Meet Ayodele McKinney | Independent Artist, Creative Director, & Afrofuturist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ayodele McKinney and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ayodele, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
Art and creativity situate me in time. They make me more grateful for the moments that pass me by. They help me see the evolution of thought – of myself and of others – and it’s a roadmap for the people that come after us. That’s really important too, to have that roadmap, especially in my generation, Gen Z. There’s so much collective anxiety right now, which comes from a number of factors. Two of those factors being the volatility of our future and a seeming absence of collective values to ground ourselves and hold on to. The former speaks to a faux tug of war between a disorganized “left” and a right-wing extremism. The latter speaks to the imagery and stories associated with our country that my generation knows not to be true, and unlike previous generations, we aren’t willing to sit and idly accept those images and stories. These cultural images and associated values have been prided as the essence of what makes America so great – yet we’ve watched them unravel and dissipate over the course of our lifetime. And so art because of this is significant due to its relationship with time, due to how it helps me navigate any context.

Art helps me ground my political thoughts because what else could capture the humor of our political context, especially as an independent artist? I mean, on one hand, Karl Marx would be proud of me because I’m an artisan, so I’m not alienated from the work that I do. I see myself in it and I contribute authentically to the world because of art. That’s important for a person to be able to do; put their essence and their all into the work that they have because it makes that work so much more meaningful to all parties involved, i.e. consumer to producer. But I also have to stand out from other people that are doing things similar to me. And so a lot of my political thought these days is about training myself to be comfortable holding multiple truths. And this is what a lot of our disconnect in the world of politics can be attributed to. It stems from that inability of free people to hold multiple truths and contributes to an issue of political monism.

Art and business fit together for me. It’s important to have businesses that speak to the things we’re going through. How else could they be relevant? Art is the language that makes my business relevant, defined as giving good vibes, being accessible and remaining contextual. A truly great business captures a moment either in the present or one in the future. Think about Microsoft, Apple, and Uber. They grounded their businesses in the industry’s present (moment)um, which they knew would carry them forward into the future. For them, technology was the language that they used to speak to people in a relevant way. Garret Camp and Travis Kalanik used technology to carry cultural relevance in the backdrop of the iPhone’s popularity. However, in the process they also contributed to a culture of convenience that was and is becoming increasingly impersonal, particularly when you’re looking at online interactions. In essence, technology can be a language that speaks from a place of that collective anxiety. We’re all stressed out, and it’s not to say that technology is the reason for that, no. I think more so technology is a contributor to that. It can seem impossible for us to to sit down with multiple truths and grapple with them in a way that is productive and meaningful. That’s where art steps in as the language that I choose to use. Art is a smooth language, and smoothness in terms of truth flowing naturally from art, because it requires me to sit down and ground myself realistically in whatever emotion is guiding me through my journey to discover what it means to be a person of integrity. I aspire to be a person aligned in self, in relationships, in community, and in society. Art gives me the language to shape that person, to communicate it, and (hopefully) help smooth out the knee jerk interactions dominating discourse today. If technology is the language of a culture of convenience, then art is a language of the culture of critical thinking.

The culture of critical thinking isn’t devoid of creativity or art. The endpoint of critical thinking is synthesis. It is creation. And so, since we live in a time of analysis, that creativity suffers, especially when our tools of analysis can be outdated. It’s easy to lose perspective when we’re constantly analyzing without questioning those tools. And looking around, it seems like those tools are academia, which is increasingly inaccessible to the majority of our population, both monetarily and linguistically (I understand the irony of this. I’ve only been outta undergrad for two years so please cut me some slack); political monism, which tricks people into looking at issues as opposed to interests and believing that very deep and complex issues can fit on a dichotomous scale of left-wing or right-wing; and Mammonism, which feeds the idea that somehow more money is going to address society’s issues. Art, an eclectic form of synthesis, naturally aligns with critical thinking and thus presents itself as a unique method of bridging perspectives. It captures essence in a way that speaks to perspective. It carries practical uses like entertainment and education. It produces and contributes to our system of cultural images from which we derive our values. Such contribution coming from a place of critical thinking and a deep seated joy means that these images might be helpful for people going through their own processes of understanding life, politics, and the chaos of the world around us.

