It's Where I Am with Zandra Polard

Unknown Speaker 0:00
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Zandra Polard 0:53
Hello, and good morning. It's where I am with Zondra poll are here at 91.5. Jazz and more. It is early morning. What's going on out there? How are you starting your morning today? Well, for me, I did some yoga, did some great stretches, had my morning coffee. And now I'm here talking to everyone out there. Want to give a special shout out to our sponsors for the show. It is our D Evans enterprises. They are a contracting company based out of Arizona. However, they do work here in Las Vegas as well. So if you're looking for any contracting needs, reach out to 602-815-9991. Now, their website is Don at rd Evans en t.com. You can also find it on my website, right on the front page. Right below my beautiful picture. You can click on the icon there and that will get you straight over to our D Evans enterprises. Now they are our premier sponsor for this show. But we also have slug in the magazine who has been a longtime sponsor for it's where I am slug in the magazine is an international magazine that focuses on women's rights and gender equality. You can find slug in the magazine at slug in the magazine.com. Now today we have a special guest calling in on the show today. We have independent who is a rapper, poet, artist. The reason why I asked independent to come onto the show is because of his lyrical ability. I like a lot of the things that he says in his music. But let me give you a little synopsis about independent and some of the work that he's done and who he is. He is a 20 year old, biracial African American hip hop artist, songwriter and actor from Chicago, Illinois. He graduated from Columbia, Columbia College in Chicago. Independent is an alumni of Donna's house known as art of culture that started by Dr. Donda West, the mother of Kanye West. So independent. Come on in thank you for being here. I want you to tell us more about who you are. The things you've done. Absolutely.

Unknown Speaker 3:54
Yeah, first and foremost, just just for clarity purposes. Donda house was actually started by Ron fest, and Kanye, which was which came after which was in honor of Dr. Don de, which actually started by Ryan Ross that started it. So shout out to Ron fez was one of one of my mentors growing up. So yeah, wow.

Zandra Polard 4:18
Now I mentioned you were only 28 years old and you've done a lot you've been on rhythm and flow, which is on Netflix, and BTS next Rapstar.

Unknown Speaker 4:30
Yeah, yeah, I've done I've done a few things, you know, just as, as artists, a young entrepreneur, I'm just trying to find my way. I'd like to, I'd like to say that I wear a few different hats as an actor, hip hop, artist, songwriter, and all that stuff goes hand in hand. So really, when I get an opportunity, you know, I just I prep for it, and I make the most out of it. So fortunately, you know, like you said, I was able to do a couple of things on TV. Still looking at you know, kids In you my path, I have a TV show that I did a couple of years ago in New York. The trailer just came out. It's on YouTube. The link is in my bio on Instagram. You can check that out.

Zandra Polard 5:09
Okay, well, what's your Instagram? Link? So we know. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 5:13
so my Instagram is at the real independent. And if you see how I spelt my name, I started with no vowel. So it's nd P. N. DNC. Yes.

Zandra Polard 5:23
And it makes you remember your name. Because when I'm, you know, when I'm pulling it up, I'm like, having to take out the balls. I'm like, and

Unknown Speaker 5:33
to be honest with you, if you just type in the real NDP, it'll, it'll pop up, you know, I'm saying, but I do, like, you know, for my fans to know how to you or anybody that's looking me up to know how to spell my name in general, just because it is different. But it's, it's a bit challenging. But, you know, ultimately, you know, the goal is to be the guy that's known for, you know, creativity. So that's where I start.

Zandra Polard 5:57
Well, you know, independent, I have to tell you, I am a new fan. You are referred to me by shaitaan. And Nelson, who's worked with me on some of my women empowerment conferences. And she's just a wonderful, wonderful entrepreneur, friend. And so shout out to Donna Nelson for introducing us. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 6:24
she get it done, right.

Unknown Speaker 6:26
Yeah, she's.

Unknown Speaker 6:29
She's great. Yeah, she's

Zandra Polard 6:30
great. She's like, all on my page. She's like, everywhere. So but what stood out to me was that you? Because I know empire. You know, a lot of people know empire. And you were chosen to do some of the music for their fifth season. Is that correct?

Unknown Speaker 6:50
Yeah, I actually I was part of the songwriting deal set out to Richard Daniels and Jeff Monroe. Just doing a little bit of name dropping here just because these people deserve the flowers. Jeff Mauro, a rich Daniel responsible for the music and a lot of opportunities in TV, film and stuff like that, and even music throughout throughout, especially throughout Chicago, but everywhere. Those are those are two people that really did a lot for the music vampire. And they presented me with opportunities, and I'm locked in with them. So big again, big shout out to rich Daniels and Jeff Jeff Morell, they had a songwriting company that obviously they knew I was a songwriter and shout out to my boy John Renaissance too, because he introduced me to them. Yeah, I'm all the way out. You see a lot of satellite I'm all about getting people flowers, you know, saying have a lot to do. Yeah, I get a lot of give a lot of dudes and respect to the people that paved the way and created the opportunity for me the same way I will for other people and are for other people.

