Lifestyle

Local Rapper Sean Forbes Can Feel The Vibrations

November 08, 2013, 3:00 PM by  Karolina Powalka

 

Featured_sean_forbes2_9449

Despite losing his hearing as an infant, music has always been a huge part of Sean Forbes’ life. Born into a family of musicians, Sean grew up playing instruments and writing songs. He could feel the vibrations of the music coming from the speakers in his mom’s van and that led to a successful career as a rapper.

Today, D-Pan: Deaf Professional Arts Network, the non-profit organization that he and Joel Martin started, creates American Sign Language interpretation music videos that give deaf and hearing impaired people access to mainstream songs that they may not have experienced before.

Both of your parents are musicians. Growing up, how did that affect your start in music?

My parents provided me with every opportunity possible. They bought me a drum set when I was 5 years old. They bought me a guitar when I was 10. We had a music room in our basement and as a kid, I locked myself in that room and played all day, every day.  I wrote songs all the time. My parents were realistic, though. They knew how difficult it is for a musician to make enough of an income to support a family. They encouraged me to go to college and get an education. I did that but I knew that I wanted nothing else but to become a musician.

You’ve always known you wanted to be a part of the music industry in some way. Now, you are also a motivational speaker. How did that happen?

I basically fell into it. With D-Pan I began creating and promoting American Sign Language interpretation videos which led to me talking in front of people. I found myself doing motivational speeches. I then started sneaking some of my songs into the speeches. Before I knew it, I was telling my whole story.

Growing up I didn’t have many role models. I was becoming that person for these kids. I realized I have to do something here. I can’t just focus only on the music. I had to do both and I love it. I love sharing my stories with these kids and telling them in a way where I hope they realize that if they really want something, they can get it.

It’s weird because I am able to do it in a way where the teachers get what they want and the kids do, too. I walk the fine line of being a badass, but also being someone who overcame obstacles and is doing things in a good way.

There’s a lot of talk about bullying. which you were exposed to growing up. What do you tell kids who ask for advice?

I think people have taken this bullying thing too far. Bullying was going on when I was a kid and it’ll be going on 20 years from now. We need to teach kids how to embrace themselves. I was 17 years old when I realized I’d be deaf for the rest of my life. Once I realized that, everything changed for me. It changed because I realized that I was different and that I wasn’t ever going to be “normal.” But then again, what is normal?

Kids come up to me and ask what to do when they’re being bullied. I never tell them to pull their fists out but you can’t start crying. If you cry, the kids will keep picking on you. I was in New York about a year ago and a Mexican boy came up to me and said “All these kids are making fun of me.” I told him, “You’re going to be like this for the rest of your life. Right? So embrace it and say positive things about being Mexican.” It’s a matter of how you respond to it. If you tell them to stop making fun of you, they’ll keep doing it. You have to turn it around. And since then from what I know, that kid is doing okay.

The songs that D-Pan has created American Sign Language videos for are all very different genre-wise. What’s the decision process when choosing songs to interpret?

Every video has been different. With the White Stripes “We Are Going to be Friends” video, somebody thought it would be a good song for us to interpret it and they got Jack White’s permission to use the song. Other songs like “Waiting on the World to Change,” we thought would be great and we reached out to the artists.

We have a new video coming out for the song “Fireflies” by Owl City. We do a D-Pan camp every year. Before camp, we have the kids send in song suggestions for a video. I go through the requests and filter them down to 3 choices. Then, we go to camp and I let the kids vote on one. We made a music video at camp for “Fireflies” and when I came back home, I showed it to my team. The kid’s performance was outstanding and everyone was brought to tears. We thought, “Let’s reach out to Owl City and see if we can do a real video for the song and they gave us permission.”

Regardless of the medium, whether it’s your music, your motivational speaking or you D-Pan videos, what is the main goal that you want to accomplish in your career?

Through my music, I want to show people that anything is possible. You can’t sit around and twiddle your thumbs. Anything you want to accomplish, you’re going to have to put the work in everyday. You’re going to have to deal with people saying, “You can’t do it.” I get e-mails everyday from people asking me to help them become famous or do this and that. I think, “Are you not listening to the message in my songs? You can do it! But I can’t do it for you.”

I also want to create a platform and give my community a voice. So many people outside of the deaf community think they know what we want. But they don’t live our lives and they don’t have our experiences. The same goes the other way around. I want to use my platform to become a part of the bridge between the deaf and the hearing communities.

To find out more about Sean Forbes and D-Pan check out his Facebook page and website.

 



Leave a Comment:

Photo Of The Day