At the end of the day, I center art and creativity in my career because art brings me joy. That joy is a byproduct of freedom. My name means joy. It’s from this place of joy that I try to share with other people. And my joy as a southern Black man is particularly radical. I live in Memphis, TN. xAI, an artificial intelligence company founded by Elon Musk, is currently constructing the largest supercomputer in the world in South Memphis. This process started without community engagement, little transparency, and uncertainty about the health impacts on the community. xAI building a supercomputer without our mayor consulting the community is something to be remarkably upset and stressed over. My concern is freedom. I can’t find freedom in just being angry. I can’t find freedom in just being stressed out about a thing. I can’t find freedom in just being disappointed. I can accept those emotions as a starting point, and I know the endpoint is joy because that comes from freedom. Art becomes a way to create and channel the beliefs, actions, and knowledge I find necessary to resist the tragically rich cultural history that has shaped me as a southern Black man. Art becomes my choice because joy is my choice. If it’s true that having a career is central to my culture, then my career must be centered in an integrated manner. That’s why I pursue an artistic and creative career.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
The way I craft context sets me apart. I don’t think I’m the best at anything other than communicating with my own language. I’m not the best vocalist, lyricist, producer, penciler, inker, colorist, animator, researcher, or writer. How could I be? Betta bet I have a strong and methodical creative vision, though, so my style is found in the context of my work. I like to experiment with different forms of storytelling, using various techniques to communicate. I build an environment to situate my work with consistent themes fleshed out across articles, music, animation, and comic books. This gives people a few different entryways for engaging with me and my work. We can digest ideas over a discussion of anime, hip hop, or positive psychology, just to name a few realms I’m familiar with.

I’m proud of sharing my work and experiences. I’m most excited to see how I can both build and contribute to community with art.

I began to think professionally about art in undergrad. Two of my best friends and I worked together to create an animated TV show based on our experiences as young Black men in Memphis, TN. During that two year period, we came to realize we’d need to start thinking about our art in terms of IP. That resonated with me; changing my mindset from art to IP was mind-opening. The concept of IP appeased both my practicality and creativity. It’s affirming to copyright one’s intellectual works, celebrate WGA registrations with a team, and learn from Emmy-winning animators and Hollywood producers. But, you can prolly see where this is going. If I had to sum it up: naivety.
More IP meant more logistics. Questions like “How’re we organizing our work? How do we determine ownership of IP amongst the three of us? What’s the vehicle carrying this work through the world? Is it a creative studio? Is that a LLC or other type of business model? How do we determine ownership of the creative studio? Realistically, what strengths, skills, and resources are each of us bringing individually, and how do they serve our vision?” began to cause confusion. We were all at different levels in our college careers, and there were a number of personal factors from each of us that caused tension we failed to address. We came with a “Every man is responsible for himself” mentality that you’ll often find in Memphis. That led to us failing each other as collaborators – and friends. Creativity took a backseat to internal politics. Ultimately, these questions fractured our creative endeavor, and the very concept of IP contributed to the disbanding of our team. It was challenging to balance our shared dream with the very difficulties we wanted that dream to explore – healthy communication as young Black men, agency, and hustle without the hurt. I miss that dream. I miss those dreamers. I’m thankful for the experience and what it showed me.
Our creative endeavor taught me two important lessons that contribute to where I am today. Firstly, failure isn’t real. There was a laundry list of lessons we didn’t learn at various points in our journey. Secondly, patience pays. It’s taken immense patience to comb through the experiences of those two years to determine where those lessons were hiding. It’s taken me even more patience to figure out how to ground those lessons with questions like “What pace can I realistically maintain? How do I want to approach discussions of IP with collaborators? How does my creative process look and feel, by myself and with others?” Patience has deepened my appreciation for how pragmatism (business) and art (creativity) guide me.
Honesty about the integrated nature of business and creativity has helped me in overcoming challenges. Creativity is nonlinear by nature. Need to express a simple idea in an engaging manner? Play with the layers of symbolism to keep your audience guessing. Business is linear in its approach to problem-solving. Need direction? Establish a strategy. Need to reach a goal? Build a plan. I now know when to lead with one or the other. That’s impossible without the previously mentioned role of reflection.

