 "Photo: Courtesy of Genesis Briggs")
Beauty fades, wealth diminishes, power corrupts, fame is an illusion, knowledge is limited; but truth is eternal. These are the words tattooed on Genesis Briggs' left arm, and not coincidentally, it's the mantra she lives by.
After graduating from high school, Briggs applied to the Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music in Tisch School of the Arts for fall 2005, but was rejected. Determined to pursue her passion for hip-hop elsewhere, she began to make alternative scholastic and professional plans. Just as Briggs was beginning to re-center herself, she was dealt a misfortune far greater than Tisch's rejection - Hurricane Katrina.
"In Biloxi, Miss., we were devastated. My area was completely destroyed; I lost friends and family. It was a really depressing time," Briggs said.
Frustrated and hurt, though not entirely hopeless, Briggs, under the stage name "Genesis Be," channeled her emotions into her music.
"I saw my community destroyed, but I also [became] inspired by the way we pulled together. It made a lot of new material come to mind," Briggs said.
In the months following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, Briggs recorded her second album, "18 in America." Among the album's tracks, a song called "FEMA Check" helped catapult Briggs to a new level of fame. A satire about the government's neglect for Katrina's victims, as well as a criticism of the frivolous ways FEMA checks were being misused, the song struck a particular chord with Mississippi locals.
"It got a lot of exposure," Briggs said. "I shot a video for it."
This certainly wasn't the first time Briggs had spoken about socially relevant issues in her music. In fact, Be prides herself on doing just that: "I'm trying to expose truth in my music. I want to be a successful, lucrative recording artist and shed light on social and political issues at the same time," Briggs said.
Armed with ample new material and a tenacious spirit, Briggs re-applied to Tisch in spring 2007. This time she was accepted. Briggs' reason for re-applying was twofold - the bountiful opportunities that New York City has for performers and the department itself.
"Everyone is really supportive; it's like a big family," Briggs said. "I love the department with a passion. We're training, we're in boot camp for what's going on; they prepare us mentally for dealing with the problems in the industry."
And the ills of the industry are certainly abundant. Despite the pressures of fame, financial security, competition, and worries about creative control, the artist Genesis Be seems poised for accomplishment. Briggs currently distributes her music through MySpace.com and iTunes, her Facebook group has steadily been gaining members, and she is in constant collaboration with other Tisch musicians.
Tisch freshman Laura Cunningham, who accompanies Genesis Be's rhymes with her acoustic guitar, is confident of Briggs' future triumphs.
"Genesis has the passion and determination to get her message out there," Cunningham said. "She rarely lets little discouragements get in her way."
Morenike Fajana is a staff writer. E-mail her at etcetera@nyunews.com.
