Rhyme and Reason | NC State News – NC State News

All right. Here we go.

The opening lines of Ayo Agunbiades song that speaks about and to his late mother, Teresa Ann Ward, capture the musicians philosophy as he strives to impart meaning to life, loss and love. Although many of his songs pay tribute to an imperfect and sometimes painful past, Agunbiades eyes and heart are fixed in one direction: forward.

In a song titled Up, the hip-hop artist recounts a journey that has taken him from an impoverished childhood in Prince Georges County, Maryland, to academic and career achievements that once seemed out of reach:

I fell down sometimes and though it cost me

I couldnt be the best me without the losses, see

All these lessons that I learned made me wise up

They taught me even when Im down keep my eyes up

Today, as a senior academic advisor in the Poole College of Management, hes helping NCState students chart their own paths in uncertain times.

Ive made a career out of working in higher education because of how much I value education and how transformational it has been in my life, he says. When I went to college, I recognized that I needed to be successful there if I didnt want to go back home and sell drugs or pump gas, something like that.

Success in the classroom didnt come easy, but Agunbiade kept moving forward, earning a bachelors in communication and a masters in education.

Getting those degrees was the most gangster thing Ive ever done in my life, because I didnt have anyone ahead of me who took that path, he says.

His journey as a musician began in high school, where he participated in impromptu rap competitions.

Pretty much every day at lunch we would have these freestyle battles, and it was the best part of the day, he says. Somebody starts to hit a beat on the table, and its you versus whoever has the boldness to step up. Its you and your words against theirs, and the winner is the one who can come up with the cleverest lines and just keep the flow going.

Music took a backseat to football in Agunbiades life for a while, but after high school he found his voice and an outlet for his emotions in composing, recording and often producing his own original songs. Hes released two albums, Destiny in 2017 and Destiny Reimagined in 2018, as well as a slew of singles available on streaming platforms such as Apple Music and Spotify. And he appeared on a 2020 album, Deans List, produced by a rap collective called the Great Minds Alliance.

The name he writes and performs under iYo the Philosopher is a nod to his reputation for thinking deeply (or in the words of a friend, overthinking) about his life and the world around him.

A lot of my music is autobiographical, he says. Through music, Im able to process my own feelings and sometimes come out with something that I didnt quite expect. Sometimes, something that was deep in my soul just kind of pours out. I cant keep it all bottled up for so long.

Its more cost-effective than a therapist.

His mothers death in 2010 left Agunbiade struggling to cope with his grief and loss. It was, he says, a dark time.

My mom was my best friend, and it took me a really long time to properly grieve, he says. One thing that helped me through is understanding that even though my mom is no longer here in the flesh, she lives through me. I cannot be me without the impact that she had on my life.

In Teresa Ann Ward, a song celebrating her life, he marvels:

We never had a lot but it felt like plenty

How you raise a good kid in a mad city?

Worked all day, paid bills, made dinner

Even when I lost, had me feeling like a winner

The music video for the song, directed by Joey Gizzi, features the singer TreAlise, whose soulful vocals on the chorus float above Agunbiades somber rapping. The cinema verit work, shot handheld with available light in and around a desolate city park, was named best music video at the 2020 Longleaf Film Festival.

Agunbiade first teamed up with Gizzi in 2017, when the pair worked on a music video for the song Riot, an antiracist anthem inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement.

There was a string of Black men getting killed on camera, and I had this song on one of my old mixtapes that dealt with that, he says. I put an ad on Craigslist looking for somebody to shoot the video, and Joey responded. He charged me basically nothing because he was just getting started.

It turned out to be a really good video, but even more interesting is the fact that after that video, Joeys skill and his talent just sort of skyrocketed.

Since then the pair have worked together on several other video projects and won more awards. Its a rewarding collaboration that seems to come easily to both. Ill have an idea and Ill share it with Joey, and hell just take it to the next level, Agunbiade says.

His focus on racism and other social issues in his music reflects his struggle to make sense of the times.

Im a little lost in terms of where we are as a society, he says. It doesnt even feel real; it feels like a dream that maybe one day well wake up from. But theres so much going on, and the tensions are so deep. I dont ever remember a political moment in my lifetime that was so polarized.

People cant hear each other anymore.

Its one of the reasons Agunbiade values his work at NCState, where hes part of a small percentage of Black men in leadership roles. Working as an academic advisor gives him an opportunity to counter racial stereotypes and support the schools efforts to promote a welcoming environment for everyone.

Most of my students dont look like me, he says. And some have told me that its their first time interacting with a Black man in a position of authority. So I get to introduce them to someone who is supportive, reliable, accountable all these good things, but with a different skin color.

For Black students, Agunbiades visibility sends a positive message.

I appreciate that the students who do look like me have someone who actually looks like them on the staff, he says. Because there arent a whole lot of us in the college or across the university.

Not all of Agunbiades music deals with weighty issues or unresolved emotions. Butterfly, a catchy 2021 single, is a sweet and sometimes spicy ode to his wife, Rachel. The couple met working together in the Academic Support Program for Student-Athletes.

Girl, youre so fly like a butterfly

I couldnt let you fly to another guy

All up in the sky you be so high

You got the right mind and youre so fine

My life philosophy that theres joy to be found, and we have to find it, he says. No matter what were going through, we have to work our way back to it.

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Rhyme and Reason | NC State News - NC State News