Pay it Forward: Quinton Barnes on Julius Eastman

Canadian rapper and producer Quinton Barnes on how the story of NYC’s once-forgotten experimental minimalist composer Julius Eastman emboldened him to push his own creative boundaries.

Julius Eastman’s name had been floating around for a while and I probably encountered it somewhere online, deep in some niche space, trying to find a new song or album to listen to. I vaguely recall reading an article that impacted me, but I’m not sure if that was the catalyst or if I’m misremembering. Eastman only became more important to me over time. The more I began to dig into him, the more I was fascinated by both the work and the story that contextualised it. 

For me, it was about the story of Eastman; what it represented to me and how connected I felt to him. I saw an aspirational figure, and also saw – or projected – the embodiment of a lot of fears for me: fears of obscurity, self-destruction, loneliness, abandonment and, ultimately, erasure. I was fascinated by attempts to revive this figure and to piece together the details of his life from the remnants. And of course, when you’re approaching an artist this way, the music takes on a special dimension of its own. I was completely immersed in the world I imagined he inhabited. I was especially curious about his final years, and what his creativity and relationship to music was like closer to the end of his life. And a part of me wondered how Eastman might react to the narrative that has grown around his name since.

There are so many elements to his work and story that are ripe for analysis. He is a genuinely fascinating cultural figure who emerged at such an interesting time. He gives us a lot to chew on. He was singular, bold and seemingly fearless at a time when there was a lot to lose – and he was willing to go there. He was Black working within experimental music and injecting it with this provocative, queer energy. It was uncompromising, completely self-assured and reckless. Sounds like a pioneer to me!

I wrote the song What Would Eastman Do? because I really meant that: how can I be bold, uncompromising and completely myself? If Eastman were alive now, how would he react to the moment? What would it mean to embrace and embody the most unflinching version of myself artistically? And, through my specific view of the world, it feels increasingly important to live up to that ideal. I would like to die knowing that I embodied myself 100 percent and was uncompromising about that. I can credit that in part to Julius Eastman.