Zandra Polard 7:56
zand are a now independent I would ask you how you got started. So you've been in game for quite a while, you know quite a few people. How did it start for you? How old were you when you took the pen to paper? And knew that?

Unknown Speaker 8:17
Right To be honest with you. I've been I've been Dibble and dabble in the in and out of music since since since high school, but I really take it seriously until I would say probably my freshman year of college. Okay, and I'm 28 now. So my freshman year of college was approximately 10 years ago. And I had always been around music my grandmother rest in peace was an amazing singer, one of my grandmother's She was an amazing singer. My grandparents would always play old school music around me, you know, so to speak. And I learned to appreciate it more and more. So you know, I grew up listening to the spinners, Michael Jackson, Tupac Jay Z, like just a whole bunch of artists and even different types of genres. Like I grew up listening to Paul Simon I grew up listening to the Gypsy King, you know, appears like it's a whole bunch. So music has always been something that's been around me and literature has always been a part of me too. Because I mean, I came from a family activist, very good writer. So yeah, my grandfather fought in Vietnam. I fought against the Vietnam War. He's worked with Dr. King Nina Simone, just just real real, real important people and fought for our time and he was actually a white man doing that. Who went to jail for for black rights. So right

Zandra Polard 9:40
because I forgot you are biracial. So back it up a little bit.

Unknown Speaker 9:46
Yeah, my grandma, my granddad, my granddad is a white man. My mother is a white woman. And my my pops is black. But okay. I just been around a lot of literature. So writing is something I was always doing. I was really into sports. So I was doing sports blogging, my English teachers were always telling me my essays were good or whatever, you know, like, just being a part of writing and just creating. It's always been something. And then when I finally found a love for music, okay, easy transition.

Zandra Polard 10:14
So you mentioned that you were into sports, just great physically for fit your physical well. And then you had that mental piece with your writing. Yeah, expressing yourself through your writing. And that's what I really want to focus on. For our youth to understand. It's a well, not just our youth, because, hell, I don't want to say how old I am. But I'm still working on, you know, my writing game, right? I'm working on transferring my emotions onto paper. So, yeah, so tell us how that works. When you're feeling down, when you feel it, when do you do your best writing?

Unknown Speaker 11:01
To be honest with you, my best songs have been come have came in my most vulnerable moments, in the times where I felt like, I felt like I was there. And you know, it's sad to say that most of my stuff that I'm impressed with, has come when I was in a bad state, because I felt like we should be able to, you know, create wonderful things, and things that we love, and we're proud of no matter what state we're in, just for the love of it. But music has really saved my life. Personally, you know, I'm saying just me doing things that make me happy. Music is one of them. And it's just saying it's put me in positions where I can help myself get out of whatever depression, I was going through mental issues, any even you know, as far as stretching as far as any suicidal thoughts, like music has truly been heroic and medicinal for me. You know, I think expression is important, especially, a lot of a lot of men out here, a lot of black men don't don't feel like they got a voice. That's why the first thing I ever put out was a project called voiceless it was to represent for the people to feel like they can't speak. And that's everywhere you can you can look it up is my early music about about when I started rapping about maybe about 2018 is when I dropped that, and it was more so like, I guess you would say conscious rap. Now I'm a little bit more free with my with my form. But yeah, expression and vulnerability is definitely been the time where I wrote the most like things just write for themselves. I don't even have to really think about it. I can already write. Because you already know.

Zandra Polard 12:32
Yeah, but I think part of that is exercising that part of your brain, right? You're so used to doing it that it becomes kind of automatic. Once you hear that beat, right? Absolutely.

Unknown Speaker 12:44
Yeah. Absolutely. So

Zandra Polard 12:49
I want people to be encouraged to write, I want people to exercise their writing abilities to, you know, transfer those emotions onto paper. Because really, what's the other outlet? I mean, you know, you can breathe, you can do some yoga, you can breathe in and out, you know, and that's wonderful to releasing, you know, some of those emotions, anxiety, depression, through breathing, but also expressing how you feel, you can't always tell a person, you know, how you're feeling you can't always be reactive is what I'm trying to get at. And so maybe that can be a time where you can write those things down. So with that being said, I was listening to one of your songs. And that was the setup, because I was listening to one of your songs called are in. And what really, I was really connected to the words when you said, me and my crew. It wasn't grooved, and you know, it was but it was like, okay, so he helped me out because I don't remember it exactly right now, but basically, you were like, you don't want to know what I connect like or be like, if I let you

Unknown Speaker 14:14
write? Yeah, you

Unknown Speaker 14:15
know what I'm referring to?

