Check Out Frankiem Mitchell’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Frankiem Mitchell.

Hi Frankiem, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
The first attempt at creative writing that I can recall was in 4th grade. I was in the northwest suburbs of Chicago for school from 3rd – 8th Grade back then. I wrote a rap about an Easter rat instead of an Easter bunny because that was more my reality growing up in different hoods. I remember Mrs. Westfall asked me to read it to the class, she thought it was clever. Fast forward to the summer before high school, and I’m back in Chicago, listening to College Dropout. Kanye has this one signature where he’ll let a beat run for a minute or so after the lyrics conclude. I started freestyling, and the person who was with me told me that what I said actually made sense, and so we played the songs with the extended beats and skipped to the instrumental portions. That carried over into cafeteria rap battles throughout high school. I bought a journal to keep my lyrics; I also used to draw before I wrote and rapped… so the journal was for sketches too. My Drama teacher, Ms. Kentros found my journal a day after I had left it in her class. She read through some of it “to see whose it was” haha. She asked me to read one to the class. I grew a reputation from those spoken word pieces and ended up competing in slam poetry on behalf of my high school (LTAB).

Spoken Word paved the way for my career in Arts education and Community Organizing. I had an idea in my early twenties to do free writing workshops for college students. I did them over the weekends at DePaul and UIC, Saturdays and Sundays, respectively. There was a consistent showing for the workshops at DePaul and that landed me an invite to do a workshop for a professor’s class. After that I began contracting with orgs and academic institutions. Mick Jenkins actually asked me to write and perform some spoken word for the intro to his first project, “Trees & Truth”. It didn’t work out, but I was being noticed. After establishing myself as the top Spoken Word  Artist in Chicago, I began a full transition into Hip Hop and music. Took some years to expand my confidence into rapping; however, I’ve made it to now. My journey was a series of happenings, praise, and a willingness to grow myself as a human being to be able to create more robust art.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The road absolutely was not smooth. Not having the funds to live above the poverty line as a family is disorienting. Experiencing the waking juxtaposition of the quality of life and education in the suburb as compared to the city? Also disorienting. I spent a lot of years learning about disparities through my life work, and no matter how much I felt I’d come to understand systemic oppression and other oppressive entities, I struggled to undo the conditioning. I had to understand how some of my family’s hardship was external and uncontrollable. And then there were the decisions birthed from the conditioning, where I would act against myself. I followed that up with an ongoing healing journey that has seen its fair share of battle and war, ironically.

Working in the community was also disorienting both because I had to learn of my trauma through negatively impacting others in settings that weren’t my foundation… and because there were a handful too many individuals on that scene who had no genuine intention to help anyone. I have never felt a deeper betrayal than I felt after realizing the error in aligning with, loving on, and keeping community with certain people.

All of this journeying meant my trajectories and destinations were constantly changing, figuratively and literally. I either had made a chunk of money to cover living while I made art, or I was working toward a chunk of money and hadn’t figured out how to have the capacity for art too. I either had to dig deep and unlock a new layer of myself, untether an insecurity to be able to find more of my voice inside the arts, or I had free the art to show me who to be. Plenty of challenges and obstacles in between. Some of which prompted me to move from Chicago to LA.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I started an LLC during the onset of the pandemic so that I could provide personal services in exchange for income while not knowing the future of my employment at the time. I offered Creative Writing Workshops, I could be hired as a Writing Coach, I developed arts curricula and I also offered SEL courses. Overall, I am a Writer and Performing Artist. I can write within any medium, especially when provided the opportunity. I write songs, scripts, advertisements, poems, stories, greens, beans, potatoes, and tomatoes, haha. I specialize in creating atmospheric art. There are experiences, emotions, sometimes even dreams, and colors that are just indescribable. I frustrate myself attempting to put them into words. I learned to create the atmosphere for those intangibles to exist rather than breaking my mind trying to code them myself. My personal art, my professional career, and my business have always been, but more so now than ever, all interconnected. I see art as a transcription of life, and in order to absorb the holistic richness of existence, you have to seek the self either through experiential data or introspection. Either way, the balancing act has helped me navigate the world better, and I am most proud of that. I’ve achieved a mentality of adaptability, discernment, compassion, and creativity. I’ve woven together my varying talents into an ability to achieve my goals, dreams, and visions. I’ve kept my word to myself.

I feel that what sets me apart from others is my accountability. I know my audience can sense this within my transparency. A lot of my art is bare and layered. I have no corners or closets when it comes to creation, and I feel that the individuals who share similar experiences can relate all the more to mine.

Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
The process of assembling a team around you is one to take seriously. Do not doubt the inner voice, do not doubt the gut feelings when there is hesitation to collaborate, start, or add to a team. Also, you will want a team haha. Diversify. Have someone in marketing that does their own graphic design, have an influencer if you know any or can afford one, have someone with a connection to manufacturers… and if you aren’t quite there yet, you always can have a plan for when you are there. A lot of what I heard as advice was shit like “don’t reinvent the wheel” … I’m here to say reinvent that mf! You may need three wheels, and they need to be different, new. So many artists are stuck in purgatory from walking the path most traveled.

Pricing:

• Writing Coach – $75/Hour (2 minimum)
• Editing – $20/Page or Item (depending)
• Writing Workshops – $75/HR ($50/HR for group sessions)
• Curriculum Development – $150/HR

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/kiemofwheat
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kiemofwheat/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kiemowheat
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kiem-mitchell-11b40227b/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/kiemofwheat

Image Credits
Shantel Cribbs, Aidan Kranz, The Simple Good