KEYON MONTÈ_ AN ARTIST IN EVERY WRITE

Meet Keyon Monté: An artist in every write! 

From costume design to storytelling, Keyon’s work has graced theaters, galleries, and even Broadway campaigns. His journey is a fusion of faith, creativity, and cultural impact. Join me as we dive into his artistic world on The Kim Jacobs Show—Tuesday, March 18th at 11 AM EST!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Listen, we have a great show lined up for you.
I'm your host, Kim Jacob's better known as the Balance Doctor,
and all of our guests that come on there either
people that have overcome some tremendous odds in their own
lives as they balance these things all life, or they're
experts and they're here to share tips and strategies that
will help you better balance and manage your life. Grab

(00:22):
your virtual seats and let's get ready for some real,
relevant and relatable content on today's episode of a Kim
Jacobs Show. Everyone, and welcome to this episode of The

(00:43):
Kim Jacob Show, where we're bringing balance to the world,
one household at a time. And today, guess what we're
doing that with none other than Kean Monte. How are you, Kayan?

Speaker 2 (00:53):
How are you nice to be here? Oh?

Speaker 1 (00:56):
I'm so glad you're here, and I can tell we're
going to have a great time. I'm already right, Yes, yes,
I have. I have thoroughly enjoyed just getting to know
you in the back scene, the backdrop and getting a
chance to just hear some of your story. I had
the opportunity to meet your mom and her husband at
an event that was about black women business entrepreneurs, not

(01:20):
just women but men, entrepreneurs. Masterminds is what they yes,
And so I had the pleasure of meeting them. And
that's where I think I had the opportunity to meet
you too.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
Correct, Yes, absolutely, So.

Speaker 1 (01:32):
That was in Kansas, Kansas City. I was in Where was?
I tell me where I was? Because I traveled so much.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
I don't know if it was it was It might
have been Kansas City, Kansas as.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
A city, Kansas. That's where I was. I was like, okay,
you know what, you know, you travel too much when
you're like where where was? I was in Kansas City,
Kansas And at the opportunity with doctor Janetta Watson, I
came in to speak about how important it was for
us to be able to be everything that go I
created us to be as entrepreneurs. So anyway, I'm really

(02:03):
glad that you're here today. Now, do you still you
live in Kansas City, Kansas?

Speaker 2 (02:07):
Yeah, I'm in Kansas City, Missouri. There's this thing about
Kansas City Kansas City, Missouri, right their sister cities. But
people from Missouri always say that we're the better side.
Oh well, and I can't disagree. You know what, I mean,
I can't disagree with that.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
You can't disagree, Okay, So clearly he's biased to Kansas City, Missouri.
Yes City, Kansas. But I had the pleasure especially Michael Freeland.
I don't know if you know him. He's the author
of Mental real Estate, talking about us being free in
our minds and things, and the opportunity to connect with him,

(02:44):
and he's a friend of one of my friends, doctor
Lotus Chet. So it was just a really great exhibit,
uplifting experience to be there in Kansas City, Kansas.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
Yeah, well you have, you have many connects here in
Kansas City.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
I know, you know, I don't. I don't think I
would ever live there, but I definitely enjoyed coming and
enjoying myself and my experience there was really very edifying experience.
So listen, everybody today, let's focus on who we are
talking about today. We are talking about Keon Monte and
he is an artist in every rite. A lot of

(03:18):
times people want to know if a person can write
well and they're also artistic, how does this whole thing
gel together. You're gonna learn that from Kante today. All right,
So I want to take a moment to just introduce you.
He is a Kansas City native whose work has found
homes in many parts of the world, So you're gonna

(03:40):
hear about different parts of the world that you may
have been seeing Kean Monte's work. His upbringing exposed him
to many of the arts that have become the foundation
to which helps him feed his faith and his creative thought.
I won't even tell you. It's a big piece of
his bio that pertains to somebody that was very important
in helping to share who he really is today. And

(04:02):
I'm gonna let him talk about that. But he has
too yet. Oh man, I can't say you're whole bio
because these are parts of your backstory. But anyway, he
earned a BA in costume design. I'll talk about that.
He earned a BA in costume design from the University
of North Carolina School of the Arts, where he sharpened
his eye for detail. And at that point, I'm just

(04:24):
gonna stop with the bio stuff because all of this
is going to be heard throughout his story. Welcome Kean
Monte to the Kim Jacob Show.

Speaker 2 (04:32):
Thank you, I'm excited. I'm excited to be here. Thank
you for having me.

Speaker 1 (04:36):
Thank you. We're gonna jump right in, Kean, and I
want to just talk even about your upbringing, because a
lot of your bio goes into details about that, but
talk to us. You were filled with artistic influence. How
did your grandfather and grandmothers shape your creative path?

Speaker 2 (04:52):
So I grew up around One of the coolest things
is that I had so many grandmothers growing up. I
had around five grandmothers, It's true, and each of them
were very impactful in my life in different ways. I
had a grandmother who so okay, so one grandmother was

(05:16):
integral and exposing me to a lot of different things. Right.
A reason why I love to travel is because of
my grandmother Ronda. She when I was a kid, she
would take me to California, to you know, New Jersey,
of New York, Florida, all of these places. And she
would also introduce me to things like Cirt Disola, right,

(05:36):
which I was showing like you know that I was
in It's like elementary school and we had show and tell,
you know what, I you know what I came to
show and tell with. I came to show and tell
with a VHS of a Curt Disole show, and I
was like let's watch this. And I was in elementary school.
They're so, yes, why are they wearing like they're like, what,

(06:00):
why are they wearing tights?

Speaker 1 (06:01):
Like what's going on?

Speaker 2 (06:02):
I'm like, it's art. You don't understand. And I'm and
I'm in elementary.

Speaker 1 (06:07):
School principal office just because they like at home exactly.

Speaker 2 (06:14):
Oh yeah, because it was it was a provocative and
it was you know. So she introduced me to those
things in Disney and things like that. And my other
grandmother on my mother's side, she was she's a poet
and she's an actress, and so she introduced me to
a lot of those things and old Black Hollywood. So

(06:34):
she had lots of things in her home like cabin
in the sky and green pastures and so those are
the things that I kind of grew up around. My grandfather,
who was in the center of both of these experiences.

Speaker 1 (06:49):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (06:50):
He was what I like to call a jack of
all trades, okay, and he was also a master of
many too, because he was not only the president of
the Black Economic Union here in Kansas City, he also
helped get eighteen Divine, the historic black neighborhood, up and
running again. It was a huge thing in the nineteen

(07:11):
twenties and then got dilapidated over time. He brought helped
bring it back him and his team. He was an
art teacher and artist. He was a cartoonist. He was
a writer as well, and so there were so many
things and business owner entrepreneurs, so there were so many
things that he did that I could look up to.
I went into a house I kind of grew up

(07:32):
in his house where there was black art. There was
huge posters of Alvin Ailey. You know, there were you know,
things that I could always like delve into, get into,
and it was always encouraged. So that is kind of
how my grandparents instilled in me these things. And my

(07:53):
mother and my father and my stepfather, they were not
necessarily artistic in all of the ways that I'm talking about,
but they were incredibly supportive. I mean more than I
could have ever even asked for throughout the time of
me growing up. I mean, yeah, very very supportive. That's good.

Speaker 1 (08:11):
So growing up with you having all of these people
pouring into you, and it sounds like no one really
tried to stifle because it's sometimes when you're younger, it's
easy for family members to be like oh, you know,
we're not going to explore this side of you, if
that makes sense, but them to encourage it and actually

(08:32):
allow you to take it to school and be a
part of your show and tell what grade did you get?
Do you remember? Did you get a good girl?

Speaker 2 (08:39):
I don't even remember.

Speaker 1 (08:41):
I was wondering for people happy about it, because if
it was damaging, you probably would be sharing that now.
So whoever the teachers were, were clearly supportive in that regard,
I think, so.

