Finding Your Howl

Part I of Flaum's "Finding Your Howl" uses the symbol of red wolves to convey an inspiring message regarding freedom, passion, and escape.

Flaum crafts an exciting narrative focused on Mumon, a red wolf who had lost his "howl". Taken at face value, Mumon's howl was taken away via captivity; metaphorically, Mumon had lost his true freedom and passion.  Stripped of his "howl," he embarks on a quest to retrieve it. 

Mumon’s howl was not something elusive; it was begging to be discovered. As the wolf pursued his freedom, it so pursued him in search of one capable to harness it.

Creative Inspiration:

"I left the office, got a phone, and called my partner Jack

And I asked him: "Remind me why I’m rappin’."

And right before he answered, I remembered my passion in the past

When I was scribblin’ in my tablet

To box out my mom and dad scrappin’;

To help me when my grandmother passed.

Plus the many times I was homeless,

And the times when I was broke,

And the music made a way when I was hopeless.

He told me to remember the rain; it'll diminish the pain.

And he told me not to ask him again ‘cause I know.”

-Blu, “Dancing in the Rain”

These lyrics inspire me during all parts of life, but they speak to my creative mind tenfold. I’m not sure if the problem only arises in “creative” aspects (i.e. music, film, art in general), but I think that all of us have gotten to a point where we’ve lost some amount of faith in what we are doing. I don’t want to assume that everyone has felt this way, so I’ll use myself as an example.

Sometimes I get the feeling that no matter my efforts, I am not good enough. I work on film/video projects, music projects, write lyrics, and occasionally sketch random art pieces. Regardless of what I am working on, there seems to always be a time when I lose faith and/or confidence in my talent(s). You can call it low self-esteem, second-guessing, high expectations, or anything else you want if that will help you understand it. I simply see it as an insurmountable wall when it engulfs me; I lose all motivation to finish the project and struggle to find any reason not to throw it away completely.

Words of wisdom like the ones spoken in Blu’s “Dancing in the Rain” help me look at the situation from a more positive viewpoint. In the song, Blu contacts his friend in search of inspiration to continue rapping; this sends him on a mental journey through all of the struggles that fueled his “passion in the past”. The next several lines speak to me deeply; Blu has gone through much tougher times than I have and he still finds inspiration to write lyrics. He uses these obstacles as fuel for the creative fires inside of his mind; it seems that at this time, he embraces the struggles he has seen for providing him so much motivation.

In the song, Blu describes how he used hip-hop to get through his parents fighting, his grandmother dying, and even being homeless. When I hear stories like this, I don’t let them pass me as simple narrative. I relate Blu’s words to my own struggles, whether they are similar in seriousness or not.

Overall, Blu’s words in this song urge me to utilize my own struggles during my creative work. Rather than allow my problems to remain in my head and bring me down, I feel more likely to use my struggles to help other people. In my opinion, understanding other people and using empathy will elevate creative projects from simple narrative to a personal connection with whoever experiences those projects.

That idea certainly holds true for me in the case of “Dancing in the Rain”. Rather than take it at face value as a story about some random guy’s life, I empathized with the author and put myself in his position. By way of understanding his lyrics and intentions as a writer, I become very inspired when I hear this song.

Maybe it’s just me, but when I see someone go through harsh times and later write about it beautifully, that just blows my mind. To be able to write about your own life with no shame, no filters, and powerful storytelling abilities are all qualities that I envy and strive for equally.

I’m not even kidding – when I finished the above part of this blog entry, I started to think that I should re-do it because it wasn’t good enough. Time to listen to the song again  …