Jade “Aye Cue” Lewis.
Texas State University – 2015
Prairie View A&M – Currently enrolled for Masters.
Occupation:
Artist, Creative Director,
Screenwriter
Social Media:
Instagram: @ItsAyeCue
Twitter: ItsAyeCue
Website: ItsAyeCue
Youtube: Ayecuecable
Organization/Community Involvement:
While at Texas State University, I
served as the President of Hip Hop Congress, a service based organization
striving to unite cultures and communities using the elements of Hip Hop and
education. Currently, I run my own LLC. entitled, Aquil Concepts, which is a
production company in which produces; events, music, and visual arts through my
services of being an artist, creative director, and screenwriter. The mission
is to unite and collaborate with local creatives whom are looking to further
expand their markets and visions through various creative platforms.
1. What does "Distinguished Gentleman" mean to you?
A distinguished gentleman can come in
many forms. Putting it simply, a distinguished gentleman is one that carries
himself with confidence and honor in not only his self-worth, but to the respect
of others’ as well. One that is distinguished, is one that strives to achieve
what his definition of success is, through; hard work, insight, and faith in
God (or whatever source of strength one believes in).
2. What is your brand and how did you get started? (If you do not have a
brand, you could talk about moves you’ve made to make a difference in your
community, job/career, etc. and how it has helped you)
As far as my brand, as I mentioned, Aquil
Concepts is my current brand I’m aiming to expand. I also have my Aye Team
website, which serves as a blog which displays not only my work; but also the
various creatives in which I’ve collaborated with as well. All this branches
from my ultimate brand, which is my name itself, “Aye Cue.” Through my brand
and talents; I’ve been able to open doors in opening up for various artists,
develop local events for creatives, and land placements on platforms such as
New York Times and Copywrite Magazine.
3. What is your dream goal and how do you plan on achieving it?
My dream goal is to honestly pen and develop my own screenplays; while
also creating the soundtracks/compositions, roles, and production for them.
Ultimately creating music films based around specific stories in which I’ve
written. With these music films, I eventually want to create short novels/full
length films based around them. I believe I already have the mind and tools to
get there, as I’ve created similar productions in the past, but the greatest
deal to make everything come together is to; collaborate, network, and build
with the various creatives I come across. My mission is to show people that we
don’t have to limit ourselves with the norms and guidelines that society tries
to place upon our lives, but to use our imagination and minds to tap into our
utmost potential and self-worth to achieve the lives and goals we’ve always
dreamed of. I want to give people hope and show them with a little faith, they
can go miles to achieve what they want to achieve.
4. Name a moment that you feel helped shape you into the young man that
you are today.
Hmm, there are a few moments I can think of, but I want to say the
biggest moment or time is my time after college. At these points of time I
realized I was truly in the real world, without any outside assistance and
bills to my head haha. I realized in order for me to achieve the accolades in
which I strived for, that I had to actually put in the work to get there. I
didn’t have college and the comfort of my hometown/family as my safety net and
with the task of trying to balance; a life, 9-5 job, rent, loans, as well as my
lofty goals; actually achieving my dreams was a challenge. Luckily, I love
challenges, and me seeing certain people around me hit glass ceilings because
of outside/similar life situations after certain points in life, only motivated
me to become greater.
5. Name a person (dead or alive) that you look up to & why?
A person I look up to? Well, I look up to
all my friends haha. But also, my parents, God and….*drum roll*, Michael
Jackson. I look up to my friends, because they all have their own respective
brands and lives that they are trying to evolve, and it’s motivating to see
people that are close to you build. It’s a learning experience, and a natural
friendly competitive edge, that pushes you to be the best person you can be. We
assist each other in the best ways we can, and want to see the best come out of
each other. I of course look up to my parents, because though they are separated,
they strive for the greater good of their families, and their own personal
growth. As far as Michael Jackson, I mean simply put, he was a creative genius.
If someone doesn’t know his legacy, I suggest they look it up.
6. When it comes to being a man, what do you feel should be the three core
values that a gentleman should uphold?
Respect
Knowledge of Self Worth
Ambition
7. What is a quote that live by and how do you live up to it?
“Live, Create, Innovate”
is a personal quote that I created on my own, that I live by. In order for me
to create, I need to live and take in various aspects of life, and in order for
me to innovate I need to create. Everything branches together, and since being
a creative is my life, it’s a simple reminder for me to do all those things to
formulate my ultimate goals. I look at my life as one big seasonal television
show or chapter book, so I use those phases in specific chapters to mold my
creativity and serve that creativity to impact others in relatable ways.
8. Piece of advice that you would give to young men of color who do not
believe in themselves or lack role models?
We were built with odds against us. Systematic influences have pimped us
out to serve for the platforms this country has predetermined for us. I’m here
to say, we don’t have to follow those guidelines. We have to use our love and
knowledge to come together to build and become the forces we’ve always meant to
be. The crab in the buck mentalities were conditioned in us to tear each other
down, but we have to overcome that to build our own systems to counter the
systems that oppressed us for years. If you don’t have respective role models
or even believe in yourself, just have faith. If not in God, at least yourself.
Life is already short, while you’re here, you might as well make a push to see
how far you can truly take yours. There’s so much out there to live for, even
if you don’t realize it just yet.
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