Today we’d like to introduce you to Prince Shakur.
Hi Prince, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
I was born and raised in Cleveland, OH, then went to Ohio University, and lived in Columbus, OH for the past four years before moving to NYC. I really started writing when I was young, around middle school age, and that love propelled me into college, where I started organizing. A lot of the work that I do currently is juggling a few different mediums: writing journalism, tackling black history and life in essays, sharing writing resources through my newsletter and YouTube videos, as well as running my podcast, The Creative Hour. I also had a memoir (“When They Tell You To Be Good”, Tin House) come out last year that charts my political coming of age. I’ve also spent a huge part of my life organizing heavily over the last seven years.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
No, it hasn’t! I love writing and storytelling, but I didn’t know what I was getting into when I started freelance writing and working as a journalist. The media landscape is so precarious with union busting and constant layoffs. I’ve been lucky that I’ve been freelance, lived in a place that had a cheaper cost of living, and really got to develop as a forward-facing artist. There’s a lot of vague rejection as an artist, and the existential impact of rejection is almost tenfold as a black artist.
I’ve dealt a lot with feeling like my work has been undervalued or is being diluted. In 2021, I was trying to sell my memoir with my literary agent. I got a book offer in June 2021, talked to the editor, and truly had the feeling that this white editor was trying to buy my book without having REALLY read it. There’s so much blind faith and love and healing in writing, which is why it can be so troubling when an industry claims to “care” for marginalized voices, but where is the impact of this supposed caring?
I also think the way I’ve broken into being a journalist and author is a bit untraditional, so at times, I do feel like I’m learning on the fly.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m a journalist, author, and podcast host. Most of my writing work is centered around deepening histories or emotions around Black history, and culture; about looking at the far-off places that Blackness and queerness and love and radicalism can take us; and what it means to heal and survive amidst so much violence. I worked on a travel and documentary series called “Two Woke Minds” with Eli Hiller, where I earned the Rising Star Grant from GLAAD.
A lot of my work is infused with liberatory politics – afropessimism, Black liberation, queer theory, maroonage, and beyond. I think it’s important to build a body of work opposed to colonialism and capitalism and anti-Blackness. Last year, I published a memoir called “When They Tell You To Be Good”, where I explore my political coming of age from queer Jamaican American kid to radicalized adult traveling in the footsteps of James Baldwin.
What do you think about luck?
Haha, this is a hard question to answer. I don’t know if I’m invested in luck as a framework to view my work and business. I do think community and collaboration matter more.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.princeshakur.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sweetblackprince/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/prshakur
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/PrinceShakurYoutube
Image Credits
Taylor Dorrel
Eli Hiller
