Episode 23: How to Be a Concept Artist with Dame Mufasa

Dame Mufasa is a poet disguised as a hip-hop artist, "Trojan horsing poetry through gold teeth and hip hop.”

His brain works in narrative connections, whether linear or abstract, creating entire universes from disparate thoughts before they become too big to execute. Dame's philosophy centers on art as sacred work—following in the footsteps of Tupac and James Baldwin—with every project carrying the weight of representation and the responsibility to prove hip hop is fine art. His recent album "Church in the Wild" emerged from a Crosstown Arts residency where life fell apart (lost job, lost someone close, car got smashed) but became fuel for the "fuck it, create" mentality. Dame admits to being a nerd with concepts rather than a traditionally skilled rapper, but turns limitations into strengths through high concept and intention, making do with minimal resources while creating maximum impact through storytelling and aesthetic vision.

We talk about creating Church in the Wild as an autobiographical journey through faith and spirituality, shooting the companion film Eyes of God entirely on iPhone and premiering it at Malco, using his Crosstown Arts residency to prove hip hop belongs in fine art spaces and pave the way for future rappers, the compromise that exists in every artistic project due to limited resources and being a Black artist making do, how concept and intention can take you further than big budgets, being too conceptual to give sexy vague answers during artist Q&As, working on multiple project ideas until one "hogs all the food," and his belief that every project is a dream project because he dreamed it up and made it happen.