Speaker 2 (08:51):
I think the only thing I can really remember about
that moment was just being so invested in trying to
share it with them, and they were kind of like,
what's going on here? But all through my life and
I'm not very good at school, I've never been really good.
I've never been very studious in the ways that you
would think, you know, would be great at school. And

(09:12):
so the greatest grades that I've ever gotten were are grades.
Those are the things I've always gotten a's in.

Speaker 1 (09:18):
But I'm glad you said that, because I have five children,
and they're all so diverse and very different with their interests,
like one likes fishing, another one likes animation and drawing
on her YouTube channel, and now she's doing these projects
where people get to apply for different roles to put

(09:39):
one piece of art into the piece of interesting art series.
So yes, it's so important. So she's in an art
school and she's on a society. And the thing is,
I have not one artistic bone in my body when
I can draw like a pictionary stick figure type of thing.
But I think it's important for people to explore, allow

(09:59):
children to explore what they're really truly passionate about. So
I guess my question right now to you would be,
what was that moment that you realized that art and
storytelling were really your true calling.

Speaker 2 (10:13):
So here's what happened. Are you ready for this?

Speaker 1 (10:16):
I am? I am so ready.

Speaker 2 (10:18):
This is what happened. My grandfather was living with us
at the time, and the house sort of he was
cooking something and the house kind of caught on fire. Right,
we were an apartment and we were in Oh, it's
very dramatic story. But here's the thing. I wasn't actually
in Kansas City at the time, me and my Ronda,
the other grandmother, we were I think taking a vacation.

(10:38):
So when we came back, right, I came back to
a hotel. So the whole family, me, my mother, my grandfather,
we were all living in a hotel and so it
was a holiday in I think, And so that's how
she kind of dropped me off at this hotel and
from there, the insurance company put us in one hotel,

(10:58):
another hotel, another hotel another time, and we ended up
actually the last hotel we stayed at was the Marriotte
on the Plaza, and that was fabulous because you know,
I'm in middle school. There's a pool, you know, there's whatever.
And my end it was a bigger it was a
bigger suite, so much more space. My grandfather said, well,
you know what, it's it's summertime. And instead of you,

(11:21):
you know, just sitting in all day, I'm gonna take
you to the library.

Speaker 1 (11:25):
He took me to the library and.

Speaker 2 (11:26):
It's it's it's it's. One thing that I've always wanted
to change about myself is that I'm not the best reader.
I'm not. I'm not I'm not as big of a
reader as I'd like to be. So instead of getting
really into the chapter books that were there, I ended
up ordering all of the CDs. And the CDs that

(11:47):
were God would order would be Broadway Broadway soundtracks, original
cast albums, and I got hooked on Wicked first. I
got hooked on everything Stephen song time and you know
you can go to the library and just get five
out of time, just order it five out a time,
and that's what I would do. And so for a
year or so, I was just listening to all of

(12:10):
these original Broadway cast albums. I would I would, and
then I would order the revivals. And then that's how
I started to pick up that, you know, one actor,
Oh I heard this person's voice before. Oh they're in
this musical. Oh, this person wrote this, this happened this,
they're here? Do do do? And when I was a kid,
I was really interested in Disney. So the thing that

(12:31):
really drew me into the live performance aspect of things
was the Disney shows that they would put on Broadway,
Beauty and the Beast, which was my favorite movie growing up,
Lion King and You and if you ever go to
see and it's still running on Broadway and it tours around.
If you ever go to see a production of Lion.

Speaker 1 (12:48):
King, I have. I've seen it in Las Vegas. It
is rest I mean you're like on as of your seat,
I mean for me anyway, I was like, yes, yes,
what's next all of the costumes and the designs and yes,
it's so big.

Speaker 2 (13:04):
It's like yes, And if you feel that way, now,
this is how I felt when I was a kid.
And so when I realized that there was a job
a director, a costume designer, that's.

Speaker 1 (13:18):
When I was like, Oh, this is what I want
to do.

Speaker 2 (13:22):
And so it was something that kind of took the
art side of my life because I grew up drawing
all the time, and the costuming the drama that I enjoy,
you know, because I love doing Halloween and things like that,
and it found a way to kind of merge into one.
And so that's what I ended up doing. And around
that time, my grandfather said it was my grandfather and

(13:43):
my mother they were like, well, you know, you were
in a Raytown school district, but now that we're moving
and things like that, you're going to be in a
Kansas City school district. But there is a Kansas City
school named Pasale Academy of the Final Performing Arts. If
that's where you would like to go, That's where I went.
And the rest is history.

Speaker 1 (14:03):
Wow, okay, and the rest is history. When you say
the rest is history. You literally went on y'all put
all of your comments over there. I see a lot
of you all comment and we're going to be pulling
them up in a few minutes. There are lots of comments.
We're going to pull them all up in a few
minutes and show you all of the support that's here
for you today. So flood the comments section, everybody. Okay, listen,

(14:25):
you studied costume design? How is that background? Because now
I think I kind of see how it's pulling together
and climaxing here. You studied costume design and that background
influenced your work in theater, film and the visual arts.
How did that come together like that for you? So?

Speaker 2 (14:47):
I originally wanted to be an actor, and when I
went to Pasde Academy, what happened was they used to go,
are you familiar with Avatar? The Last Airbender?

Speaker 1 (15:00):
Saying girl to my friends? But I'm like, yeah, Avatar
was one of my favorite, one of my favorite movies
outside of Sparkle, because back in the day, I grew
up in a project in the movie Sparkle. Really just
really anyway, Avatar was so animated and wonderful and yes, breathtaking.
Everything you're talking about.

Speaker 2 (15:18):
Yes, when I when I was in when I was
in school, they used to call me that because I
didn't have just one thing I was doing. You had
to choose a major, right, But me, I did choose
a major, you know, for the paper, you know what
I mean. But I was but I was everywhere I was.
I was in the art room. They were asking me
to do things for them. I was in the theater,
you know room I was in you know, I was

(15:39):
having conversations about jazz and jazz, you know, all of
these things, and so I got to do all those things.
I wanted to be an actor, but someone had to
design the costumes for the play, and.

Speaker 1 (15:50):
So you know, you would actor, by the way, just
so you know, that's actually yeah, it's actually one of
the things that I that I went away from only
because it was the thing that I felt the most
insecure about.

Speaker 2 (16:03):
Honestly, it's true. No, it's true. I enjoyed performing, but
as far as being on stage learning lines, I never
thought I had what it took to become like a
real actor.

Speaker 1 (16:17):
But unless great wait wait wait wait, we're gonna put
a pin in it boot right there. Everybody that thinks
that Kean Monte would be a great actor. Please put
your thoughts over there if you think that he would
be a great actor. Some heart emojis. Put put a
three in the comments. Put something to let let us know,

(16:40):
put some running man emojis, Put anything to let us
see it. I'm gonna, We're gonna, We're gonna flood it.
Key on, you are born to be in Hollywood. Just
so you know, you are born to be in Hollywood.
So so to me one of Tyler Mary, they're missing

(17:01):
out if they don't have Ken in their dramatic performances.
Can you imagine you're being into oval or whatever these
things are that's out here all the different rooms. Come on,
come on, this is the most drama that the Kim
Jacob Shaws a long time. Y'all, y'ah we we we
dramatic today.

Speaker 2 (17:17):
Go well one of one of my one and then
I'll share this with you. One of my biggest sort
of like behind the scenes dreams that you know, one
of those dreams I could never happen in a millionaires
type dreams was is to win an Academy Award for
Best Supporting Actors. That was like when I was growing up.
It wasn't for best Actor. I didn't care about that.

(17:39):
I wanted to like win for the side character, you
know what I mean, that would like come in and
you know, shake things up, or the one that's ind
like two scenes that you remember throughout the film, not
the lead actor anyway. So someone had to design the
costumes for the play. And so that's what I did
in school. I designed the costumes. I acted in them.
And when it came time to go to college, they

(18:01):
you know, I I I thought that I couldn't do
acting gat so I was like, well, let me try
and do costumes in the stead, and so I got in.
I was accepted right on the spot. And that's kind
of what I did in school. And unfortunately, even though
it's given me like the foundations that I needed in

(18:22):
order to grow, the school that I ended up going
to was a lot stricter on the major so you know,
and it was a lot more work obviously, so I
really couldn't find myself in different places like I did
in high school. So that was one of the things
that kind of stifled my artistic growth in other ways.
But yeah, yeah, did that answer a question?

