:21
Speaker
to heal and doing the work to get better. And that's the best that I can do. And my best has to be good enough. So that's where I'm at about it. Yeah. As I mentioned at the beginning, I'd encountered you and your play, and I'd been listening to your music prior to that.
00:04:43
Speaker
And I know the role of the pandemic in building up to the play, I know it was a successful start for Get Out Alive in Chicago. And then the pandemic played into it, and now it's taken its form.
00:05:05
Speaker
online. Can you talk about your relationship and your creation of this, running into with the pandemic, what happened in the world? And now it's wonderful for me, looking forward to it, wonderful reappearance for everybody in January 2021. Get out alive. Hi. Yeah, I think, OK, I'm sorry, I don't know if I understood the question.
00:05:32
Speaker
Yeah, just as far as the journey in creating, the journey in creating, you had it, it was a popular, starting to get some attention, it opened in Chicago, and then the pandemic hit, and then how we arrived now in January, that you'll be able to watch it online, just your relationship and journey with that. Got it. When we debuted at Steppenwolf,
00:06:02
Speaker
sold out the entire run and then we had to add an extra day and that one sold out soon and like people were coming to see it and they got press and we were about to open in really another big theater in Chicago for an extended run and then COVID happened. Fortunately for me the subject matter the play and the cultural relevancy of it
00:06:27
Speaker
It's still a thing right now. Like we can still do it and it still matters because, you know, there are a lot of things that after COVID came, it ain't matter no more. You know what I'm saying? The world has changed so much. And fortunately for me, because it is a musical about depression and because, you know, we're kind of in the middle of a mental health crisis right now, it ended up being that my play is something that people are excited about. I'm very, very, very fortunate.
00:06:56
Speaker
And we decided to do it. I don't think that we really thought it would be
Independence and Ethical Art Creation
00:07:01
Speaker
like a big production, how we ended up doing it. I think that we just had like, we'll record the play. We'll film it. We'll put it out. But like now it's like a whole production. It's a whole thing. And I'm excited. I love it. We got about 20 people working on this project right now. And like, I'm not no sign artist. Like I'm independent. So the fact that
00:07:24
Speaker
We have this much excitement. We're getting this much press. It's had this much visibility. It's just, I'm mad excited. I'm always just so excited. It's humbling.
00:07:34
Speaker
Yeah, it's been wonderful to see and to kind of connect to your energy around it. And it comes off as that kind of like personally so deeply important and as part of yourself that you're sharing. And it was exciting to watch the parts that you've put out around it. And I wanted to chat with you a bit about being an independent hip hop artist
00:08:03
Speaker
in being in Chicago. I was wondering, you know, how long you've been doing hip-hop and if there's something within like your development as an independent artist that you've been able to give maybe more freedom. Have you felt more freedom in being an independent artist in hip-hop? I don't think that I could have been a social impact artist if I wasn't independent.
00:08:33
Speaker
Because initially, when I first started doing this, I wasn't no money, wasn't a whole bunch of attention, wasn't a whole bunch of press. I didn't get the acknowledgement that I'm getting right now. Especially in Chicago, I helped open doors for this conversation, particularly within the urban community. Because I was talking about it, making events about it, and putting myself out there to get press about it before other people in my community were.
00:09:01
Speaker
And it's one of the things that I'm proud it's about in my life. And as an independent artist, even the fact that the tickets can be affordable, because I don't have some huge overhead. I'm independent, so we can set the prices for how much we want the tickets to be, so people can afford it. So I can offer tickets.
00:09:24
Speaker
for $15 or $20, you know what I'm saying, or $18 instead of having to market up to like 25 or 30, just so we can see a profit because somebody else is taking a cut. You know, like, we get to do things our own way and we get to do things. Our whole thing is being an ethical production. And I never did nothing like that. But we, I figured, like, if we are in charge and it's our thing, then we get to make the rules. So if we get to decide that,
00:09:54
Speaker
We're going to be an ethical production and then we get to decide what that looks like. And I'm so glad we did that. I'm so glad we did that because I'm glad it came about. Glad it came about that that way. What is what is the date that it debuts just so we don't miss that detail? January 30th. January 30th. I got my tickets and get out alive. Very much looking forward to that.