All of my art comes from a place I call the ISOverse. The concepts that helped me create (Or discover? Lauren Olamina would understand) are derived from Jungian psychology, Afrofuturism, and observation. The name is like an ode to the creative and intellectual journey that’s shaped my art. Like many kids, I really enjoyed creating comics with my friends. Grahamwood Elementary School had an excellent curriculum that culminated in a book we had to make as an end of the year project. In third grade, I realized I had an opportunity to create my own superhero. I talk about that in my TEDx Talk. That book opened my eyes to such an exciting truth: I wanted to create and publish a comic book universe. So, I started writing. And writing. And drawing. And 17 years later, there are 200+ characters ready to contribute to America’s mythology. But, somewhere in that journey, I lost the publishing part of that dream. The transition between middle school and high school was particularly dreadful. At 14, I had created 100 characters in an attempt to understand what exactly made me a “nigger”. What had I internalized to believe that I was only beautiful insofar as I was a beast? Worse, what did this make me do to the people around me? My dream languished in purgatory. The comic book universe and expanded artworks became coping mechanisms for the crippling weight of racism in MSCS. Art was more of a life raft than a vehicle of expression. Drifting was a lonely experience.
It felt fitting to name my creativity. In February 2023, a combination of my love for basketball and admiration for Kobe Bryant led to the “ISOverse” (more on the origins of the name some other time). Yeah, I thought I was so cold with that one. I had learned to associate creativity with loneliness. That was stupid for a myriad of reasons, number one being iso- actually means “equality”. Don’t hoard your joy. Share it.
The ISOverse evolved to be about integrity. It requires me, and hopefully the people that engage with it, to explore the through lines of identity, society, politics, and culture. That’s a nice jargon-y way of saying the ISOverse is about telling cool ass stories. A story like August Moon: The Shadow Hunter, which is about the titular hero discovering a religious conspiracy to end death, and in the process, inadvertently causing a holy war he must bring to an end. This story asks questions about the role of religion in society, death’s place in giving us purpose, and mental health. Kung Fu meets chess in Grandmaster, a video game combining the combat mechanics of Sifu and role-playing strategy elements of Risk. It chronicles a tale of redemption, development, and the passing of cultural values. Taking place on a fantasy Earth ravaged by a history of conquest, Grandmaster delivers a compelling story of interconnected characters during the final battle for the title of Grandmaster. And finally, XSTRIN, an isekai-inspired animated show following a 13-year-old Black boy named Easy. He awakens in the mystical living landscape called Xstrin. Voiceless, with few memories of his life on Earth and a proclivity for the sciences, Easy must build an identity for himself while protecting Xstrin from the hostile takeover of an oppressive empire. A good story changes you. And I have hella good stories…in the making. I could make all these stories by myself, no doubt. That’s not the point, though. ISOverse Studios exists to create sustainable jobs for artists and creatives with vision and messages. All in good fun, for the love of the game. I envision a hub for creatives to world-build together, share their stories and lore, and meet with potential collaborators. I envision a platform that provides educational resources for creatives who may want to take their IP to the next level. I envision a platform that encourages intellectual and creative play.

But wait…

…I don’t have to envision shit, ‘cause it’s here. Visit ISOversestudios.com, and you’ll see the beginnings of this shared storytelling model. I lay out some of the aforementioned stories as examples of what it could look like. If you vibe with one, engage with it. If you have a story you want to world-build for, create an account. Let’s play in greatness.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Sunday – Ease In
* Brunch at Boscos – One of the most historically relevant breweries in Memphis. Their waffles, A1. Their brunch, exquisite. Their atmosphere is welcoming, and they’ve got live music on Sundays.
* Brooks Museum of Art – The museum itself is well laid out, the art is thought-provoking, and local artist representation is always present.