Speaker 1 (18:44):
You know what you're you are the answer to a
lot of questions. That's what I'll say. You are the
answer to a lot of things that's missing in Hollywood,
in my opinion, or not just where Atlanta where Tyler
Perry stuff is. Yeah, around the world where millennials are
able to shine at this level that you're shining. I'm

(19:06):
so inspired, and I can tell that so is everyone else.
I did want to find let me see if I
could find this. I hope I found one. Let's see.
I wanted to pull something up of you know what
we're gonna do. We are going to oh, yeah, I
found this. Yay, see if I can pull this in.
Because I'm forever trying to be a sleuth. When I

(19:26):
hear somebody talk about something, I'm like, we have to
find this. We have to find this and make it happen.
But I am impressed with all of the family support
that you have. So when we come back after this
commercial break, we're gonna start pulling in some of the
photos of Kean's family members, and then we're also going
to get to the art. So you definitely do not

(19:46):
want to get up out of your seat. If you
do go to the bathroomal quick, come right back because
you don't want to miss a beat. We'll be right
back after this commercial break. Kean wow gyon Hi. I'm
Kim Jacobs, the managing director of the Charlotte, North Carolina
chapter of E Women Network. I am so excited that
you stopped to watch this video. I've got good news

(20:07):
for you. You've just discovered an international network of women
entrepreneurs who are committed to helping you achieve, succeed and prosper.
We're on a mission here to help one million women
entrepreneurs each achieve one million dollars in annual revenue. Here

(20:28):
at E Women Network, we have a complete success system
that supports you every step of the way in building
and growing your business. You being here right now, it's
no accident. We're supposed to know about you. We want
to meet you to find out how we can help you,
as well as learn about what you have to offer.

(20:52):
With over five hundred thousand women connected through one hundred
and eighteen chapters across the United States, Canada, Australia and
the United Kingdom, you are never alone. If this is
resonating with you, please go to ewomennetwork dot com, forward
slash Charlotte Notice too, my contact information. I invite you

(21:15):
to reach out to me and to check out our
upcoming in person and online events. I'm really looking forward
to introducing you to our special community. All right, everybody,
we are back. I see your spider fingers over there.
We are back here with Kean Monte and I was

(21:39):
doing the commercial break, just pulling up some of the
photos that I want to make sure that you all
also have ewomennetwork dot com. Let me put that in
the forward slash Charlotte. Yeah, okay. I want to make
sure that you all know exactly where to go to
be able to register for some of our events. We

(21:59):
have a big event coming up May seventh, which is
our summit that is happening for E Women Network right
in the Charlotte area with our founder of E Women Network.
It's been about twenty five years officially that she founded
this organization for business women entrepreneurs. Our summit in Charlotte
is going to be on May seventh. Right now, we
have our sponsor, which is our primary sponsor, which is

(22:23):
Gene Tillery. But I do want you to know that
if you have not gotten your tickets already, the tickets
are going quickly. We have people coming in from Florida, Tennessee, Georgia.
Get your tickets today if you want to be one
of the remaining tickets that's left for the E Women
Network conference. All right, So, speaking of family members, I

(22:44):
found a couple of pictures that I think are mesmerizing.
And you were talking. You were talking about you know what,
you have the best mom in the world, because she
sent this to thank you mom. But let's see, let's
go through some of these picture just tell us about
some of these friends and family of yours.

Speaker 2 (23:03):
Yes, this is the that that picture right there is
the very first solo exhibition I've done. A friend of
mony and she is her own entrepreneur and her own
right and she is the person who's like, you know,
a can you can do it? Why not just put
your own art up instead of wording on a gallery
to do it? And that's the picture that came of that.
That was the night that we did it.

Speaker 1 (23:24):
Wow. That's interesting because it's so important to have good
friends that believe in you and support your because not
all friends feel that way. Sometimes people are behind the
scenes like, well, I don't really understand why you're even
interested in doing that. But in your case, you have
very supportive friends. Can I also say something to add
to this, stay as much as you want.

Speaker 2 (23:43):
Not only supportive friends, but friends with utility, so everyone
has something that they can do.

Speaker 1 (23:52):
Right.

Speaker 2 (23:52):
I'm someone who believes that people are people, and their
people and their talents and their gifts are supposed to
be used because if.

Speaker 1 (23:59):
You don't use them, then then what then what are
we doing?

Speaker 2 (24:02):
Right? So I think that having friends that not only
you know, uh, support, but get to know what they
can do? What what thing that makes them happy? With
things that they can do that that come easy to
easiest to them, and utilize those things. So money is
now working for my LLC as well as my friend
because there are some things that I just can't do.

Speaker 1 (24:25):
And is that who's emailing me? Yes?

Speaker 2 (24:28):
Yes, yes, well money.

Speaker 1 (24:29):
We thank you because you should have had plenty of
good quality stuff for me to do. And so she
see you, thank you.

Speaker 2 (24:38):
Oh if it wasn't for her, then then the last
few months of my life has not wouldn't have gone
the way it's gone. And so I'll be honest with you,
there are things and she gets so she gets so
frustrated sometimes because she's like Kean I've I've seen you
create masterpieces. I've seen you do this and do that.
You can't you can't send an invoice, and I'm like, no,

(24:59):
I can't s voice. There is something. I just have blockages.
And so you know, paperwork or little minute things or
you know, getting the dishes washed every day or just
something like that, and just have there's a blockage to it.
So my grandmother, Randa, she's always said that find out
what your weaknesses are and then learn to compensate for them.

(25:20):
And so that's kind of the person that I go
through now, and it's not it's not. What's great about
the relationship is it's not hard for her. She thinks, yeah,
she thinks doing it and she's like, it just takes
two seconds. I'm like, well, it would take me three hours.

Speaker 1 (25:36):
She's operating in her strength. That's why exactly the beautiful thing.
I was telling my daughter this the other day, because
I have, like my bestie is we're complete opposites of
each other. But at the end of the day, when
we get together and we have our think tank sessions
and our rainstorming sessions, the things that she's able to
give me are things I would just never I just

(25:56):
never think of it.

Speaker 2 (25:57):
Yes, So I was like, I just.

Speaker 1 (25:58):
Never think of those things until I talked to her.
But then there are things that I give her that
she's like, Oh, Kim, that just made a big difference
for me. I was telling my daughter of that about
her one of her besties that, Listen, you could be
complete opposites in a lot of regards, but you can
compliment each other, play on each other's strength. So I
saw a few other pictures of some friends. Since we're
talking about yes, So that's yes.

Speaker 2 (26:20):
So that's money on the I don't know if it's
right or left, depending on who how it's set up.
This is okay, So on the left that's money, and
then on the right that's Alice and them together have
an event company in Kansas City, and so I was
one of their many events that they put on. What's
my solo exhibition?

Speaker 1 (26:38):
Wow? Is that the one Queen? Was that? Queen?

Speaker 2 (26:41):
Queen?

Speaker 1 (26:42):
Oh? What was the I'm trying to think didn't wasn't
there a production or something that you did?

Speaker 2 (26:48):
Queen Queen?

Speaker 1 (26:49):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (26:50):
Are you talking about?

Speaker 1 (26:51):
So? Queen is saying a play? Queen?

Speaker 2 (26:53):
Yes? Queen Queen is the one act play that I
wrote in Italy. Oh okay, so that is the solo
exhibition was for my art that happened.

Speaker 1 (27:01):
That's oh okay, okay, So we talked about two different things. So, yeah,
art exhibition was put on here with this they yes,
they hosted the event. Yes, it is that your aunt
back there?

Speaker 2 (27:13):
Yes, yes, okay.

Speaker 1 (27:18):
Look at you, look at you? Yes, okay, what is
this some more friends from from that event? Wow? Yes,
I'm finding all the pictures from that event. Let's see.

