Chicagoan, poet, author, street talker, Midwesterner who uses hashtags like #midbest, activist, protester, boundary breaker, community builder, and artist Kevin Coval has written 10 books, including his most recent and widely acclaimed “A People’s History of Chicago.”
He was recently in town for an extended book tour as part of April being National Poetry Month and sat down with us for a conversation about art, space, people, playgrounds, Toledo, Chicago, and more.
Kevin is the artistic director of Young Chicago Authors, founder of Louder Than A Bomb: The Chicago Youth Poetry Festival, and co-host of the WGN Radio podcast “The Cornerstore.” His work has appeared on “The Daily Show,” four seasons of HBO’s “Def Poetry Jam,” CNN.com, Poetry Magazine, and Fake Shore Drive. He teaches hip-hop aesthetics as a professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago and is developing a TV series.
Find him on Twitter and Instagram @kevincoval.
1.) Does LeBron have a case against Jordan?
[laughs] Not yet. He needs more rings. I mean, he may be top five, or even top two. But he needs more W’s to be in the same conversation. And MJ changed the way the game was played entirely. There are a lot of factors that go into the GOAT.
2.) Does anyone ever confuse you as a member of 3rd Bass?
[laughs] Not since 1992. Shoutout to MC Serch. But you know I loved 3rd Bass, they introduced me to KMD, which introduced me to Zeb Love X, you know, who became MF DOOM, who is a top-fiver for sure.
3.) Favorite ‘your-spot’ for tacos in Chicago?
My dad used to be in the restaurant biz, taquerias are part of my family. Mmmm... probably La Pasadita in Wicker Park. And there’s a place on 18th, La Vaca, that serves grilled fish tacos. I’ve kind of become a pescatarian, so those are mine.
4.) Who did the illustrations in “A People’s History of Chicago”?
We had six different artists each do three illustrations of the poems that spoke to them the most. [See p. 131 of APHOC for credits.]
5.) Your history book, like most, goes chronological. But unlike texts that seem self-contained, unto themselves alone, nearly every poem in APHOC — unless you are hyper informed on Chicago history — will draw you to further research. This isn’t question, it’s just a bare compliment. And I think Studs Terkel would compliment your work too. Did you ever meet Studs? I know you have many of your Chicago heroes, but what about Villains?
I appreciate that. Yeah, as an obsessive nerd, I like that about history. It’s like digging through crates to find music. We do the same with history as music and ideas.
I have met Studs, a number of times. And actually Studs’ mentee mentored me, Rick Kogan of WGN and the [Chicago] Tribune. We protested together. Studs also gave me a handwritten letter that meant a lot.
[Villains?] Well, I have met a few, and had some funny relationships over the years. I guess Rahm Emanuel is not a fan of mine. [Laughs] Class plays a big part that, our differences, of course.
6.) Have you ever been Toledo? What do you know about it?
I don’t know. You know, no. But there’s something a little familiar about Toledo. Just driving in on the expressway, something about it. The rust. The grind. The working class ethos. I love the Midwest and Midwestern cities. In a lot of ways they all are micro-versions of Detroit that force us examine the same problems. What happens when the jobs leave, but the people stay? How do we figure out how to be ingenuitous and sustainable to remain in these places?
7.) What do you want to ask me?
How do you exist as a creative person in Toledo? [So, I watched this interview of you on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, and you talked about ideas you had about culture and misunderstandings. You told a story about going to a like a Supercuts to get a peace symbol shaved in the back of your head, but it looked like a Pac-Man. And you learned. I grew up in this small town named Port Clinton that could only co-opt this culture and I loved “Yo! MTV Raps.” So I went to the one barber downtown, Don Lane, and said’ give me six lines all the way around my head,’ because I thought that would be dope. He said ok, gave me his normal little kid haircut #12, then shaved six lines in the back of my head. But he didn’t fade me. So I had these ledges. [Laughs.] So I just learned. But you keep going. Make what you’re doing still worth it to those who are there to appreciate it. Keep grinding.]
