Meet Christian Penn

We were lucky to catch up with Christian Penn recently and have shared our conversation below.

Christian , we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?

Underground hip-hop taught me about originality, being unique and your true self, and having confidence in that uniqueness. As an emcee, I use my voice and style as a tool to spread a message and awareness about things that are important to me. A desire to be different and unique always makes me challenge stereotypical ideas about popular taste, conformity, etc. I think there is value in being different, but it takes a self-awareness to be confident in your individuality, instead of uncomfortable in it. I prefer to be different, and that comes with an inherent confidence and self-esteem as I project myself in different ways – my music, art, writing, etc.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I am an emcee, producer, muralist/street-artist, entrepreneur, non-profit director – or in other words a CREATOR. I;ve been creating in some professional capacity for over 20 years. In my career, I have released multiple music projects with my hip-hop group The Higher Concept and DJ-duo 1WAYTKT and performed around the country opening for notable artists including Nas, Method Man, Talib Kweli, Kid Cudi, LMFAO, Keith Murray, Zulu Nation, and many more.

I started offering workshops and classes, based in the field of Audio Engineering and Music Production which eventually expanded to my other passions – DJing, graffiti, filmmaking and other media. In 2015, I founded Projectivity Group, an official 501c3 not-for-profit organization and I have been the Executive Director since. This job has allowed me to work with hundreds of professional artists, musicians, creators, and teachers to inspire the next generation of artists to create messages with their art.

In 2021, I partnered with Thrive Collective and have helped them curate and produce over 300 murals since then. In 2024, expanded our mission to the DMV area and have begun working with youth down here to create public art projects. I have been actively seeking artists and community partners in the DC area, Montgomery County and Prince George’s County and Baltimore to collaborate with.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

3 qualities I think that have helped me the most is my DIY attitude, a passion for connecting with people and teaching others, and trying to be diplomatic, honest, and fair in all my dealings. I’ve never really made any enemies or adversaries, I’ve kept long lasting relationships with almost everyone I ever worked with. I believe in collaboration, not competition. Keeping ego out of my decisions as much as possible is important for helping others and seeing the bigger picture.

Do you think it’s better to go all in on our strengths or to try to be more well-rounded by investing effort on improving areas you aren’t as strong in?

Throughout my career, Ive prided myself on being a jack of all trades as I feel it helped me excel faster in learning about what I wanted to do and be. The ability to learn quickly and the confidence to take on new challenges shaped my goal setting and influenced the trajectory of my career. I think its important to be able to be well versed in different skills related to your passion so you can be ready for more opportunities.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Photos by Christine Cruz Photography, Tariq Zaid or Jeremy Del Rio

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