00:10:18
Speaker
Um, Nikki, I have a big question. I always ask in the podcast to try to do, um, uh, philosophy, art and philosophy, philosophy of art. Um, do you have a theory of art or the question specifically is what is art according to you? This is a good question. I think there's so many different things. I used to have very stringent rules about what is considered art. I used to really hate.
00:10:46
Speaker
certain types of art because I did not understand how it was art, you know, but your creative output, what you make and the intention behind it to me.
00:11:00
Speaker
is what art is about. My biggest thing when I create, I believe strongly, and this is not my philosophy, I got it from somewhere, I don't know who I got it from, but I believe that what you make at the time and place in which you create it is influenced by the time and place you create it. I'm gonna edit, work on edits of my play right now today, and that would turn out different
00:11:24
Speaker
then if I worked on it tomorrow or a week from now, I do think that where you are in that moment determines what comes out in the creative process. And that's why I think it might be important for creatives to always be creating, because then you get that diversity of thought, diversity of moment, diversity of inspiration, and maybe the best artists are the people who know that and benefit from it. Yeah. And thanks for your
Hip Hop as a Platform for Change
00:11:52
Speaker
thoughts on that.
00:11:54
Speaker
You know, one of the things I wanted to ask you too is a question that's kind of come up in recent episode. I spoke with Ben Westhoff, who did a history of, it was West Coast hip hop in 1990s, but it was about, there's a discussion around the role of hip hop, right?
00:12:16
Speaker
you know, I think a lot of people have opinions about like, it needs to be part of, you know, part of a social movement or needs to be making a statement. And, you know, others saying it's, you know, hip hop is hip hop. For you, and I'm going to talk either for you about either hip hop or art in general. What do you think the role is of what you create as
00:12:41
Speaker
kind of disrupting? Is it reinforcing or disrupting the culture as a whole? And what do you think it should do? What I do or what art should do? What you do? What I do is definitely disruption. Like as a black woman, as a suicide survivor, as a mental health advocate,
00:13:03
Speaker
As an alternative black woman, everything I do is disruptive. Everything I do is other. It's just the difference between me and most people is that you will give me what belongs to me. You will give me my access. I can't be denied. I'm talented. This is all I do. All I am is talent. I'm a multi-hyphenate autodidact. I'm proud of it. You know what I'm saying? You're going to give me what's mine. I'm not asking. I'm telling you.
00:13:30
Speaker
Everything that I do is from a place of this is what it is. I am not asking for permission to be included. I'm telling you that this is part of the narrative and you will have to deal with the fact that there is space for me. I don't need you to create space for me. I don't need you to hold space for me. I create that space. And when we look at the narrative and we look at the paradigm, just understand that I have a place in it. So yeah, mine is disruption for sure. I am definitely disrupted. And I think that, you know, this cause,
00:14:00
Speaker
mental health, mental wellness, it deserves disruption. That's what my TED talk was about, like disrupting the way that we look and talk and think about mental health. Because the way that we're doing it is so wrong. I think we need to rebrand it. Mental health needs an image change.
00:14:18
Speaker
Because as of right now, it's so clinical and so heavy when we're talking about it's like, oh my God, mental health, it's like sad. But yo, mental health is also learning how to control your anxiety. Mental health is also standing up for your boundaries. Mental health is also having confidence and self-esteem. There's so many positive things about mental health, but we tend to really only think about mental illness or the parts of it that are scary and bad. And that's, we gotta change that, we gotta shift that, we gotta shape that up.
00:14:43
Speaker
Yeah, and I want to tell you, you know, just in general, because I think it's important to just point out how it's, you know, the risk that you take in doing that as as an artist. And I know you're saying this is, you know, an expression of yourself. But, you know, I think it's really true that it does help others recognize in the language that you use in being direct about it, I think can help everybody.
00:15:08
Speaker
And, you know, whether it's true song, and again, looking forward to seeing your production, you know, getting that message out there that we can talk about this, that there's some language tools for it. And I know you've been a spokesperson for, I believe it's NAMI, right? For, yeah, and done some work.