Speaker 2 (27:31):
Yes, that is my counselor Travis, your counselor. You gotta
have one.

Speaker 1 (27:38):
Okay, Well, talk to us about the counselor.

Speaker 2 (27:41):
Counselor Travis. So he is somebody that I ran into
because of a friend of mine, and he's the one who,
you know, he's been in the business for about fifteen
years marriage and family counseling and things like that, and
we met and he also does Bible studies, and so
I ended up going to the Bible studies and you know,
kind of found my way back to God in an

(28:03):
interesting way. So that's kind of you know, where we
kind of and we've been going strong ever since. So
a lot of the opportunities that he has will pass
on to me a lot of things that I know
I'll pass on to him. And you know, I truly
believe in his gift. He is an incredible, incredible counselor.

Speaker 1 (28:21):
But you know this, what this does for me is
it makes me remember every time I say this, it
just further confirms it depending upon that guess. It's a
quote about flowers. Flowers don't compete with other flowers. They
just let them all bloom. It's like bloom, baby, bloom, bloom.
And what his friends are doing, and you're doing that

(28:42):
with them, You're allowing them to bloom in their own areas.
So I'm so glad that y'all are blooming as beautiful flowers. Okay,
I saw this picture and I noticed is some two
special peoples.

Speaker 2 (28:56):
Yes, so this is actually what you're looking at is
three generations of uh or two generations of women?

Speaker 1 (29:03):
Uh where the back is the third one?

Speaker 2 (29:06):
Yeah? Good, three generations of women. But it's really small
on my screen. I thought immediately that that was my
mother when she had her her first uh uh natural
hair grandmothers. But exactly so. The so we're looking at
just the two women. Okay, So the two women in
the front. Uh, the first woman is my great grandmother, Gloria,

(29:30):
and behind her is her daughter, my grandmother Tonya, and
Tonya is the the poet, the actress.

Speaker 1 (29:38):
And look how great they look they are. Yes, oh
my god. And then in the very very very back
back they're drinking something, some water or something. Is the mom.
I think that's your mom back?

Speaker 2 (29:48):
Yeah, I thought so, yeah, yes, so you are looking
at three generations of.

Speaker 1 (29:53):
Women, right, even though I'm sure your mom didn't intend
for her to be in the background right now when
she said.

Speaker 2 (29:58):
Me, but no, it's cool because if there's a line
of them. I've never seen that picture before and that great.

Speaker 1 (30:04):
Yet your mom sent it to me thanks to ye
Summer Smith. Okay, let's look at this picture.

Speaker 2 (30:10):
So this is my uncle and my grandfather. That my
grandfather's one in the bow tie.

Speaker 1 (30:16):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (30:16):
And this is the gentleman that I was talking to
you about that took me to the library that one
time and exposed me and and exposed me to all
different kinds of art and artists.

Speaker 1 (30:25):
He looks artsy, he looked like Jackson. There you got
a whole line of folks that could be just acting
and doing some step.

Speaker 2 (30:32):
In he gets an acting too. Yeah, yeah he did.

Speaker 1 (30:37):
Okay, let's see. Let's see I see some more family
pictures here.

Speaker 2 (30:40):
This is the fifth, the eighty fifth birthday of my
great grandmother, the one that you saw the light skinned
woman in the first picture. This is her sitting very
and this is my immediate family. The only person who
seems to be missing is my aunt Automn. But you
see my You see my my mother Summer, my father Brian,

(31:01):
my uncle Sylvester who is named Sylvester, Grandma Gloria in
the chair, and then Tonya and then me.

Speaker 1 (31:08):
Wow, Okay, that's a picture of me when I was
there and praying for some of the graduates. Your mom
and your stepdad were graduating from, and that's your They
were graduating from the Black Mastermind Group in Kansas City, Kansas.
That's where I was the keynote speaker for that event.

(31:28):
And they did a phenomenal job in their graduate and
did and doctor Danda Watson is incredible leader that spearheaded
this initiative of the Black Mastermind Group. So if you're
not familiar with the Black Mastermind Group, make sure you
join it no matter where you are. Okay, let's see,
I saw a picture of your mom and your dad.

Speaker 2 (31:51):
Yes, this is this is back when I was I
was I got to tell you about my New York time.
But this is back when I was in New York
and I had I had rougher hair then, and I
was wearing all black because I thought of myself as something.
And this is h oh, I got it. It's a
story that I just have to tell.

Speaker 1 (32:11):
To go go. We have a whole hour here. Tell
the story, and we're coming to the talent's next. After
we've finished these sixtures, all of the comments will be addressed,
so keep them coming.

Speaker 2 (32:20):
Got So I went to New York after I came
back from college. I toiled around a little bit of
the world, and then I came back and I moved
to New York on a whim because I had had
a mentor that was like, hey, you know, I have
a project, and you know it's a small project, but
maybe you can move up, you know, that's sort of things.
I moved up no money, and I ended up couch
hopping for about eight months, okay, and I do mean

(32:43):
one day here in Inwood, three nights there in Brooklyn,
four nights in Crowned Heights, one night down in the village.

Speaker 1 (32:50):
And that's kind of.

Speaker 2 (32:50):
How the life I lived. And what I did also
was I took the clothes that I had and after
beating some like Moses Sumney and things like that, and
he wore all black, and I thought, oh, how chic.
So what I did was I went to the store,
traded all my clothes that I had in my mother's suitcase,

(33:11):
and I bought all black clothes. And a great thing
about wearing all black clothes when you don't have a
home is that no one can tell how many times
you've worn it.

Speaker 1 (33:18):
Right, right, you.

Speaker 2 (33:21):
Always look chic and always look put together. When you're
sitting on the train at three o'clock in the morning
headed to someone else's house, someone might especially if you
wear sunglasses, someone might think that you're headed to the airport.
You know what I mean? You know what I'm saying,
or to it from not of that, no, you know, well,
these are things you got to think about whenever, you,

(33:41):
you know, whatever, you're cowchopping in New York. And so
that's kind of the life that I lived. And I
got this opportunity to do costumes for an immersive production
so musical that took place at an actual like dive bar.
And so I did the costumes for it. And I
told my dad and my mom that I'm doing the
costumes for this play in the York. Now is this Broadway?

Speaker 1 (34:02):
No?

Speaker 2 (34:02):
Is this off Broadway? No? Is this off Broadway or
off off Broadway. No, this is a play that took
place in a dive bar in Brooklyn.

Speaker 1 (34:11):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (34:11):
They said, we're coming to New York. You're doing something
in New York. We're coming to New York. And I
just like, there's no reason to come. There's just no
reason to come. But they came. They had the dinner theater,
they had the dinner, and we took a picture and
they loved it. Lord's a great show.

Speaker 1 (34:26):
And this is the.

Speaker 2 (34:27):
Picture, and that's the picture.

Speaker 1 (34:29):
And your mom and dad came and supported you. You're like,
there's no reason to come. They're like, there's plenty of
reason to come. Ye, Yon Monte is there, Yes, nobody
else is there. Our baby's there and we're correct, yes,
so happy about that. And they look like proud parents,
proud parents.

Speaker 2 (34:48):
Oh yeah yeah.

Speaker 1 (34:50):
And then I saw this picture too. This is at
their graduation, your mom and stepdad's graduation, and who are
these other two individuals standing beside you with you?

Speaker 2 (34:58):
Those are the niece and nephew of my Okay, yes,
were wonderful.

Speaker 1 (35:04):
So those were some of the family pictures that I had.
I just want to take a moment to start flooding
the comments.

Speaker 2 (35:10):
Yeah, can I say, you'll have to tell me what
they're saying because I can't.

Speaker 1 (35:13):
See them on You're gonna see them on the screen.
Oh cool, okay, so come on, pop them up. Let's see.
Finally a guy guess. We never have guy guess. That's
what somebody. Good morning, guys, good morning, feel free any
mails we love to Let's see. He seems like a

(35:34):
lovely guess. Kim, good job, thank you McKenzie. She works backstage. Kim,
you looked lovely this morning, do it girl?

