We’re looking forward to introducing you to Michael “Knoetic” Bell. Check out our conversation below.
Michael “Knoetic”, we’re thrilled to have you with us today. Before we jump into your intro and the heart of the interview, let’s start with a bit of an ice breaker: What’s more important to you—intelligence, energy, or integrity?
Integrity always. I think intelligence and energy are fine, but at the end of the day, when people count on you and depend on you or need to trust you, you need to be able to show and display skills that are related to having integrity. That’s the best quality I would want from myself and others.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m a conscious musician. So, I do hip-hop, but I’m also into alternative rock. All of them are conscious-driven. I try to speak to things in life that people are going through. At the same time, trying to keep it light and fun. I don’t want everybody to think I’m just serious all the time. The current project that I’m working on is with a New York producer named Flip My Beatz. We’re working on an album. I just came up with a name for it, which I will hold off on saying at this time. We’re hoping to have it all completed before the year is out. We’ve had some hiccups, but it’s in the process and should be wrapped up soon, hopefully.
Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. Who saw you clearly before you could see yourself?
My high school art and economics teacher, Mr. Kleinhenz, was the one person who saw things in me before I did. I can’t remember why. I think he was substituting for one other teacher. The project was for me to write a song, an anti-drug song. It was the very first song I wrote in high school. I don’t think it’s the first song I ever wrote, but shared with anybody in class. He was awestruck by the song itself and told me that I was a brilliant songwriter. I didn’t realize that that’s something that I was good at. I liked to write songs, but I didn’t consider myself brilliant. He actually used the words brilliant. That’s when, at that time, I started writing more and becoming not just a songwriter, but I also started writing short stories, things like that, poetry. I put a lot of my focus into writing. Thanks to that teacher, I went down the path that I’m on.
When did you stop hiding your pain and start using it as power?
Like many people, I struggle with depression. And if I’m not careful, I can let it overpower me. What I try to do is, when I get in those moods that sometimes I can’t control, the one thing that kind of brings me back to normal or gives me strength is to be creative and to channel my pain or whatever feeling into words and music so that I can have an outlet to express what I’m feeling. I don’t often talk to people about what I’m going through. I hold a lot of stuff in. I know I shouldn’t, but I do. I don’t go to a therapist. I probably should. But my self-medication is being creative. And I do that by songwriting or art or writing, putting my creative energy into something so that I can feel better about what I’ve done. When I look back and see the creation, that kind of brings me out of my funk. If I didn’t create, I don’t know where I would be mentally. I probably would have snapped. But I realize that that is something that helps me get back on the right path mentally.
Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. Is the public version of you the real you?
I try to always be my true self. I’m a little quiet at times. I open up more when people get to know me, but I am who I am. Not to sound like Popeye, but I am who I am. I don’t try to have an alternate personality. I don’t know that I could actually pull that off, but I represent my true self. I think it’s always the best for an individual to be true to themselves, true to who they are, because I think people who aren’t, we can easily tell when someone’s being authentic or fake. They may not know that we could tell, but people can tell. So I find that it’s always best to be true to yourself and true to who you are, and don’t be ashamed to be true to who you are, because if somebody doesn’t like it, that’s fine. The only person that really needs to like you is you.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. Could you give everything your best, even if no one ever praised you for it?
I have to believe, and I do believe, that you have to live without the expectation of praise. Because it’s not often given, and when it is given, it’s not often the way you would like it to be. So, you set yourself up for disappointment if you’re expecting praise from others. You have to be able to accept what you’ve done and appreciate a job well done without someone else looking at you and going, good job. You have to appreciate your own hard work, because that’s the only way you can continue to work hard, is if you are satisfied with what you’ve done and what you do motivates you to keep doing good. But if you’re expecting praise from others, it’s only going to depress you if you don’t get the praise you want or in the way you want it to be to you.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepoeticknoetic/
- Linkedin: Knoetic Verses
- Twitter: https://x.com/Knoetic1
- Facebook: facebook/thepoeticknoetic
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/knoetic