Monday – DTE
* Bamma’s Pancakes – My grandma makes really good pancakes. She has a gift for bringing people together over some good food. Oh, also, let’s save some money.
* Overton Park + Shelby Farms – A city is only as iconic as its parks, and we’ve got two great ones. The first is Overton Park. Its forested trails are even better than Shelby Farms’ despite being 4,158 acres smaller. The trails through the forest are compact, softer for running and walking, and provide earthy imagery along with the sounds of zoo animals. Overton Park is also home to the Metal Museum and Overton Park Shell, which has a free concert series during the summer. Shelby Farms is wildly expansive; I like the zip lining, kayaking (canoeing? Never know the difference), and variety of terrain to walk through. I like Overton Park in the afternoons and evenings and Shelby Farms earlier in the day, so that’s what we’d do.
* Dinner at Char – Dress up a lil, stunt a lil bit, eat some of the best steak in the city. The ambience is soothing and classy.

Tuesday – Challenge
* Kenetix Gym Visit – This is the best gym in Memphis, Black-owned and operated by one of the best men I’ve known. He will put us through hell, but you’ll learn to love it. Me and mine value athleticism, so I’d share this experience with a friend.
* Metal Museum Blacksmithing Class – Dude, I don’t have a singular friend who wouldn’t enjoy the prospect of crafting something dope with metal. Come on. This would be a great way to begin the early afternoon after a morning training session. Might as well leave Memphis a lil chiseled.
* Maciel’s – The best quesadilla in the city.
* Meet Marco Pavé – Sit down with one of Memphis’ own poet-activist. We’d walk away informed, inspired, and grateful for getting to pick his creative brain.

Wednesday – Just Fun
* Memphis Toast – Black-owned, nice for the budget, and not too far from home. One of the better breakfasts in Memphis.
* Amuse Adventure Museum – Imagine a children’s museum but for adults. We’d have fun with games for your body, mind, and senses.
* Tom’s BBQ – The GOATed underground artist of good BBQ in Memphis.

Thursday – BSE
* The Four Way for Lunch – A soul food institution where the food speaks history.
* Meet Troy Wiggins – One of the keenest minds in Afrofuturism, he’d shape us into better writers and people.
* The Peabody Rooftop Party – Sunset, skyline, and smooth cocktails. Located downtown, this is a guaranteed high energy endeavor. This would be my first time going as well.

Friday – Lowkey Fun
* Uncle Lou’s Fried Chicken – Sweet Spicy Love sauce is not a suggestion, it’s a requirement. I’d take a friend here every day…
* Evening at Tiger and Peacock – Speakeasy vibes, cocktail bar with an eclectic menu, and a great place for decompressing before tomorrow’s shenanigans.

Saturday – Let’s Forget the Evening’s Events
* Brunch at Flight – I’ve been told this is some of the best food in Memphis. My friend and I would find out.
* Stax Museum of American Soul Music – Memphis music is a gift to the world. Exploring it with a friend is a must.
* Popup Vintage Market – Popup vintage markets are starting to catch some momentum here. They typically happen in artsy off-the-wall places, so we’d be in for an aesthetic adventure. Let’s find some dope clothes.
* Beale Street at Night – Live blues, neon lights, and a drink in hand. Clubs in any direction. This is the perfect place to end a trip to Memphis. High notes make memories.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
The book, Sky Full of Elephants: A Novel by Cebo Campbell, deserves this shoutout. There are more reasons than stars on the horizon for why this book has inspired me. Here are some of those reasons:

Thank you, Sky Full of Elephants, for bringing power back to my words.

Thank you, Chioke, for inspiring me to inspire.

Thank you, Mom and Dad, for illuminating the blueprint.

Thank you, Troy, for gifting me the means to craft a future.

Thank you, Mahal, for helping me position my purpose.

Thank you, Meka, for guiding me towards accepting balance.

Thank you, The Will to Change, for reminding me of the feeling of wholeness.

Website: https://www.isoversestudios.com/

Instagram: @admck_

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ayodelemckinney

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@IsO_verse