My goal is to get signed and change the world, that’s what I’m gon’ do, I’m gonna paint the sky blue and change the world with my music.
Mario Farrow is an ordinary teenager, and his day-to-day life is that of any high school senior. He loves the movies, prefers pasta, hamburgers, and Chinese food to fruits and vegetables, and follows sports religiously. He hopes to graduate from Chapel Hill High in June 2009 and potentially attend college. However, despite his apparent normalcy, he has a stage name (Sky Blew) and enough talent for poetry and music to launch him onto the hip-hop scene.
Mario moved from Alabama to Carrboro, NC with his father, whom he met at age 13. He left behind his mother, two siblings, and an extended family. Now, in stubborn pursuit of his music career, he lives with his friend’s family, which has informally adopted him as one of its own. My relationship with Mario began in 2009 as a semester-long project for a documentary class. I spent numerous hours conducting interviews, attending events, and observing his everyday actions. In time, I began photographing him in addition to reporting for my written work. This series is an exploration of Mario, the teenage student, and Sky Blew, the aspiring rapper.
As a hip-hop artist, Mario is fairly unique. He doesn’t use profanity and doesn’t dwell on “guns, money, b’s and ho’s,” as he calls it. “No one needs to hear that stuff. I’m tryna change people’s mindstate.” All of his songs are written from events he has experienced and are introspective and rife with meaning. Music allows him to relay his stories and confront his struggles, many of which are related to his unstable, and sometimes nonexistent, sense of home. He may be 19, but he’s mature, honest, and profoundly real.
In his career goals, Mario is aiming big. He sees what he does-or strives to do-not merely as rapping, but emceeing, moving the crowd, the “art of rap.” He doesn’t want to be associated with mainstream artists and their ideas; rather, he wants to bring positive, lyrical messages to a wider audience. At the same time, he relishes performing, loves crowds of fans, and is in the process of cutting his first album. He’s set his sights on a recording contract. Music is his passion, and he’s intent on pursuing it while remaining true to his values.
I entered Sky Blew’s world blindly, with little knowledge of hip-hop music and culture. In the three months I’ve spent with Mario and those around him, I’ve gone from a silent observer to an active participant with a greater knowledge of what is going on around me. In learning about Mario and his life, I have developed an understanding of the music production process, as well as an appreciation for how hard—and enthusiastically—he has worked to get to where he is today.
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(Turn up volume, music included)
Keep Ya Head to the Sky 