![Pierre Anthony performs in September at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. STEVE FURAY PHOTO]()
Pierre Anthony captures love, pain of living in Detroit
By Steve Furay
Special to the Michigan Citizen
“You better watch your mouth,” sang Pierre Anthony as he banged out a drum beat on a wooden chair brought up to the stage for his performance at the Jazz Cafe on Dec. 19, “and wipe your feet before you step in my house. I’m from Motor City.”
For audiences who have heard Pierre Anthony’s song performed live over the past couple years, as he did this evening for the year’s final presentation of the poetry and music live series “A Man Can Change,” the song has become an anthem for those proud of being from the difficult streets of Detroit.
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![Pierre Anthony performs in September at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. STEVE FURAY PHOTO]()
Pierre Anthony performs in September at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. STEVE FURAY PHOTO[/caption]
As the city evolves and longtime residents face the uncertain future of gentrification and an economy that threatens to leave them on the outside, Anthony’s performance was a reminder that the soul of the city does not reside in the new businesses or white “creative class.”
The soul of the city will always lie within the people, the light that shines after years of being polished by the pains and contradictions that exist within the borders of Detroit.
“What do you know about sleeping on cots, everything rotten in the refrigerator, food stamps the only paper, a house of crackheads was my only neighbors?” Anthony asked as he began his performance.
Unapologetically, his story continues to describe his incarceration as a young man, and the fear he could have squandered his gift as a musician for the hustle of a quick dollar. The story is too familiar in Detroit and many of the nation’s other urban centers, with an untold number of talented young men and women having been lost to the confines of prison or an early death, unable to tell the story of redemption Pierre Anthony does.
“…My purpose is way realer than real — real life, real times and struggle,” he said. “Look at my hands, I fought. Look at my face, I took something to win.”
As the city grows and becomes rebranded by the private wealth of global investors, Anthony suggests the danger is the stories of the street will go untold — marginalized and derided as criminal engagement, and not as a part of the fabric of the city woven into the hearts of the people.
“Let me take you down another walk/ where gun spark is common/ death is so constant/ left with no conscious,” Anthony says. “Walk with me please.”
The independent Black artists — poets and musicians like Pierre Anthony, jessica Care moore, Monica Blaire, 5 ELA, RenCen Coolbeanz, Duminie DePorres, Steffanie Christi’an, and Joel ‘Fluent’ Greene — comprise Motown’s current incarnation. Artists not afraid of painful self-expression, exposing the emotions brought on by the extremes of the great love within the city, and the dire circumstances that have forged their talents like hot iron.
“I just want to know where we went wrong. I need answers, yes. I need answers, yes,” sings Pierre Anthony. “I don’t want my babies to have to sing my song. I need answers, yes. I need answers yes.”
Learn more about Pierre Anthony and listen to his music at www.reverbnation.com/pierreanthony.
Pierre Anthony performs in September at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. STEVE FURAY PHOTO[/caption]
As the city evolves and longtime residents face the uncertain future of gentrification and an economy that threatens to leave them on the outside, Anthony’s performance was a reminder that the soul of the city does not reside in the new businesses or white “creative class.”
The soul of the city will always lie within the people, the light that shines after years of being polished by the pains and contradictions that exist within the borders of Detroit.
“What do you know about sleeping on cots, everything rotten in the refrigerator, food stamps the only paper, a house of crackheads was my only neighbors?” Anthony asked as he began his performance.
Unapologetically, his story continues to describe his incarceration as a young man, and the fear he could have squandered his gift as a musician for the hustle of a quick dollar. The story is too familiar in Detroit and many of the nation’s other urban centers, with an untold number of talented young men and women having been lost to the confines of prison or an early death, unable to tell the story of redemption Pierre Anthony does.
“…My purpose is way realer than real — real life, real times and struggle,” he said. “Look at my hands, I fought. Look at my face, I took something to win.”
As the city grows and becomes rebranded by the private wealth of global investors, Anthony suggests the danger is the stories of the street will go untold — marginalized and derided as criminal engagement, and not as a part of the fabric of the city woven into the hearts of the people.
“Let me take you down another walk/ where gun spark is common/ death is so constant/ left with no conscious,” Anthony says. “Walk with me please.”
The independent Black artists — poets and musicians like Pierre Anthony, jessica Care moore, Monica Blaire, 5 ELA, RenCen Coolbeanz, Duminie DePorres, Steffanie Christi’an, and Joel ‘Fluent’ Greene — comprise Motown’s current incarnation. Artists not afraid of painful self-expression, exposing the emotions brought on by the extremes of the great love within the city, and the dire circumstances that have forged their talents like hot iron.
“I just want to know where we went wrong. I need answers, yes. I need answers, yes,” sings Pierre Anthony. “I don’t want my babies to have to sing my song. I need answers, yes. I need answers yes.”
Learn more about Pierre Anthony and listen to his music at www.reverbnation.com/pierreanthony.