(2020) Biggest Takeaway by Nebiyah Jordan

 By: Nebiyah Jordan (TRUE Skool)

Being an intern was most definitely a new experience. This opportunity has personally served as an eye opener for me as a person and an artist. I came into this job doubting myself in many areas, such as, my lack of ability to speak. Now, this may seem like a weird aspect to lack since I am an artist who performs in front of hundreds of people. However, rapping and speaking are two different approaches to language. When it comes to music, or in my case rapping, it is often already pre-written, meaning, what is to be said has already been established. On the other hand, speaking is something that is often performed on the spot. The art of speaking relies solely on the person’s ability to think quickly and respond in accordance to what was said previously. Personally, I feel as though I lack the latter.

I am a fairly new and young artist; however, performances aren’t a new aspect of artistry to me anymore. What is new to me are interviews. As most people should know, interviews consist of one party making comments mostly consisting of questions towards or about the person who they are interviewing. The other party, often known as the interviewee, has to respond to said comments and questions. Through the years, interviews have often exposed me to how much I lack in articulating my thoughts under pressure or off the cuff. In life it is important to know how to express yourself verbally, hence why I joined this internship. During my time in this job I have realized a shift in the way I approach and talk to people when confronted with comments and questions. While I am not yet where I want to be, I notice that I have gotten better at being articulate with others with less hesitation and awkward pauses. TRUE Skool has already won a place in my heart with the way it combines music with activism and education, but now that this organization has helped me with something not only useful in music but in my personal life as well has helped me gain a whole new respect for them.

Moving on from that brief look into my personal life, this internship has helped me with my artistry as well. During this time, I have been attending multiple Black Lives Matter protests in milwaukee. Like most good music artists, I use my artistry for activism. While in this field, I have been introduced to certain topics that I was ignorant towards, such as aquaponics and the health of water in general. Over the course of this quarantine I have written two songs based around the lead water crisis. Ecommerce is another topic that has sparked interest in me. Ecommerce has caused me to be a little more interested in studying up on capitalism and the way our economy works in America. 

As I am headed into my freshman year of college later this month this program has helped me get into the habit of being online and talking to people online. Since all of my classes are online for this semester it’s beneficial to get into the habit of working from a computer before the school year starts. Usually during the summer time i don’t do much work based around research and academics, so the fact that i’ve been preoccupying my mind with the tasks this internship has thrown at has helped me. In sum, this opportunity has helped me overcome certain issues I struggled with and even with my school