Welcome to Gaslit Nation. I am your host, Andrea Chalupa. We talk a lot on this show about making art and the power of art.

This special discussion is about artists.

It's for people who want to be artists.

It's for artists at all stages of their careers.

It's for people who love and consume art.

It's a discussion about the value of mentorship as well

and why that's important to the whole process of creating art.

And the way to get to the heart of being an artist, why that's important to the whole process of creating art. And the way to get to the heart of being an artist, why that's important, what that means,

the practical ins and outs of how to do it, we're going to talk to an artist who believed in

me very early on, and that alone helped me learn how to take myself seriously as an artist and bring that out

into the world.

So here is Artist Mentorship 101 with Gaslit Nation and our very special guest, my longtime

friend and mentor, Nelson George.

Thank you.

Thank you for having me.

Nelson George is the author of several histories of African-American music, including

Where Did Our Love Go, The Rise and Fall of the Motown Sound, The Death of Rhythm and Blues,

and the classic Hip Hop America.

He has published two collections of music journalism, Buppies, Bee Boys, Baps, and Bojos, Notes on Post-Sole

America, and the recent, theuppies, B. Boys, Baps, and Bohows, Notes on Post-Sol America, and the recent,

the Nelson George mixtape, which is available through Pacific Books. You have to sign my copy

before you leave. There you go. He has written several novels with music themes, The Accidental

...