IMNOTARAPPER. : It’s all in the name
Anya Curtis is a senior criminology and religion major whose new single, “A,” can be streamed on Spotify and Apple Music.
Photo Courtesy of Anya Curtis
Art is a place of communion between every culture. The freedom that comes from sharing your truth through expression and the opportunity for connection that such vulnerability breeds is invaluable to humanity. For junior criminology and religion student Anya Curtis, her medium is music.
The young artist, whose stage name is IMNOTARAPPER. , claims the same truth found in her name for her work. While in the Student Center with fellow Hofstra student and artist Lamuse, she came up with the name as a tribute to her craft.
“I don’t really think I’m a rapper, I just spit facts. And I was like, wait, ‘IMNOTARAPPER. ,’” Curtis said. Instead of a rapper, she’s a poet determined to share her story, experiences, trials and pain in hopes that anyone who listens will take comfort in shared experiences.
Curtis describes music as being the very thing that brings people together and offers them a common ground built by a wave of compassion. One of the greatest human experiences we can all relate to is love. More specifically, heartbreak, which has been Curtis’ greatest inspiration lately. The young artist said, “Most of my songs are about how I got my heart stepped on multiple times.”
Curtis went on to describe her latest single, “A,” by saying, “People will say ‘This is so violent, this that and the third,’ and, like, it’s not to be taken [literally], it’s more so from an emotional standpoint.” She explained that music is the “safe space” in which she can be candid about her emotions.
“Like, you meet that one person who you just think is like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m going to love you forever.’ And then splat, everything just goes to crap,” Curtis said. The feeling of heartbreak, whether romantic, fraternal, paternal or manifested from a perceived failure is a theme in her music that almost anyone can relate to.
Recently Curtis performed at Coast To Coast Live, an artist showcase in Brooklyn, and described how the experience moved her. She said, “It was emotional for me, because of the connection I have with [“A”]. It’s very personal. And considering that my sound is very different than many rappers that are out now, I didn’t know what type of reaction I was going to get.” To her surprise, she was able to accomplish exactly what she hoped for.
She said, “My main purpose with music is just to help people understand that there are other people with the same problems that they have. Like relationship problems, identity problems, things like that.” She continued, “I get off the stage and people are like, ‘Wow.’ This guy came up to me crying, and was like, ‘You just made me think about my ex.’ And I was like, ‘What is going on?!’ Like, this is not what I thought was going to happen.”
As an African American woman, hip-hop has been predominant in her life, as it is in the culture. Curtis explained, “Hip-hop has really been revolutionary. Like, old school hip-hop, old school rap, a lot of it has been about police brutality, growing up in underprivileged areas and retaliation. That’s essentially what rap is.”
She went on to say, “I think the fact still remains, rap is what blacks have used to get outside of our comfort zone. I think it’s a way to communicate our emotions in the most acceptable way possible.”
Curtis said her artistic idol is Eminem. “I always liked him. But once I actually started to understand hip-hop and rap, and using metaphors and things like that, I just really started to cling to him. Because for me he’s one of the very few artists that knows how to manipulate words in such a creative way.” Curtis explained that though Eminem is not a black man, she aspires to emulate what he has done with his music.
She said, “If he dropped some of the songs he released in 2000 today, he might get arrested. Like, he has that type of music. Music to get under your skin. And I think it’s intentional, because rap is supposed to be your consciousness, what you’re feeling. You don’t have to agree with what I’m saying. You don’t have to like me. But with all that being said, I’m not going to hold back to spare your feelings. And I think that’s what hip-hop is.”
If her music career were to take off, Curtis said she would use her platform to raise attention for the same social unrest as legends before her, like the trials of being black in America.
She explained this with a story about her fourth grade teacher and a boy who bullied her. Curtis said, “Long story short, the last week of class, the teacher left the class unattended. Me and the boy get into an argument, and, like, I threw him into a bookcase because he kept talking about my mom, and I just left the classroom.
“I ended up getting an F in conduct, and the thing that bothered me about that was that [I had] been complaining to [the teacher] this whole time and [they] literally [did] nothing,” Curtis said. “But now that it’s time to put a grade to everything that’s happened, and you wanna give me an F?”
She went on to explain, “What I would write about in my music about that situation is basically not being heard as an African American, because I think people just look past everything that most of us have to say, either because they are not experiencing it, or they don’t think they are doing something to upset you.”
Curtis is not the only artist of color on this campus. In fact, she is one in a rapidly-growing community. “I think there’s a lot of really talented people on this campus, and I think we’re all very hidden,” she said. “And now, it just seems like everyone is being pulled out of their corners, and I think Taste of Sounds [a Hofstra student-organized and -run artist showcase] especially is great because it’s people you see on a daily basis,” she said.
According to Curtis, the minority of black students have built a “musical community,” saying, “We’re bonded even if we don’t know each other.”
Curtis believes music can be the remedy for any sort of divide. She explained, “I think a lot of what music is, is the things that we don’t know about people. If you have someone that’s always happy and smiling and they come out with, like, this depressing song, it’s just like, ‘OK, clearly there’s another layer to you.’ And that might spark friendships.”
“[There are] a lot of things that I wish I would have or would not have said to certain people. And I think that all comes out in my music. For me, it’s comforting to know I can speak my mind on this set platform and not be judged. It’s just like a space where I can be myself.”
Organizations like the Black Student Union hold an annual Unity Showcase to give the Hofstra community that opportunity, along with Curtis’ home organization, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, in which she is the historian.
For Curtis and the black artists she has found a home with, she explained, “[Music] gives us a voice essentially. Even apart from being in all these clubs, I think more people recognize you for your talent more than anything else.” These students are all connected by their passion for art, and desire to see and be seen.
