Chancelier “Xero” Skidmore inspires young artists to become great communicators

Content Provided by our sponsor:

As a child of the hip-hop generation, Chancelier “Xero” Skidmore grew up rhyming and freestyling, earning a reputation on the playground. As an adult, Xero has made his mark in the Baton Rouge arts community through his award-winning slam poetry performances. He’s earned international recognition for his work, taking home first place in the 2013 Individual World Poetry Slam, a 4-day festival that attracts some of the best performance artists around the world. But his love for language extends well beyond his own performances. Xero is the Executive Director of Forward Arts Inc., a nonprofit working to introduce poetry and other art forms into the lives of children while also teaching them powerful life skills. When he’s not inspiring youth with poetry, Xero enjoys playing percussion with local groups the Michael Foster Project, Soul Jukeboxxx and Universal Language.

Xero is one of the speakers for TEDxLSU, which is coming up on March 11. He took a moment to talk to us about poetry, inspiration and community.

How did you get into poetry?

I always had a natural proclivity for language. I was always intrigued by language, even as a young child. I started at an early age, memorizing lines from movies and lines from songs. I was always running to my mom whenever I found a new word that I didn’t know and asking her what that word meant and she would always tell me: “Go look it up.” My mom also wrote poetry when she was in high school and she continued to write in her spare time. So, I grew up seeing my mom write. Sometimes she’d share what she wrote. Me and other kids would write raps and perform them on the playground at school. We formed little rap groups in high school and middle school, so writing always came naturally to me.

What are some main, recurring themes in your poetry? Why those themes?

The pursuit of truth is a main theme. Whether it be an observation about my family life, my upbringing, something going on in my community, or social justice issues that are relevant locally, nationally or globally, it all comes back to how do I tell the truth in a way that’s engaging.

Where do you go in Baton Rouge when you’re looking for inspiration?

That’s a hard question because I never look for inspiration. Inspiration has never had trouble finding me. I see inspiration in everything. I’ve always been one of those writers who can write on command. And I really try to teach young people to hone the ability to switch on their writing skill, as I’ve tried to do that with myself. I think the fact that truth is typically in short supply is inspiration to seek truth. People inspire me. People often focus on their struggles, which clouds their ability to see the struggles of others. I feel like art humanizes the other. As someone who identifies with the other — like people from marginalized communities — I try to present my otherness as often as possible.

What goals do you hope to achieve with your program, Forward Arts Inc.?

I hope to someday live in a city where there’s so much open dialogue about the various identities that exist within the community that the general population is much more aware of the daily struggles and obstacles that people from those marginalized communities have to deal with. A program encouraging young people to be effective communicators will result in a more informed and empathetic and equitable Baton Rouge.

In your opinion, what is the most important piece of advice for a young artist?

Every artist needs something different from the other artist. I always try to get my young people to assess what they need most at any given time, and their strengths and weaknesses. Understanding that you’ll always be growing and maintaining your humility as an artist is really important because then you’re always going to be seeking to grow and thinking about which ways in which you need to grow. Whenever you get to a point when you think you’ve arrived, then you close yourself off to new influences and revelations about your art. Embrace who you are and what you believe in and at the same time remain humble.

If you weren’t a teaching artist now, what would you be doing with your days?

I guess I’d still be a musician. I have a few friends who play music professionally and tour the world with jazz artists and R&B artists and hip-hop artists. If I hadn’t become a teaching artist, then I would have devoted more time to developing my skill as a musician or I’d be a musical teaching artist. I’d definitely can’t see myself being anything other than an artist. I’d jump off a bridge if I couldn’t be an artist.

If you could switch jobs with another TEDxLSU 2017 speaker, who would it be and why?

Howard Hall. As a comedian, he kind of gets paid to not really do much but talk. He doesn’t have to rhyme, there’s not much imagery, so yeah I think being a comedian is the easy life. I want to be Howard Hall. I told him this and he said I can’t be him, he’s busy being him, the job is taken.

As a young poet, what poets influenced you?

I would say comedians. I grew up studying — not just listening, but studying — Richard Pryor, George Carlin, and later i really got into the lyrics of George Clinton and Prince, and Stevie Wonder. Later it was Chuck D from Public Enemy and the KRS-One, so a lot of my first influences poetically were comedians and songwriters and rappers. It wasn’t until later that I really started studying written poetry. But as a kid, I was captivated by the creativity of language that these artists were employing. A lot of what i do in spoken word is kind of a mixture of theater, stand up, music, confession, sermon, political speech. I’ve been influenced by a lot of different types of expression within the oral tradition.

To learn more about Xero or about TEDxLSU 2017, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Reserve your seat now to hear Zero talk, as well as the talks of all the other TEDxLSU 2017 speakers.