Speaker 2 (35:41):
You do you do? And I like her and I
like how the glasses match the red chair.

Speaker 1 (35:47):
Oh my gosh, well, I do need to stand up
for one second because these pants my bestie gave them
to me and I was gonna put a post up later.
I'm gonna put a post up later, but look these
pants right here?

Speaker 2 (36:00):
Oh yes, with the thing down.

Speaker 1 (36:01):
Yea, you can't tell me nothing, y'all. I mean he
got like a little split, like a little yes. I
feel like I'm in Hollywood and messing with these.

Speaker 2 (36:13):
That's extra movement. I love extra movement.

Speaker 1 (36:16):
You know. Okay, Kim, you look lovely. Thank you, Summer.
Summer is your mommy? She said, Hey, Yes, and Kan, Hello,
Hey Kim, and little cousin Kean say, let's see.

Speaker 2 (36:32):
I read him knew the entire life.

Speaker 1 (36:36):
It's true, Kean thinks that when it started for him. Oh,
but he really.

Speaker 2 (36:41):
No, No, She's said, Keon thinks that that's when it
started for him, But we as a family. You gotta
read it in her voice. Yes, but we as a
family knew his entire life.

Speaker 1 (36:52):
He sinksactly thinks.

Speaker 2 (36:53):
That's when it started.

Speaker 1 (36:54):
But you're so no, No, I cannot imagine you being
in my family right now. You're in my fami family technically,
so in the family. With what your person is saying,
with Sria saying it didn't start, It didn't start when
he thinks it started, it then started. We as a
whole family been watching him be dramatic and acting his
whole life. That's what she's saying.

Speaker 2 (37:12):
Yes, Brian, Brian, You're yes, said great interview Key thank you,
thank you.

Speaker 1 (37:19):
Mackenzie said, key On, you got a special lady in
your life.

Speaker 2 (37:22):
They want to know, No, I do not have a
special lady in my life. My mother, money, my grandmother's
people in my community.

Speaker 1 (37:34):
Lots of special people in his life, lots of emails
that love love Kean, I can tell you that for sure.

Speaker 2 (37:41):
All right, Dame Shirley Bassy earth a kid, She's a
special lady in my life. I love you.

Speaker 1 (37:48):
I love you. You'd be a great actor. Everybody think
you that way. Thank you. Has been acting since he
was two, me a sixe. I love your family. Summer set.
Lots of hearts because we asked if you would be
a great actor, and people said yes. Lots of hearts
came in three three, Hollywood for sure, Hollywood for sure. Bobby,

(38:11):
he's been acting, his baby, baby, he'd been acting his
whole life. That's what Shi said. That's how I resent it,
she said, she.

Speaker 2 (38:21):
Said, baby, yes, yes, baby, she yes.

Speaker 1 (38:26):
Great following you, oh, great, following you live all the
way from Kaibira. Wow, Samuel, thank you for being here.
Speaking of which, the Kim Jacob Show streams in one
hundred countries, so we're not just saying that we literally
stream in one hundred countries, three hundred and fifty million households,
and we are now on Roku. Just for everybody that

(38:47):
would like to know that. All you have to do
is download the CTR Media app on your Roku and
you'll see the interviews that are happening right here on
the Kim Jacob Show. We were just ranked number one
this past month as in the Self Improvement channel. So
make sure you subscribe to CTR Media Network, select the
Kim Jacob Show on Roku, Apple TV, Fire TV, Android,

(39:10):
all of that and you're gonna be able to see
the Kim Jacob Show. Thank you so much. Kim Well, Brittany, Hey,
Kim and Kean Hello, somebody said, Lady Justine said, he
is amazing.

Speaker 2 (39:24):
Thank you, thank you.

Speaker 1 (39:26):
Let's see any other comments. Okay, lots of comments, you guys,
and I see over here on Instagram Lady Jay Malaysia
and Namastai Meila, I see you all. I see you,
Henry Elder, Henry, I see you, I see you. Y'all.
Put some comments and we'll pull your comments right up
as well. Yalan, Doug, glad you are watching and all
of you all that are tuning in. Okay, let's go

(39:48):
back to some more questions here. Your portrait series usually
like seems like it infuses your storytelling to uplift the
black community in particular, and it's been really widely recognized.
What inspired this particular style of projects and what is
your hope and inspiration for it. I'm gonna put some

(40:10):
of them up, but talk to us about that. Well.

Speaker 2 (40:14):
It's interesting, as I do different things, they really come
from different eras of my life. And there's areas of
my life in which I feel I'm more of a
visual artist rather than a writer and vice versa. Right,
And as I'm doing working on another art, there's something
in me that keeps calling to say, Look, I haven't
painted something in a while. God, please give me something right,

(40:36):
and something will happen. An idea will come and something
will happen. In twenty twenty, during the Black Lives Matter movement, right,
we were all home as COVID and I decided I
wanted to do free portraits for black people, and so
it was mostly centered around the people that were on
my Instagram, and so I did black and white portraits
of them. And what I did was I asked question

(41:00):
to the first person, and then once they answered, I
took their their, their, their, their paragraph and posted it
with the portrait. And then I told them, I said, okay,
now you come up with a question, and they came
up with a question. And I said that question to
the next person that I did a portrait for, and
the next person I did this, and so it became
a chain of conversation. Even though these black people never

(41:23):
maybe knew each other or talk to each other before,
they knew they had a question and they answered the question.
So that's kind of the start of how I started
doing series, and it has been community based ever since.
I'm a digital artist usually, you know, that's kind of
how I work because and things like that. So working
with people is a great way to usurp the full

(41:47):
digital aspect of things. So all of the people that
you see me draw are people that I know in
real life, people that I've asked to post for me,
things like that.

Speaker 1 (41:55):
So yeah, so this this arn't piece here, tell us
about it.

Speaker 2 (42:00):
Yes, So this is a part of the Jangaroo series.
The Jangaroo series is an endemic view of black masculinity.
The idea is what happened if we never fell from
the garden, right, and so there are black men in
you know you Sometimes I will have them pictured with this.
One's pictures with a monkey. Sometimes I have the picture

(42:21):
with like different you know, animals. So there's one that
he's pictured with a tiger. There's one where he's you know,
pictured with a bird, things like that. And the idea
was beauty and also making a comment on the harshness
of masculinity. Uh, but removing the violence, removing all of

(42:42):
the things that we attribute to black masculinity.

Speaker 1 (42:45):
Well that that, you know what, I'm glad you said
that because I'm a I'm a pastor, right, So I
just became a new pastor, and I really believe that
God is God and that and that it's important for
us to show love to everyone and to not be
so cruel and critical of everybody. But I do feel

(43:07):
also that the Word of God is the word of God.
So someone had asked me one time, well, how what
would you say about this topic. Well, if you come
on that Sunday and it's in the Word, I'm going
to talk about whatever the Word says about it. But
keep in mind that if you come on a Sunday
that we're talking about adultery, or we're talking about fornication
or other things. I'm talking about that I'm saying. The

(43:29):
Word of God is saying period at the end of
the day. But I do believe that God loves. We
are supposed to be an example of God's love and
mercy so that through the loving kindness we're able to
draw other people to Christ. How could people ever want
to be a part of what we say? Is like
a city sitting up on the hill and I want

(43:51):
to know about the God that you serve. If I'm
so ignorant and rude to people that I meet and
encounter anyway, I don't went all off. Sorry, just focused right, No.

Speaker 2 (44:02):
It's important. That's it's it's important to have that stance.
It's not about it's not about and our Bible. Believe
in myself, you know, it's it's it's not a lot
of the times it becomes about your personal vendettas against
or biases of and not necessarily of the Word, and
that's when things can get incredibly Uh.

Speaker 1 (44:24):
That's your metals. Okay. So now with you you believe
and you have a faith that you formally practice. This
is my faith. This is what I believe. How has
that helped with because you just talked about Adam and
Eve and the ball and be on the shoulder and
everything like that. How has that helped with your storytelling

(44:45):
in your art?

