“It’s my comeback now,” declares Stanley Jackson ’25 in this edition of 3Cs. I sat down with Jackson to learn the Context of his days dancing in church, the Creation of his musical identity, and what’s on the Come Up as he prepares to release music with fellow Amherst talents.
The last name “King Jackson” can’t help but draw attention but the musician exudes a humility and candidness that is well represented by his stage name, S.I.K. Jackson. The initialism is reminiscent of an author’s name. This is no accident. “I was going to use S.I.K. Jackson as my pen name,” Jackson recalled. The first words he put to paper were stories, not raps. Noting that he has “always had a book in hand or some sort of story,” Jackson has always gravitated towards wordcraft. It is shocking, then, that it took him 17 years to pen a rhyme and deliver it.
Writing gave Jackson an outlet for creative storytelling, something that later translated to the narratives of his raps. Jackson was a frequent and avid writer. He would craft short stories and explore rhythms, sounds, and structure. Before it became a musical expression, Jackson’s writing was his means of creativity. “I had a love-hate relationship with [poetry] for a while but at some point I just got it — it’s like the rhythm of the words that’s beautiful to me,” he said. For his Common App essay, Jackson wrote a short horror story that piqued the interest of the WashU English department. In hindsight, we can see these years of increasingly bold and provocative writing as a precursor to Jackson’s unique approach to rapping and the world of hip-hop.
Jackson was never isolated from the world of music. As a child he participated in an African drumming troupe, and would lend his voice to his local church. However, he added that “the most musically involved thing [he] was doing was dancing.” Jackson recounted stories of his journey from Mobile, Alabama, his birthplace, to Jackson, Mississippi,…
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