Unknown Speaker 14:18
I believe I believe so. But I mean, I overall you obviously the, you know, I know what the song is about. So I see what you're saying. Yeah, I'm very well, what was the line again? One more time.

Zandra Polard 14:31
It was basically like, paraphrasing, of course, you don't want to know how I'm going to react to you. And so that's what I was. I was setting up that when you cannot be reactive. That's probably the best time to sit your butt down and write because you don't want to do it physically. Right. You don't want to be confrontational. But this

Unknown Speaker 14:56
create a Yeah, I don't want to get away for I don't I don't want to get what get out. Um, get away from peace, you know, I don't want to get away from, I don't want to get a get away from not knowing who I am or being out of pocket. And often I don't like to put that responsibility on other people, I like to put it on myself. But that's but that's why the song is like, you know, roll with a real one because I know who I am I know what I bring to the table, I know what I stand for. Like it may be it may be one of those more, you know, free records that people might say might don't have much content but really everything that I put it has content when I when I saw it, like this just means filling free, fill it fill loving yourself and understanding who you are as a person. You know, I'm saying if there's a young lady, or you know, or whoever anybody out there is searching for that, that can that can handle that they can respect that they can match your energy then then more power tools, but

Zandra Polard 15:50
no setup, man, you got a power couple.

Unknown Speaker 15:54
Then you got it. You got an empire. So don't don't don't ever give up. Don't ever settle. Don't ever settle for nothing that that ain't worth it. It's a lot out here.

Zandra Polard 16:06
You know, independent, I'm a new fan. You know, I just heard your music today. And I fell in love with it, I have to say. So that's why I can't remember verbatim what you said. But yeah, but it like really resonated with me, like right away. You know? And I got really excited, like, okay, because she Donna recommended you. So I'm like, okay, he's good. He's cool. But then when I heard your work, I was like, oh, okay, right,

Unknown Speaker 16:39
he's a little bit too to it, you know.

Unknown Speaker 16:48
At some point in the record, I want people to enjoy themselves. It's a fun record, I make a lot of vulnerable music. So that's one of those records where it's like, enjoy yourself, you can play it at the club, you can play it in your car, you know, the way that you go, you go play, role play.

Zandra Polard 17:01
And you know, I'm not really one to remember lyrics, I can know a song for 2030 years. And if you asked me to sing it back, I probably would mess it up, you know. Good job to you. So I am going to play one of your songs at the end of the show. And I just want you to kind of set it up for us. And talk about some of the things you talk about in a reason. Okay, a reason to, to come back to love. Right? Yeah, tell us tell us more about that song.

Unknown Speaker 17:41
The song was inspired by a situation that I was in. And it's, it's more so just understanding that if we have a reason to be together, we should, you know, I'm saying if there if there's, if there's a good place for what we got based on our history based off learning about our families based off the chemistry, then why not work it out? You know, I feel like people nowadays they quit so much. Yes. But if we if we have real reasons to be consistent and continue things, then why not? Now granted, that person minds together no more. That don't mean that everything and go workout, you know, saying and that's why I said that's why in the record, I said, If you give me a reason that I should stay, I hope that it ain't too late. I've learned from the other days, I burned from the oven Blaze thinking I'm your teammate. It's just like, Yeah, you know, saying I

Zandra Polard 18:40
think it was something that you also, you also said something about things not being your fault, and your mom is not the blame that you basically had to learn from your own mistakes and failures, right? Yeah. My son could hear that part. Okay. Okay. Go ahead.

Unknown Speaker 19:00
Yeah, yeah.

Zandra Polard 19:04
I love that piece that stuck out big time for me. Because, you know, often as a mother of four. Or, you know, the mom and the dad are the blame for everything. And it's like, no, that was your choice. Right? Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 19:19
So I'm real big on self responsibility, even in relationships, when I leave, when I get out of relationship. Even if that person cheated on me, I'm gonna tell myself what I could have did better in that situation to avoid either the situation or the or the scenario that led up to it. Like I'm the type of person who is I might feel a little out of anger. Like, you may not forget, you don't want to talk to you know, Moe, but really, I'm gonna look at myself and I'm gonna do a whole bunch of self reflecting like what in the world is wrong with me in this situation? You know, because I can't You can't fix nobody else. That

Zandra Polard 19:48
meant you were in love and that meant you were in love if you're doing all that.

