Edited By: Tiffany Spriggs
Drae the Barber has established himself as a top notch Barber with his persistence of professionalism, class and authenticity. World Class Fader is the barbershop Drae currently works out of, located in Sacramento, California. Taking a liking to his abstract hair cuts, it’s been no coincidence why his brand is growing so rapidly. Coining himself
“King Lewi” as a brand after spending time being incarcerated, Drae’s natural energy has acted as a source of wisdom to others around him.
Drae’s spirit has the faith of Jesus showcased through his ministry for the past 3 years at Pentecost Fellowship Church. Along with 30 years of attending the congregation, Drae speaks highly of his Pastor
Tamara Bennett and her husband and Elder of the congregation Quentin Bennett.
Recently a 16 year old young man named Camran Tucker was suspended from high school for a day for cutting hair in the barbershop.
Drae’s response in regards to the matter was straight forward, “Why would he be suspended! What is the expectation of your kids? When teaching everything you're teaching them, why suspend a kid for doing what you're teaching him!”
Now we all know overcoming trials and tribulations can be difficult. However, being creative and optimistic, Drae found a way to get out of a situation with his recent 9-5 job. After the struggle of being concerned with the structure his 9-5 job not serving his true purpose. Drae knew there was something better out there for him, something that would make him happy. He did what was necessary for him to remove himself, from any doubt or failures and take a chance to remove himself and head in the direction of where he truly wanted to be. Drae gathered the money he needed to put towards the school education he needed in order to excel to where he is today.
Asking a question a lot of people are afraid to answer, we asked Drae, would he be opposed to eliminating private prisons? Drae answered, “I think it’s unfair for someone who has committed a crime and you judge them publicly, and then you send them to a private prison? To me, private systems separate themselves from the judicial system.”
Drae is pretty straight forward but still very humble. That power at any age is extremely valuable. It’s extremely important we teach our youth the power of respecting space, the power of creativity and optimism. Understanding that each and everyone of us holds the power to get through anything in our unique way.
That makes us equal, Drae added to that and said
“Our future is in our youth. Based off how they approach life, is what our future is gonna look like.
Anticipation and evolution is in the form of creativity and optimism. New ways of cutting hair, new ways of driving, etc.”
Overall equality seems to fall short across a lot of categories within America’s system. However, speaking of it in terms of the Judicial system, as a convicted felon you can no longer hold the right to bare arms, to protect your family from a burglar and possibly save his or her life in the case of immediate danger. Drae made some interesting statements from
His point of view.
“I can’t protect myself. I can’t survive. You put me back out into a world that challenges that so therefore I should be able to be equipped with that. Now, yeah I understand there’s a potential I’ve shown you a trace of me being a criminal. I can understand that now you have a reason to think I’m going to commit something. However you gotta give me that opportunity to prove that right or wrong if you’re going to release me back into the community/society, give me society access.”
With all the traumatic measures that have been inflicted on our communities. Understanding the necessities of life and the importance of that is at an all time high. Understanding financial literacy and health education starts in our youth. Therefore, pinpointing the younger generations to learn and understand the way the system works is tremendously important. How can we strengthen the curriculum of schools with more life awareness skills and strategies?
Drae: “I think religion, I think that’s important. I think so because it helps you get different perspectives.”
Do you think there is a form of education that could be delegated to police officers as a refreshments in education courses. In which we could program different forms of approach by police officers to the community on how equality, creativity and optimism may be able to help better their decision making they are forced to make in the field?
Drae: “I think it’s in everything else, so if cops got routine tutorial videos and classes that would be a quick efficient way to make sure that our officers have more understanding of what today’s situations are that we are all facing. Help them understand what your community is dealing with. Then it would eliminate a lot of decors “guessing” a officer may have to deal with in the field.
It won’t be as much second-guessing going on if you are already in an understanding Environment you are suppose to keep safe.”
To anyone out there carrying their own cross and the communities constantly being faced with multiple hurdles, it is not easy being creative and staying optimistic during tough times.
Drae can relate in regards of his rebuttal.
“Today has so much demand for creativity. Today you got so much creativity coming from different angles. It’s an every day challenge to brand or rebrand yourself.”
The smartest thing you can do is never give up. There will be hurdles, there will be times that the universe seems to be working against you. It’s on YOU to use your creative ideas to further your mind set and then body! It’s on YOU to be optimistic about your situation and find the positives through and with solutions.
Dj LA has an unlimited love for humanity which makes her such a special individual. She is not only respected as a well rounded DJ, but as a woman in general. This has allowed her to gain a wide variety of gigs as a Dj.