That’s what we do in the Midwest!
8.) What is the difference between the hard-to-know-it-until-you-feel-it distinction between poet and author?
You know at first I had an aversion to books of poems. Because there’s a lot of bad work. Poets don’t necessarily think in terms of narrative. They’re like ‘here’s some poems I wrote over the last 10 years’ and that’s it.
I remember reading Brutal Imagination by Cornelius Eady and Imagine the Angels of Bread by Martín Espada and they read more like novels. Instead of ‘hey, read this at your leisure,’ it felt more like this is how build a project; that poetry needs the narrative arc.
9.) What took you from a guy with ideas, to a guy with a voice and a pen, to a guy with a mic and a crowd, to a guy with all that stuff as a career?
I got a guy right now who is at that point trying to make a passion into a career. And I see him working up, and it comes from a lot of cosigns from elders; understanding the the old masters of spaces were invaluable to me. To get those props, for them to protect me, to look out for me is a very Midwest working class ethos. I also brought the discipline of athletics to art; to go out everyday to get better, to be a craftsman on that little stuff.
[Here we abandon the interview and talk straight hoops in and about Chicago. Kevin reveals that not only could he play a little bit, he played semi-pro in Wales. He was a defensive stopper, hardnosed. We talked about playing in the courts of Chicago and trying to revitalize that outdoor recreation because so much of the courts have changed and become not just challenging places to play, or tough on strangers, but straight up fatal.]
10.) One of your mentors, Gwendolyn Brooks famously said she just looked out the window and wrote what she saw. Because of the cultural crossover of your innate ear — Jewish in largely black and Puerto Rican neighborhoods — did you know what window was yours to look out or did that take time emerge?
When I moved back from ball, I lived in Wicker Park on Milwaukee Avenue with my Grandpa who moved from the Ukraine.
Miss Brooks would do that. Willie Perdomo [Puerto Rican poet from Chicago] said his corner was 110th and Lexington and he would go out there and basically just report.
That’s how I feel about Milwaukee Avenue. That’s my window.
11.) Who or what are you listening to right now?
Saba, “Care For Me;” which is a lament for the city for the passing of his cousin John Walt. Ambi Lyrics; her E.P “Study hall.”
12.) Teenagers are the oracles of slang and development of street and secret language, what do love about giving teens the power to express not just themselves, but their language? How do you keep your own language invigorated?
They just express it. Their inventiveness is theirs. You know, we learn a word and it becomes played. That’s why we love to hear what’s fresh. Young people keep culture forward. I just feel blessed to be around it.
But that helps me, it’s like reading the liner notes on an album [to see the samples].
13.) Do you mess with Malort?
It’s disgusting. Gasoline… buy yeah. Do you know the Chicago handshake? It’s a shot of Malort and a beer, probably an Old Style.
14.) Your two current projects, The Cornerstore Podcast and The Mixtape: Chicago, what are they?
Cornerstore is a podcast I do with WGN radio. We interview creatives; it’s Chicago centered but features the Midwest. It’s an investigation of what it means to be creative.
The Mixtape is an episodic TV show focusing on youth culture to counter, change, and challenge the narrative of what Chicago is.
15.) In his introduction in APHOC, Chance the Rapper calls you his artistic father. Who is your artistic father?
[Long pause.]Haki R. Madhubuti was Miss Brooks’ cultural son. I met Haki when he was Don Lee, 10 years later, as Haki, he took me on as his cultural son. He’s the founder of Third World Press, has built four schools, written over 40 books, his wife is incredible…
That’s my artistic father.
Contact Phillip Kaplan at pkaplan@theblade.com, and follow on Twitter @filkap
RELATED: Kevin Coval previews his early April talk at the downtown main library.
VIDEO: Poet Kevin Coval
First Published April 29, 2018, 12:00 p.m.