00:15:31
Speaker
You know to help promote in the the language around around that could actually could you just mention the role that you played with the nami as far as You know the outreach you've done. I am a lived experience speaker. So basically I talk to people about the things that i'm going that I have lived through and how I live and um you know my experience because nami believes that
00:15:58
Speaker
Like, yeah, the numbers are important. The statistics are important. Those details are important. But what helps tie it all together and help people connect with it is seeing a real person who lived through it and understand how this information pertains to their life and their lived experience. So I talk about my experience and my perspective and what helps me. And I love doing it. I love it so much because
00:16:25
Speaker
All of it is really just talk until we know somebody that lived that experience, right? All of it is just talk until we can apply it to a real person. And that's what I do. I'm the real person. Yeah. And thank you for your work on that. Nikki, I do love to talk about hip hop. I think you can learn a lot about people when
00:16:48
Speaker
They answer the question, who are their big influences in hip hop? Who are your influences? Who do you go to in hip hop, in hip hop history? My early influences were like Nas, Teapot, Lauryn Hill, The Roots, Farsight, Missy, Bahama Dea, I don't know how many of y'all remember her.
00:17:18
Speaker
Yeah, I like old school. And then my recent influences are people like Kendrick, YBN Corday. I really listen to a lot of Kendrick and YBN Corday. I love Kendrick. I love Kendrick. I love Kendrick. Yeah, I love him. Tobi Anikwe, Tobi Lu, who's from here, Chicago.
00:17:43
Speaker
I like them because they are so good at interjecting who they are into their music without feeling the pressure to adhere to what's popular right now. And they've still found a way to thrive and be successful in it. Thank you so much for that.
Influences and Personal Philosophies
00:18:01
Speaker
I've listened for quite some time. I'm 48, so sometimes it's really strong influence, old school, like public enemy.
00:18:12
Speaker
and, uh, ghetto boys and run DMC. And I love Nas. Um, uh, but, uh, yeah, it's, um, it's, it's been great to have some, some sign of hip hop conversations on, on the show. And Nikki, I got to tell you, I don't know if you knew this, I used to break dance as well. So I was the white boy break dancer. Yeah. So that going, going that, that far back, um, uh, Nikki, um,
00:18:40
Speaker
uh another big question just a couple more um what or who made you who you are my mama yeah yeah i'm just like that woman and lord knows like when i was younger i didn't want to be but oh am i grateful now there's so many things about her that i understand now that i'm an adult
00:19:06
Speaker
And it makes so much sense. And I'm so glad that I got so many traits from her, so many things about her living me, from her work ethic, to how much her life just revolved around her work, to even like the way that she dated, like in the type of people she was attracted to, like I am becoming my mom. And it's the best thing that could have ever happened to me.
00:19:30
Speaker
That is such a lovely answer. And it sounded a tiny bit conflicted, but you're giggling as you're going through it. It's hilarious. Because we were so different. I grew up a tomboy, and I'm alternative. I got dredged down to my thighs. And my mom just was not that type of woman, very, very prim, proper film. You know what I'm saying? But we are so similar in so many ways.
00:19:58
Speaker
I'm very happy for that.
Philosophical Reflections and Creativity's Role
00:20:00
Speaker
I'm so happy. The things about her that are just amazing. My mom has managed to teach it and instill it in me. So I'm very fortunate. I didn't realize that at the time though, but I know now. And I'll say it for you. Thank you, mama. Absolutely. Thank you, mama. All right. So, um, uh, the, the, the big, the big question, Nikki, uh, why is there something rather than nothing?
00:20:31
Speaker
Hmm because even if there was nothing you just have a whole lot of space to create from There's always gonna be something in it. Yeah, that's a good question
00:20:50
Speaker
Yeah, that's the that's that's the that's the tough one. And there was another Chicago guest. I'm never going to. I haven't said this before, but I just love this answer. Avery Young. And he says something rather than nothing because it's got the thump. It's got the thump. That's all he had. I got the thump. I'm like, all right. I've been studying this one for a while. That's going to be good. No, thank you.
Where to Find More Information
00:21:20
Speaker
Um, yeah, Nikki, thanks. Thanks. Thanks for your answer. Um, Nikki Lynette, uh, you know, I, I mentioned to folks about, you know, your hip hop and, and, and you paint and you get your play coming out. I want to, I want you to tell the listeners something rather than nothing about where to find you.
00:21:39
Speaker
where to get the tickets, what the dates are, that type of thing. Can you let us know? Yeah. My site that I am doing my play on and where the tickets are available is I get out alive.