Marc Cheatham, aka Cheats, is a steadfast believer and advocate for the most important aspect of hip-hop culture, community. For almost a decade he has been the driving force in nurturing, documenting, and promoting hip-hop in Richmond, Virginia and throughout the East Coast. Always keeping community foremost in mind, Cheats has also been able to connect hip-hop and politics, serving as US Senator Tim Kaine’s Director of Constituent Services and Casework. To know Cheats is to know hip-hop in its purest form, inclusive and revelatory.
We recently caught up with Cheats to talk about creativity, progressive change, the importance of face-to-face conversation, and moving his podcast “The Cheats Movement” form SoundCloud to NPR for this installment of “That’s 5.”
The following interview has been lightly edited.
What influences you?
The process of creating, storytelling, documenting, and making things dope. There are more mediums today to create, to document, to tell stories, than ever before. Creatives have more access to technology and collective thought than ever before. So, I am influenced by those who analyze the current landscape and then enhance it, both locally and globally, through creativity and passion. Creatives that examine our current political climate and then create new ways to advocate for community causes and social change. Creatives that use new technology to document and report about hip-hop culture and grassroots art movements. In short, I am influenced by those who create the culture and those that have the courage to document it.
What’s the most overrated?
The attempt to reverse progressive progress is overrated. And that’s not me being overly political. The world is changing. The world is becoming more racially diverse and socially connected (thanks to social media, etc.). We are able to witness, in real-time, attempts to take people backward. Going backward is not the wave. For me, and for many people of color, the “good old days” were not that good. We are moving forward in every way possible, and going back to some magical time is overrated.
What’s the most underrated?
Conversation. Social media is not real life. Social media is mostly the highlights of what people want you to see. Even text messaging is not a conversation. I think conversation is a lost art. As a society, we should encourage more face-to-face conversations.
What are you excited about right now?
Just about 10 years ago, I started The Cheats Movement blog and podcast in Richmond, Virginia. This year my podcast will air on our NPR affiliate, Virginia Public Media (VPM). The journey of the Cheats Movement from SoundCloud to the home of talk radio in Virginia (VPM) is truly exciting, without having to comprise my values.
What’s next for you?
Next is growing The Cheats Movement blog and podcast in every way possible. I have several writing and photography projects in development that I am very excited about: one is a yearlong photography project that will document hip-hop culture in Richmond, Virginia. As a company, I have a number of clients that I’m organizing and establishing their PR and communication strategy. I hope 2020 is the year that I move into the video space more. There are a lot of great things happening for The Cheats Movement. I’m very happy to be among a culture of creatives.
The Cheats Movement | @CheatsMovement
