The phrase "Walk a mile in another's shoes"
is usually said metaphorically.
But YouTube creator Jacques Slade took that to heart
for "Bear Witness, Take Action 3,"
and has brought us "Sole Swap."
Jacques, thanks for joining us.
Thank you guys for having me. I'm happy to be here.
Yes, yes. So happy to have you.
And, I mean, I gotta just get straight into it with you.
What was your motivation for creating "Sole Swap"?
I think a lot of us see people like you,
and we don't exactly know what goes into
you being who you are and becoming who you are.
So "Sole Swap" was an idea.
I'm into sneakers, so I tried to tie it
to walking in someone's shoes,
but walking in your shoes for a day.
'Cause knows the work that goes on behind the scenes.
They see you on TV, they see you on the internet,
and they think, "They got a charmed life. They blessed.
God blessed them. God blessed them."
But they don't know, like, the work that it took
for you to get there, what it takes to write a song,
what it takes to act in a movie,
the lines you gotta learn, all of those things.
So I wanted to give them
a glimpse of that world through "Sole Swap."
- You worked with Tinashe. - Yeah, yeah.
Yo, what surprised you about her?
One, just how aware she is of, like, her creative energy.
I think that's part of, like, you have to-- as a creative, you kinda
let your spirit go and be able to take risks.
But then also how much of the business side
you have to learn as an artist as well.
And then, dancing and singing at the same time.
Like, I ain't got that.
I think about guys like Big Daddy Kane
and Heavy D that were dancing and rapping at the same time.
- MC Hammer. - MC Hammer dancing and rapping at the same--
- like, that's a gift. - But I love that you say that about Tinashe
because she's a beautiful girl, and I think a lot of times people will just think,
"Oh, she just moving and dancing. She's up there."
But she's been working and making her own tracks since she was, like, 15, 16.
- Yup. - Producing her own stuff.
So, I know that was awesome for people to get a chance
to really see that there's tons of substance there.
Yeah, tons, and she's thinking about the whole process.
She's an independent artist now, so God bless her for that.
You know, that Black entrepreneurism.
But just independent and then, you know,
she has to worry about the choreography.
She has to worry about the songs.
She has to worry about what the stage looks like.
She has to worry about what she's wearing.
She has to worry about how the lights are going to be,
the song order that she has to put in.
All of those things, people don't realize there's a whole process,
and as the artist, she's putting all that together
because that's her creative vision.
So "Sole Swap" is giving us the opportunity
to kind of see behind the scenes for people like that.
People around didn't know, once you put out a record, they just think you made it.
They think, you know, you got a video out, it's just easy.
It's, like, no, man. It's a lot of work that goes into this.
But it's worth it. And it's good for us
to get in each other's shoes to understand each other.
I mean, that's one of the best ways
of actually connecting with human beings
is, like, to be able to symbolically walk in their shoes if you can.
How do you think the experiences in "Sole Swap"
can actually help others within the community?
Hopefully, it'll allow us to see,
one, the hard work that these people do.
But also recognize the work that we need to do in ourselves
and use that as an opportunity to grow.
You know, as people of color, often we feel like,
what people see is that we made it.
And they put a barrier like, "Oh, but everything's good in your life."
- But we're human just the same. - Common: Yeah.
- We're still on the hamster wheel. - Yeah, we still on--
we still go through heartbreak, we still working hard,
we still have doubts, we still have joys.
We have ups and we have downs.
And with this show, we'll be able to provide a light to that stuff.
That's education that, like, "Sole Swap."
- Thank you so much, Jacques, for joining us, man. - Thank you, guys.
- It's incredible to talk to you. - Absolutely.
Appreciate you guys. Thank you.