Brother Dash: A Critique on a Self-Obsessed Culture

Dasham Brookins, 40, aka Brother Dash, is not your average artist. Armed with a degree in English and Sociology and that “in your face” Brooklyn attitude Brookins launched his career as a fiery spoken word artist. With a career spanning from the early 90s, Brookins shows us that freedom of speech is a lesson that we’re still learning. We got a chance to speak to Brookins.

Elan: Can you tell us a little bit about how you got involved in spoken word poetry?

Brother Dash: Well initially I was going to pursue a career in acting. I performed in some plays, was an extra in the films Lean on Me and Juice (Tupac’s first film) and I even produced, directed and starred in a play that I wrote called Black Mirrors while still in college. There were a couple of reasons for writing the play but one of them was to create my own acting work instead of relying on others to offer me parts. Also while in college I began to write and perform poetry on campus as a bit of a hobby. So I suppose the seeds of spoken word were being sown way back then. After leaving off acting to concentrate on my familial responsibilities (I had soon married and started a family) I eventually started to write more poetry to fill the void of no longer being an actor. Most of my performing however was being done in non-Muslim venues and for non-Muslim audiences as the Muslim community had yet to truly embrace anything in the arts let alone spoken word. But after reading some of my work in front of Muslim audiences including well known Muslim scholars and lecturers I started to get requests to perform more. This eventually led to more interest and even the stage name “Brother Dash” which was actually coined by Imam Zaid Shakir. He started to jovially refer to me by my nickname Dash and so “Brother Dash” stuck. I stopped using my full name on stage and I’ve been Brother Dash ever since.

Elan: You also are a social critic. What is your greatest critique of today’s society?

BD: Hmmm…greatest critique? Well in general I think we all need therapy. We need to work on the ego…the me, me, me. And this is evident in social media. We love to put up our “look at me” status updates and pontificate ad nauseum on our free blogs on subjects whether we know what we are talking about or not. But we also see it in what we produce on TV and in the news. We have mixed priorities of what is important or worthy. Why do we care about Snooki? Why does a Snooki even get a show? Why does she get $30K to speak at my alma mater and a Shaykh gets nickeled and dimed by one of the alphabet Islamic organizations for his speaking fee which is a FRACTION of hers? So I guess that was more than one critique (I have several) but if I had to boil it down I’d say the ego and if I can cheat a bit I’d add misplaced priorities.

Elan: You’ve come out with two spoken word albums and the third one is on the way. Do you have a separate message for each?

BD: Absolutely. Each album is different as far as theme. Poetically Speaking was my first full album. I had a 6 track EP called The MuslimPoet previously and also featured on the compilation album Rhyme and Reason but Poetically Speaking was my first full solo album and it actually included most tracks from The MuslimPoet. Anyway both Poetically Speaking and my secondly album Spoken Soul are thematically light years apart. The first album was more extroverted and the second is much more introverted. Poetically Speaking talks about issues and realities with the poet as an observer of what is around him while Spoken Soul is more me baring my own soul. I had gone through a lot personally when I was writing Spoken Soul and so you see that along with a couple of “observer” pieces. Spoken Soul is also a bit “darker”. It does end on an up note with the title track which includes a music background. This is the first time I included instrumentation in my recorded work as a poet. Poetically Speaking probably includes my more popular pieces although Spoken Soul does have my ode to my Mom and mothers everywhere “The Most Beautifullest” which can be found on YouTube. It is one of my more requested pieces.

Elan: What can we expect from your new album?

BD: The new album is my third. It is titled Poetic Justice. Thematically the album focuses on various aspects or types of justice and issues of import. So I talk about social justice, spiritual justice, cultural justice, and even environmental justice. I also discuss self-autonomy in the context of religion. In addition to all of the above Poetic Justice is diverse even on this overall them of justice. It touches on love & loss in a poem dear to me called “I Loved You Like…” And I have my first poem on Palestine entitled “Filistine.” I’ve been asked for years to write a piece about the conflict in the region but a poet should always write from a place of truth to her. A place of integrity…what she’s feeling. And it wasn’t until this album that I had a Palestine poem in me even though I have always had strong feelings about the conflict and its historical and present reality. So you can expect probably my strongest content on this album, a lot of holding ourselves to the mirror and my more signature strong, rhythmic delivery people tell me is somewhat unique. Somewhat…but we all have our influences. Anyway if you like strong spoken word poetry then you’ll probably like this album.

Elan: What has been your greatest challenge as an artist?

BD: Honestly my greatest challenge has been the stuff that comes with notoriety. You asked about celebrity worship. Although I am not a celebrity I sort of am. In other words celebrity is relative. I can walk down the street in Times Square and no one knows me from a can of paint. But I walk through the halls of an Islamic conference and all of a sudden I’m “Brother Dash” and people want an autograph, a picture or my opinion on some matter. After a while that can creep into your heart. You start to enjoy that sort of thing or even worse desire it. And then it can bring inappropriate attention from others or illicit inappropriateness from you.

Elan: What is the one message that you’d like to promote with your work?

BD: Freedom! The freedom to speak (which is actually the title of a poem on the new album Poetic Justice). If people can be inspired to be free to be themselves and to express themselves and to not feel compelled to think like others that is what I hope they take from this album and my work in general. That is why I love poetry the most out of all artistic forms of expression. You can take what YOU are feeling inside and just start writing. Unlike a visual artist or a singer and certainly an actor all of us can write down a feeling without some sort of requisite skill at writing. All of us have feelings. Yes as an accomplished poet and spoken word artist I can express my words in ways maybe more audience appealing but that speaks to performance not the essence. And the essence that I want people to take away is that it is MORE THAN okay to be yourself and to express it. You are the only you you’ll ever have so start “you-ing.”

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