Speaker 2 (44:47):
Well, one of the main things that's done is hint
me to kind of how we are designed. That the
big thing that's come out of it is God designed
the world. He put things in place, like years that turn,
and we are designed a certain way and we can't
get away from the way that we're designed. Right, if
you think of human beings kind of like a car

(45:10):
or a you know, a machine, there are things that
we need in order to survive. If you put the
wrong kind of I don't drive, But if you put
the wrong kind of gas in your car, it's not
a malfunction, right. That is how we are designed. We
are designed to receive love, we are designed to give love.

(45:31):
We're designed to worship something greater than ourselves. These are
things that God has instilled in our very being, and
you can't get away from it no matter no matter
who you are, what you are, what you believe, They're
just things that you can't get away from. So understanding
the way human beings work it under helps me understand
who I am, you know, how I am designed, how

(45:52):
I work. And then also it helps me in storytelling
because if I understand where that characters coming from, everyone
has the same problem. It all comes down to a
deficit of love. That's what That's what the That's where
all of the issues boil down to. So once I
understood that, that is when a different kind of you know, art,

(46:16):
writing and things kind of opened up for me.

Speaker 1 (46:18):
You were free to be you and to literally just
express whatever God is putting in your heart.

Speaker 2 (46:23):
And I have to say, I have to say also
that there was a moment in time where and that's
a small story you have to tell that. You know,
I was really interested in getting a Tony Award, right,
and whys the.

Speaker 1 (46:37):
Lamb think that that's too far fetter that happening in
your life. Hopefully this interview will get you can bite
sized pieces and say to Tyler Perry, to all of you,
I keep saying Tyler Perry, but to any of these
different places Disney, imagine Disney experiencing key On Monte. Disney,
you are missing out if you are not having Kean

(46:59):
Monte as one of your performers. Even on your work.

Speaker 2 (47:06):
Thank you. The Tony Award I was really interested in,
and I was getting to a point where I might
be in line for it in the sense of there
was a director that I knew that was putting a
play on Broadway, and so I asked that director. I said, hey, look,
if you if you need help, you know, I would
love to do the costumes, you know, you know, and

(47:26):
and they ended up going with someone else towards the end.
But I saw it. I saw it in my mind
because I knew that that play had an opportunity for costumes,
but no other play on Broadway at the time. Right,
they did Look Death, but they did it in modern dress,
and they did this play, but it was in modern dress.
This play had an opportunity to really, you know, be imaginative.
So I just knew that if I did that play,

(47:48):
i'd be nominated and I could win.

Speaker 1 (47:49):
Right.

Speaker 2 (47:50):
It just so happened that that year some other play
came in and you know, open, just open, just before
the Tony Ward enigibility cut off, and it was really imagineative.
It took all the awards, but as I said, the
person who did end up designing the cosmes for that
play was nominated for the Tony. So there I was
Tony nomination lists, right, and I said to my and

(48:12):
I got into like a big depression and things like that,
and I was, you know, walking in faith and things
like that at that time as well. So I walked
out into my balcony and I said, God, you can
have the the awards, the Oscars, the Tony's, the fame
and the fortune. Just make me a great artist. And

(48:35):
that is a prayer that begot the play that I'm
writing now. And maybe a month or so later, that's
when the play kind of started to come and so
and that's also when I started painting in the way
that I do, and lots of other things happen, and
it's a it's and I gotta be honest with you.
You know, some people say that and it's and it

(48:57):
sounds really inspiring, and I think it's should be in
some instances. But I also have to tell you be
incredibly careful about what you pray for, because God may
laugh and joke, but he don't play. He's very very
serious about prayer. Yeah, and so I understood, you know

(49:19):
quite quickly that you know that praying that in ernest
also might you know, it's it puts me on. It
just puts me on a path that I didn't think
that I would be ever on. And being a great
artist doesn't mean that things are easy.

Speaker 1 (49:36):
That's right. It sounds like they're.

Speaker 2 (49:38):
Not becoming Yes, exactly, becoming a great artist means shedding,
and it means you know, going. You know, it's just
it's it's not it's not always the most fun. But
I realize in that, I mean, I've got candy and
sugar plums all around me at every given moment of
every given day. It comes with so many blessings as well.

Speaker 1 (50:00):
It sounds like it sounds like it's heaven on earth
in my opinion based on what I'm hearing. But then
I also know that there are significant challenges, especially being
an African American, a black artist in the industry. What
are some of the things that you've had to even
overcome as a black man in this industry.

Speaker 2 (50:19):
Well, a lot of it is pigeonholing, a lot of
it is the the the questions that I think any
artists worth his salt will get this question, male or female,
no matter what sexual orientation you are, you might get
this question that is, are you Are you creating for
white people? Or did you write this for white people?

(50:40):
Are you? Are you? That is the question that you're
that's the question that you'll get, Edie, is such an unfair,
very lazy question. No, I'm not writing for white people,
as James Baldwin says, I'm writing. I'm writing for people, baby,
That's what he says.

Speaker 1 (50:54):
And people, people, people.

Speaker 2 (50:57):
For people, baby, And and I had and writing for
myself at the end of the day. And so you
know it, really that's one of the things I think
that you know what, my boss. So I work with
an amazing costume designer right now. His name is Paul Taswell.
Paul Taswell just won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design, Okay,

(51:18):
and he and he won the Oscar for Wicked. I
don't know if you are you familiar with that movie
that came out. Yes, yes, he did the costumes for
Wicked and he just won the Oscar And he also
designed the costumes for Hamilton on Broadway as well. And
he is the first, the first black man to win
an Academy Award for Best Costume Design. And so learning

(51:40):
under him has been a joy of my life. Truly,
because no matter what I have faced in the industry,
which has been very you know, very very interesting things
here and there, it doesn't compare to the things that
he had faced growing up in the industry in the nineties,
coming up in the two thousands, and now I'm the
zeuth of his career, the pinnacle of his career, which

(52:02):
is now, you know, doing Hamilton, doing Wicked, winning a
Tony Emmy and an Oscar not within five years of
each other. And one of the things that you're you're
you're you're interested in business. And I want to tell
you too that for me, watching him handle business is
the thing that I understand I need to know and

(52:23):
get better at. One of the things that Paul Taswell
Caswell t A Z E W E L L and
I I illustrate for Paul Taswell right now. And he is, uh.
He's a very quiet man. He's a very kind, very
humble man. And one of the things that I am

(52:44):
going to learn from him, I believe as I work
with him more is his ability uh to edit and
delegate more than being a good costume designer.

Speaker 1 (52:55):
Right.

Speaker 2 (52:56):
The thing that really sticks with me about the way
he does his business is how is attentive he is
and how much of a great leader he is. Take
the costume things away. Yes, what makes Paul taswell Paul
taswell is his ability to lead in such a beautiful way.
I am in Kansas City, Missouri. I am drawing as

(53:19):
an illustrator on one project of five projects that he's doing. Right,
Not only is he keeping character names in his head
and how many dresses she wears throughout the piece, but
I am doing one thing here, one thing there. These
costume designs that I do, these renderings that go back
to him, and it goes to someone who is sitting

(53:39):
there for eight hours. I mean she's doing the beating
on the sleeve, right, Someone is cutting that, Yes, that's
him with his oscar just recently. And you know, someone
is cutting the fabric, someone is pleading the fabric. Someone
else is going over here and doing the shoes, and
someone's doing fittings. There's actors, there's directors, there's producers on
every single one of these projects.

Speaker 1 (54:00):
Mm hmm.

Speaker 2 (54:00):
Every time he comes into my phone and asks me
for anything, it's always hey, key on how you're doing.
I hope you're well. I have a project for you.
Every time I give him something, he says, you know,
even if he has critiques, he always starts with, ke on,
this is looking great. I love this. I love this.
I love this. I wonder if now, if I'm someone
who's in Kansas City doing one project for him, I

(54:22):
can't you know when I'll give you another one more thing.
When he won his Oscar, I was very nervous about
because I understood that if he's the first black band
to win the Oscar. For this, Oprah Winfrey would be,
you know, messaging him, you know what I mean. You know,
he'd be getting flowers from Beyonce. You know, good Morning America.