We asked her: Why do you feel creativity and optimism is important to promote to our generation?
I think that optimism and creativity is all we have in this world. There is an endless onslaught of headlines that are supposed to grab our attention, however I think that all of that is just distracting us from the real task at hand. That task is to unify each other through creativity, through love, and through common ground. Creativity and optimism are the building blocks of imagination so I believe that they are as important to us as the air we breathe.
Nowadays, people need to understand the essence of equality, the understanding that we all as humans have many of the same hurdles, trials and tribulations. No one man or woman can say flaws or mistakes have not been made in their life . Just because it is not seen as much on others as it may be to someone who is glorified in status , we all fall under the category of being equal when it comes to certain topics.
Dj LA, have you overcome any trials and tribulations using creativity and optimism? If so, what ?
Like many, I deal with my fair share of depression and also anxiety, especially during the process of creating. I compare myself in a multitude of ways. I think that anyone that is creative, in this line of work especially, deals with their fair share of anxiety...in a way, it means they care, possibly too much. However, that doesn't mean that we are not functional, as well as productive members of society that give back even more than we take and observe. I want to leave the earth a better place than I found it.
Taking some time to understand Dj LA’s point of view in being equal was a bit of a twist . The outcome is still the same when the cup is looked at as half full or half empty.
What are your Beliefs of how we can all be characterized as equal?
Being that all have the trait of being creative and optimistic .
I think that it's almost impossible for us to all be characterized as equal, unless we take away the constraints and elitism that comes with having a lot of money. Also, if we took away everyone’s sight, We might be able to see everyone as equal, but I think that sight alone is a way that we judge people without even knowing them. Someone’s appearance, what they pull up in, what they have on, are what I like to call “the extras”.
Sometimes people are afraid to be honest because of ramifications/consequences. Being honest with yourself instead of catering to what you think others will say gives you a sense of freedom in being creative . Sometimes we can be blocked from our creative side when trying to appease others.
How hard is it to stay creative with your brand and what would you say to somebody experiencing this same issue.
For me it's not hard at all to be creative. I try to block out the noise and I really be strict with myself about what I allow to come into my hemisphere…I mean, in terms of what I take in via social media, the news, text messages, email, phone calls, anything really! I try to strain my intake and not overstimulate my brain with BS. I do not allow negativity or bad talk to come into my sphere, and I really try to do the same with myself. I am actively training myself to not say anything bad about anyone or anything if I'm not willing to help fix it.
The goal with EvenRights is to eliminate negative stereotypes, and promote equality and creativity through events, collaborations, projects and management. If anything is ever taken from any content created from EvenRights, it is to either confirm the subject who’s being written about to have been promoting equality before this blog or will now do so after allowing us to illustrate on whomever we’re being creative on or with.
Will equality be something your brand will promote after this blog/interview and why?
Always, because I would struggle to have the future be a place that I want my children to live in….a time and place I can be proud to say I helped build.
Dj LA , real name Layla this brings us to our next question Taking the time to cater to a primarily adult audience. What can we teach our adult audience to do in order to be examples of equality for our youth?
Just remember that children are like sponges, they take everything in. whatever environment that they are in, they will absorb everything.
There’s so many issues we face when dealing with police brutality. It makes it tough on all the officers who practice being at service more than delegation when dealing with civilians .
Do you think educational tutorials for police officers of how equality, creativity and optimism may be able to help better their decision making they are forced to make in the field.
Of course, like any sector of our government that we pay taxes for, I believe that police definitely have to have a yearly updated curriculum on how they deal with the public. Technology is changing so quickly, as is our perception and intake of technology, and I believe that police officers needs to be held accountable and aware of what they're doing constantly not only is that are right, but it is our duty to make sure that this happens and that they are collectively held accountable for their actions and their inaction
DJ LA took no shame in targeting the ladies when making a point focusing on young women knowing how to protect themselves and their space when asked the question.
How can we strengthen the curriculum of schools with more life-awareness skills and strategies?
Young ladies should understand how to protect themselves and their space both verbally and physically from a very young age. A lot of us young ladies are taught that it is rude to speak up, however I think it is imperative that we make sure that these young ladies know how to speak up properly and protect their space from a young age. That is very important. I also believe that young children from kindergarten on up should learn how to handle money, write checks, my handle bank account, and vest, save, a myriad of these basic Financial knowledge skills
There’s absolutely no doubt when Dj LA speaks about women at a young age. They need to have strong communication skills and protect themselves . Going further into life skills, the babies are where everything starts.