Unknown Speaker 19:52
Well, to

Unknown Speaker 19:54
be honest with you, I've done it without I'm just a very reflective over thinking human being I opened If it burns me and it don't burn me, you know I'm saying it's like it's like I don't I just don't have the ability not to self reflect and overthink even if it's in his little a bit I'm always asked what I could have did better in that situation and how I could have did it and that's why it's very important for me to know my errors.

Zandra Polard 20:20
Yeah, so you can do better that's great. So there was something else I wanted to ask you before we get into this song. I wanted to ask you to give us a flow spit us a rhyme or something.

Unknown Speaker 20:35
So let's hear a little absolutely okay. I say

Unknown Speaker 20:41
I do better. Being happy is really easy when you win but you can win a lot more if you would lose better. I used to not like how I moved to like use levels the type of heat I move with now improved the job weather finally found clarity this no clearer can boom better meet the new new and improved I call it new better who better who better jump shots who's better food for thought the food better fresh and clean like a new sweater? Boy I've been an outcast cast that out of my group said invention not to my actual my homie said Hey bro, you let her I asked her why she left me my homie said bro is cool letter the light is nice but it can do so like the new Jenna do better. You do you and believe you move better you never see a plant refuse to bloom because there's no better who better than you when you end but you win it better when a loser no they went into a and there I stand at the show I can flow it's where I am. Hello

Zandra Polard 21:32
Gudo loved it. Now I wish I could just pull words out of my brain like that. I don't know if it's age. I don't know if it's age or what but sometimes I'm not gonna lie sometimes it's like the words just leave my brain.

Unknown Speaker 21:54
But you know what, when people are put to a task, I don't often overthink, right? So you put all of these words in the interview out of your brain, you know I'm saying so you have the vocabulary you have the the intelligence you have the you have the mindset, you're a bit you have the good ability to speak, all you got to do is run. Not as hard as people make it think it's just overthought when the task is at hand. And that's

Zandra Polard 22:15
so true with so many things overthinking?

Unknown Speaker 22:18
Yep. You said a whole bunch of poetic things about mental health already. Yeah, no, I'm

Zandra Polard 22:23
saying yes. Because I'm talking I talk about it often write poetry. Yes. Well, I am yo poet Zondra. Pol art. I want to thank everyone who's been listening to the show. I want to thank my sponsors. Again, I want to thank slugging the magazine. And rd Evans enterprises. Thank you all for tuning in. We'll see you next week. I'm here every Saturday at 7:30am It's where I am. And you know, you can find me on all your social media platforms at it's where I am LV. Also, my podcast are on all the major ones Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon, all those good ones. And you can also find me on it's where I am.com So thank you, we'll see you next week. And now here is the music this is independent and the song is a reason

Unknown Speaker 23:26
good reason leaving for another day

Unknown Speaker 23:42
one of them was 101 but without a fighting in the back and forth. Tell me you know good like a bad resort. I hate that we'd be relationship goals I have to fork but I can't let you wear no pants if I have the shorts, man. You know I try to take in different ways you can stand in front of me still not be here like your sisters brace times where I look up to our potential in a different space almost like a dove started trying to try to hit the ways when they told me I'm crazy and I ignored them all. I thought that we was getting closer to some corn and coffee. I felt the buzz in our name but that's the harness job thinking now fit my exercise like a morning jog. Being a human I went through the stubborn move in my lessons but learn from failing and that ain't my mother's doing that's something I realized about myself because my product launch wrapping into heavy colors set myself a higher bar. And if you give me a reason that I should stay late too late. I've learned from the other days I burned from the oven place thinking I'm your teammate, my darling and turn up the heat that came straight out of Jean Grey chase you more than Chase Bank the same Chase took the change right out my Chase Bank. That same Chase took the patients out of patient heart because damn patient that your heart went out to Patreon. A million reasons why I need to leave but a million question marks Why keep it you know when you be answering in a house and you're a guest but you may leave to go check and you probably leave it on but this really is inexplicable shoot my shot with the chance you give a lead that's like a given go from now on my girl either fully mind or I sent her home Harrelson I sit at my meals but I know dinner wrong Oh 2020 When I got priority straight started the year and Eva's ways to fit in a downright gorgeous day in Miami few weeks before that. I'm trying to go see more than please give him flowers. It'd be wild love. How can I see the mouse over in a vase? What you can see you'll be done enough to steal everything that I do are doing because I am going shortly when applying stuff. I got money for Monday when I'm flying home and if you can't ride with me the way I deserve you can if you give me a reason that I stay, I hope that it ain't too late. I've learned from the other days I burned from the other place. I'm your teammate, mandala and turn up the heat dication at a gene Great. Chase you more than Chase Bank. The same Chase took the change up my Chase Bank, a saint chase to the patients that a patient is a patient that you're hot without a picture you're independent

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