(54:43):
He's speaking on you, Good Morning America. The next day,
everyone and his mother's are talking to him, all right.
I was like, oh, I shouldn't say anything. I finally
did text him, and I just told him, you know,
just you know how much I appreciated this when and
how much I understood it. You know, he's endured and
things like that, and he sent me the most wonderful
thing back. So what I'm trying to learn is how

(55:07):
to at this level, make sure that my hands are
touching everyone and diligent with my responses diligent and quick
with my respect.

Speaker 1 (55:18):
You know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (55:19):
There's those things I don't have to have to learn.
It's not something that you are. Something you have to
pick up in the skill you have to pick up
and I have to pick it up.

Speaker 1 (55:27):
Well, you are picking it up well. And I see
some more of your art pieces here. Do you want
to tell us about this one?

Speaker 2 (55:34):
This is I wanted to do as far as that
Jagaru series I wanted to do. I have some of
the jungle some of the I wanted to do one
that was in water because water is one of my
favorite elements. And so I had a friend of mine,
his name is Deani's, a wonderful actor, and he went
to the jungle out in South America and he took

(55:56):
pictures of himself and I was like, well, well do
you think that I could you know, you could pose
down there for me in some way of shape or
you know that way I can paint it. And he
was like absolutely, And he had like a camera that
could go under water, and he took this picture of
himself and I painted from the pictures that he took.
He took a video of himself, you know, swimming in
the water. And so this is the.

Speaker 1 (56:16):
Painting that I did of him swimming in the wish.
I'm about to send you a photo of some of me.

Speaker 2 (56:21):
I'm I don't.

Speaker 1 (56:26):
Listen. What do you share with aspiring artists? Tell us
about this one too? And aspiring artists that have they
know that they are passionate about a variety of areas.
How do you encourage aspiring artists to use their true
gifts and talents too?

Speaker 2 (56:43):
Okay, first I will say this is the centerpiece of
that of that series, Jangle Room. This is called Jangle Room.
This is the first one that I did, and it's
a picture of him. And what I did was he
was leaning on a rail and then I saw I
found a picture of a tiger, and I was like, oh,
what if these two could go together? So I painted
them together. So this wasn't how it was. He was

(57:04):
actually hanging on a rail when when he sent me
the picture. This is a guy by the name of Smooth.
He goes by Smooth And this is another idea of
just I didn't you know in the garden but making
it modern.

Speaker 1 (57:21):
I am loving your pieces. So what do you give
aspiring artists? Because people need inspiring artists. Well, firstly, I
will say.

Speaker 2 (57:34):
It's it's difficult to get out of your own head
about things. The biggest thing that you're going to have
to try and figure out is you trying to get
out of your own head about it is the biggest thing,
because once you get over that, then it just becomes
about the doing. The doing comes naturally. The doing just

(57:56):
comes naturally. So if you can just get to the doing,
you'll be fine. Wow, it's the it's it's the it's
the thing, it's it's the stuff that happens before the start.
That that whole what oh I can't or oh I
need to or oh what if? What if? What if?

Speaker 1 (58:12):
Oh? Me saying but I can't be a good actor.

Speaker 2 (58:15):
All of that that comes right before the do it.

Speaker 1 (58:19):
Okay, okay, and oh my gosh, if you can't, you
cannot grab hope. As my grandma would say to that advice,
get out of your own head, get out of your
own way, just get to doing it. Do it, do it.
It'll make a difference in how free flowing you are
with whatever gift God gave you. If you could collaborate
with any artist, whether it's living or past or whatever,

(58:41):
who would it be?

Speaker 2 (58:42):
Oh god, oh my god, oh my god. Well he's
on my mind this morning. So Stephen Sondheim. If I
could somehow directed, or acted in or costume designed a
production of an original production of Stephen so times. He
is a genius. He us a genius. He passed away,
but he he did. He's the greatest musical theater composer

(59:07):
who's ever lived.

Speaker 1 (59:10):
I saw, I saw the whole composer back here. I
was like, well, he's not an artist, but I'm not sure.
But the art comes in different forms. So and I
was like, oh is this right? Is this the right person?
You say something?

Speaker 2 (59:21):
I'm over here like, oh, oh yeah, he's He's great.
If I could choose someone that's alive, it would probably
be oh geeesh, wow, who would I.

Speaker 1 (59:33):
Want to collaborate with that's alive.

Speaker 2 (59:37):
I don't know. I really don't know. I don't know.

Speaker 1 (59:42):
Oh, don't worry about it. You know what you've said
so much on this show people to think about. And
I know you talked I mentioned queen your one act player.
Is anything about that? Before we get ready to go
to I want to make sure I give you a
chance and let me pull this up I did.

Speaker 2 (59:57):
Is this the us that that that is the great
Stephens song time? If you don't know who he is,
he's he's an amazing word wordplay artist. He's just fantastic.
So yes, the one act play Queen is actually not
the play that i'd like to talk about, if you will,
If you will, the play that.

Speaker 1 (01:00:15):
I'd like to both talk about.

Speaker 2 (01:00:18):
Yes, the play that i'd like to talk about. So
that was that play I wrote like maybe six seven
years ago in Italy.

Speaker 1 (01:00:24):
It's just a play in Italy, just a blah right,
like what that was? Ethic good.

Speaker 2 (01:00:30):
The play that I'm writing now is called in Heaven
and the but the INN actually stands for the N word.
And so it is based on a It is based
on a photograph that I found that was taken in
nineteen forty three of a gentleman named Edward Atkinson by
Carvin Vecten. And and that photograph is the photograph that

(01:00:54):
I decided I wanted to turn into a play the
story of how that photograph came to be. So it's
really a play about three gentlemen who were in nineteen
forty three Harlem. So I think Carlon Renaissance just after it.
And it's a play that I've been writing for the
past three years. And it's a play that we've been
workshopping in New York.

Speaker 1 (01:01:13):
What is the what is the picture based on?

Speaker 2 (01:01:16):
It's based on a picture. Uh. If you if you
go to my ooh yeah, if you go to my
how do I find it? If you go to if
you go to my my uh profile, and you go
down on Instagram, you'll find it. How can I send
this to you? How can I send it to you?

(01:01:38):
I can just show you. I can just show the
the screen.

Speaker 1 (01:01:41):
Yeah, you can show your screen. I'm like, huh, I'm
good man. I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:01:46):
No, no, no, it's absolutely good. But this this, this
photograph is kind of when I first saw it, it
haunted me. You know, Carl van Vectin's work. Carl van Vectin,
he was a guy who lived in the Harlem Renaissance,
and he was he's a white guy actually, and he
is the one who photographed you. Look, if you look
up something like Harlem in color, right, Harlem Renaissance in color,

(01:02:09):
you'll find James Baldwood, Harry Belafonte, earth A Kit, Jeffrey
holder A, Mary Baraka. Uh, Billie Holliday, uh alla Fitzgerald,
these very full in color pictures.

Speaker 1 (01:02:23):
And see all of these pictures. So now what right,
I'm trying to see the one.

Speaker 2 (01:02:29):
That that I am basing my play on. I guess
I can just uh drop this. I could just text
this to you or something.

Speaker 1 (01:02:39):
Oh yeah, text it to me. That's perfect, And I
want to pull that particular. I see a lot of
pictures obviously in his art gallery in Harlem here, but
Harlem in color?

Speaker 2 (01:02:48):
Yes, yes, so that is oheesh, did I did I
go away?

Speaker 1 (01:02:55):
Oh no, I don't know. Let me see. Oh yeah, okay, anyway,
we're we're still talking with Keon. He's just gonna get
that photo that will actually be the photo that he's
basing his new play on in Harlem. And somebody said,
Carmela said, I didn't start watching until ten until ten
forty five their time, so she done missed half of it.

(01:03:16):
So he's like, lord, I gotta go back and watch
the replay. Calmly to go watch the replay. You're gonna
enjoy it. Keon. Let me know when you send me
that text, I'll see it, okay. And then on Summer
said that she is enjoying this episode. Let me get
this photo over to myself. You can do a whole
lot of stuff. That's speaking of what y'all when you
are in the process. Somebody said, it's in New York.