-It starts at home
A Bay Area native, Dutch Santana operates off of originality, old school work ethic and muscle. Over time gathering game from his environment, he’s definitely able to put up a perspective for not only the Bay Area, but from the perspective of a man who really knows how to use his creativity to go out and get it.
EvenRights: How do you feel creativity and optimism is important to our generation?
Dutch: I think that technology and social media have started to clog natural creativity. I think it’s important that people really find themselves and who they are in order to really tap in to that creativity. A lot of people don’t give themselves the time to figure out who they are and I think that also blocks creativity. It’s definitely important to remain optimistic throughout that process as well as everything else you do in life. You get the same energy you put out. As long as you think positively, you can accomplish what you want.
EvenRights : What are your beliefs of how we can all be characterized as equal beings? As humans we all have the ability to be creative and optimistic
Dutch: I definitely agree that we all have the ability to be creative and optimistic, but I don’t believe that we all use them equally or reach full potential. We all have the same 24 hours in a day but it all starts with your childhood and how you were raised. If you were bred with more or pushed to do more as a child, when you grow to be an adult you’ll be more likely to use those creative skills than someone who grew up in a less fortunate environment with adults who were fine with that. My son was accepted into private school and I’m blessed to be able to continue to send him there to experience that type of education and make those networking connections.
EvenRights: How hard is it to stay creative and what would you say to somebody experiencing this same issue?
Dutch: In my personal experience when I hit a writing block with my music, I’ve learned that it helps to take a step back and come back to it later because when you try to force it you’re not going to like the results. Like I usually come up with a hook and first verse pretty quickly, but there will be times when that second verse I just feel like the energy doesn’t match the first verse. I have a song that I’ve been working on for months just because I feel like they could be better than what I’ve been writing to it.
EvenRights: If there were three things you could have done different, earlier , or better while building your brand, what would they have been?
Dutch: Definitely staying more persistent. As long as you keep pushing towards your goals you’re going to accomplish them eventually. Secondly not being concerned with other people’s opinions. A lot of people are going to look down on you and what you’re doing, simply because they aren’t able to do it themselves. Lastly, being your own biggest supporter. A lot of us get caught up in being our own biggest critics and like I said earlier, you get what you put into the world. So if you’re constantly telling yourself you need to do/be better instead of praising yourself at times you’ll burn yourself out or remain stuck where you’re at.
EvenRights: Taking the time to cater to a primarily adult audience, what can we teach our adult audience to do in order to be examples of equality for our youth?
Dutch: Adults for sure need to listen more and be more open minded. The youth need to be able to feel comfortable communicating what they’re going through with us as opposed to bottling it in because they think we’re going to judge them or be upset with them. Adults also need to seek knowledge, wisdom, and understanding because without that we can’t guide the youth in the proper direction because we don’t know which direction we’re going ourselves.
EvenRights: Do believe in the right to bear arms and if so how important do you think it is to be able to do so in this day and age?
Dutch: Hell yeah I believe in the right to bear arms. Everybody needs to be able to protect themselves. I advise everybody who is over the age of 18 to get a firearm for their safety and the safety of their family because the world is crazy.
EvenRights Do you think educational tutorials for police officers of equality, creativity and optimism may be able to help officers in making better decisions in difficult situations in the field?
Dutch: Yes, of course they should have implicated that into the academy and training they have before becoming a police officer, maybe a lot of the issues we’re seeing today wouldn’t be recurring tragedies. It’s a little backwards how long lawyers have to be in school in order to just know and practice the law versus the length of the police academy which is generally less than a year and they’re given the ability to ENFORCE the law. It’s crazy.
EvenRights: The tobacco industry is constantly frowned upon in commercials. Do you think people have a choice whether to smoke tobacco? Or is there something that influences them beyond measure to even become addicted.
Dutch: I honestly think tobacco addiction just starts from someone, usually kids, who see somebody that they look up to doing it and they want to be cool like them. It’s so addictive with the nicotine that they just get caught up in it. They take so many puffs of the cigarette or whatever product they choose to use and the next thing they know they can’t stop.
EvenRights: How can we strengthen the curriculum of schools with more life awareness skills and strategies?
Dutch: I think they need to take out a lot of the classes that are unnecessary and never actually get applied to real life situations. I think they need to teach more life skills. I get why they don’t though, school is set up to program you to get up and work an 8-5. They don’t want to teach you how to be your own boss. That’s something that we need to teach our youth, to be able to break through that cycle and make their own dreams come true.