(01:03:39):
Time for me to go home, and I check it out.
Where is your art gallery? They want to know where
your art gallery is. Let me pull you back in,
ke On, I'm pulling you in now. Okay, once you
get your screen back on and give me a thumbs
up and I'll put you back in. All right, where's
your art gallery?

Speaker 2 (01:03:56):
A couple I've got one that is at the Zoebe
Art Enter that's in eighteenth and it's around eighteenth and
fine the b Arts Center z h o U B
the Letter b Art Center. And I've got a self
portrait that's there. It's my self portrait that I have
and I'm holding a cat. This this self portrait I

(01:04:17):
turned into a tapestry and I've hand beated it so
it's sparkling. You can't miss it. Go into the gallery.
You'll see it boom right when you walk in. There's
one two. If you are familiar with the Kansas City staple,
uh the Urban Cafe, Black owned wonderful gourmet food there.
It's right on Truce. It's the only place on Truce

(01:04:39):
that you can get a truffle omelet.

Speaker 1 (01:04:43):
I never heard of a truffle omelet.

Speaker 2 (01:04:44):
I did not know that.

Speaker 1 (01:04:45):
It's amazing. Experienced that.

Speaker 2 (01:04:49):
Oh you have to. Oh it's great.

Speaker 1 (01:04:51):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:04:51):
And when you walked in there as well. Jangaroo, the
the picture that you saw with the guy on a
tiger that's also turned into a tapestry and hand beat
it with black beads, bugle beads and rhinestones and things
like that. You'll see it when you walk in. So
I have two big pieces that are in Kansas City
right now. Wow. So if you want to see in
my work, what you should do is go to my

(01:05:12):
website Keonmonte dot com, k key on k E y
O N m O n t e dot com or Instagram,
where you'll find me a k on Monte and all
of my art, everything about my writing, everything about my
costume design are all there.

Speaker 1 (01:05:30):
Yes, so y'all make sure I did find the picture.
So thank you so much for sending me that. Go
to Keonmonte dot com, Keonmonte dot com, quy on Monte
that's k E y O N M O N t
E for those that are iHeart listeners over on the
audio podcast and then SoundCloud, Kim Company Trip to the

(01:05:51):
Art Galleries. Yes mackenzie always she working backstage road trip. Yes, yes,
and let's see I did find this picture. Thank you
so much for sending it.

Speaker 2 (01:06:01):
Tell yes, this is oh, this is the picture that
that's thought me in my tracks. I'd known as Carvin
Vector's work, but I didn't know who this gentleman was.
And I didn't know, you know why I was in
black and white and the look look in his eyes.
And so I found out doing research that this is
a picture that was taken as at a momento of
his clandestine affair between him and this poet named County

(01:06:25):
Color who was in Harlem. And so I was like,
hmm okay. And then I found out his name was
Edward Atkinson. I found out that he was drafted into
World War two, and I said, hmm okay, so this
pictures taken before he goes off to war. All right,
what there's a play there, there's a story there. So
you've got the County Color in the poet think Langston Hughes,

(01:06:46):
but not as a popular over time, right, And then
you'd think Edward Atkinson, this actor guy who we don't
know who's in this picture dressed as Saint Martin Dupores,
which was this sixteenth century friar. Why is he dressed
up as Saint Martin? What was the relationship between this

(01:07:07):
Catholic saint, this black Catholic saint to this to the
to their relationship? What was this? And then you've got
this white guy interested in black you know, art and
Harlem taking this photograph. These three gentlemen, what were they
doing there? Why were they there? What is this life about?
And that has sparked this this play called Oh yeah,

(01:07:27):
that sounds like a great book too, by the way, Yes,
And the title the title people always ask, you know people,
it gets a lot of uh. It's provocative, sure, but
it gets a lot of you know, interest the title.
The reason why it's called Inward Heaven is because Edward
Atkinson is a actor, and inward Heaven usually uh was

(01:07:47):
a black term used to describe the balcony in which
black people had to sit in theaters. Yes, they called
it that because it was a high you know look.
And of course Harlem was also named that as well,
because it said hi on the Manhattan Aisle, you know,
and that's where the black people were. And so that
is a title that I took from carbon Vectorm's books

(01:08:09):
that he wrote, and I took it and I'm reclaiming
it to mean different things.

Speaker 1 (01:08:12):
Now in this context, you are a genius beyond your years.
Just to pay the least. I could go on and
on and on. I do need to invite you all
to partner with the Kim Jacobs Show. The way that
we are able to bring these brilliant guests on Monday
through Friday. We're on just as much as all of
these other daytime talk shows that you currently tune into.

(01:08:34):
The only difference is all production is paid by these
talk shows that are out there. The only way our
production is paid is through community contributions. Through your community contributions,
Will you take a moment today? Oh let me not
do it myself. Shoot, you're the dramatic one to send
some money to the Kim Jacob Show. Come on, yah.

Speaker 2 (01:08:54):
It's all about community and if you give, you your
helping yourself. So why not give to this because this
is something that also it will enrich as well as entertained.

Speaker 1 (01:09:07):
Oh, I think people are going to give just because
you said that. All right, I appreciate it. What is
one thing you want people to know about you that
maybe they just didn't know about you? And then we're
going to close out. I saw more comments, but we
have to end this show, so I don't.

Speaker 2 (01:09:21):
Know that I am. My favorite color is mustard.

Speaker 1 (01:09:26):
Oh your favorite color is mustard? Okay, Justine, Hillary just said,
great show. Kim Jacobs, thanks Keon you. When is the
next reading in New York? Someone wanted, Oh your mom,
She's like, I want to be there. When is the
next June? June? Okay? So if people visit keonmante dot com,
will they learn where they can get yes?

Speaker 2 (01:09:48):
Yes, all right?

Speaker 1 (01:09:49):
Good Hey Jenny DuBarry speaking of branding, if you ever
need a branding expert, Keon somebody shows exactly what she's doing.

Speaker 2 (01:09:58):
Her name is Barry Arry.

Speaker 1 (01:10:00):
I'm gonna connect.

Speaker 2 (01:10:00):
I'm gonna eath that.

Speaker 1 (01:10:01):
I'm gonna connect via a text when we get off,
I'll just connect. The two of you say you too
are connected. Jenny knows her stuff about some branding and
knows how to a whole different level. So oh yeah, okay, gorgeous,
georgeous pictures. Your mom said, pictures don't do them justice
when you have to sho and so anybody don't want

(01:10:24):
to take a road trip or at least meet me
in Kansas City, Missouri to see all of these pieces somewhere,
put it in the comments section. Kim, let us know
when you're going. Let us know when you're going. Let's
make a road trip of it. Let's make a community event.
She's excited about connecting with you guys. Okay, I hope
I didn't leave the Instagram Joy one one gam Nomas

(01:10:45):
Day Malaysia, Lady Jay, all of you guys even on
Instagram over there, Thank you so much for tuning in.
Thank you Kean for being my phenomenal guest today.

Speaker 2 (01:10:55):
Thank you for having me. This was a wonderful way
to start my morning.

Speaker 1 (01:11:00):
I'm so glad. I'm so glad, And thank you over there, Mom,
dad and stepdad for producing such a beautiful soul Kean Monte,
thank you all so much for tuning in. Remember support
the Kim Jacob Show please, and we will see you
again Monday through Friday at eleven o'clock am Eastern Standard time.
Right here on the Kim Jacob Show. Love you, Keana,
I enjoyed this. I'll see you backstage. Everybody have a

(01:11:23):
great day. Thank you Mackenzie for working backstage. Love you
all have a great one.

Speaker 2 (01:11:26):
Bye bye, Thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:11:27):
Thank you for tuning in to today's episode of The
Kim Jacob Show and for being in the Virtual Studio audience.
Your presence truly does make a difference, and I look
forward to you bringing your friends and family to join
you in the Virtual Studio audience Monday through Friday at
eleven o'clock am Eastern Standard Time. I look forward to
seeing you and make it a great day.