When I first started making songs I was doing a lot of traveling and I would continually pass by a chain of gas stations called Maverik. The first time I saw that name for a split second I thought, yo, "that would make a cool rapper name".
Once I kicked that idea over to the conscious mind it was immediately like, nah, Top Gun sucks and meeting Mark Cuban would be cool for like five minutes. The whole idea of having a stage name seems lame anyway and real mavericks would never call themselves one.
Coming from skateboard culture there's also still some weird shit engrained within my system. Just land a trick that got you psyched? Dude, don't even fucking think about smiling or looking around to see if anyone else saw it. Play it cool man and pretend like you just didn't spend hours going for it; not to mention the years of dedication leading up to that point. Otherwise you'd be beaming and that probably means you like dudes or longboard on the sly. Dim that light of yours; it's making us all really uncomfortable but we'll never tell you that part.
Anyways, fast forward a year or so after that traveling and I found myself in Hawaii bumping the Jesus Walks instrumental in my car. The sound system in this thing fucking hits and it's where I come up with most of my lyrics. Driving puts me in an altered state of consciousness just like ecstatic dance or running does. There's something about the conscious attention of your mind being overtaken by a physical activity that opens up the floodgates to divine inspiration.
When I was making that film The Guy, most of the editing didn't happen in my studio. That's just where the buttons got pushed. The real editing happened when I would go on long runs down Wythe Ave. with The Mystery of Chessboxin' on repeat and I'd plot my moves like a game of chess. I'd cook myself and meditate in the sauna at SoMa health club and do the same thing. I've just realized now that the whole Guy edit was probably channeled, I just didn't know what that meant back then.
I always felt something very special energetically in that little pocket of Williamsburg around Broadway too. I'm so grateful to have had a creative space there and I wonder how much the Hasidic population everyone would talk shit about has to do with that.
That Jesus Walks instrumental was being bumped for a song about Shiva called 'Blue Dude'. An excerpt is in another blog post if you've been paying any attention here. In the midst of that creative process I had to hang a u-turn and found myself in a random Home Depot parking lot. That's where I witnessed the synchronicity pictured above.
From that moment forward I knew that as uncomfortable as it may make me feel, it has already been decided for me that I now have a stage name. Shiva kinda runs this whole hologram and as a wise man once said, you wanna get on the good side of the boss.
The term maverick comes from a Texas rancher in the 1800's named Samuel A. Maverick who refused to brand his cattle. Webster's defines it as "an independent person who refuses to follow the usual standards or customs of the group".
Based on those definitions I mean.... it does kinda fit. I'm pretty much boycotting everything right now and I cut tags off my clothing.
Top Gun is some matrix propaganda shit. I vibe with that Mark Cuban driving a $200 car more than I do anyone wearing a suit on Shark Tank. If you asked me a few months ago who I thought a true maverick from the states was I probably would have said, "honestly... I don't know."
Then recently I heard a suggested track on Spotify by this dude eden ahbez and went down a whole rabbit hole about him. Dude was making gems in the 40's while camping under the Hollywood sign and blessing Yogananda's Self Realization magazine with some beautiful poetry that was laced with truth. All you need to do is just feel the energy emitting from a single photograph of him to know what was up.
We also both have an affinity for pigeons, track bikes, and spelling our name in lowercase; not to mention all the spiritual and food stuff. Born in Brooklyn like my dad too. I'm not certain but I think my favorite person of all time, space, and dimension may have paid homage to him in a photograph. (If you're reading this, I love you 💚).
I feel a very strong connection to eden. I've felt so alone and he's the closest thing I've seen to a true maverick in this country lately. Dude was pre-internet. Pre-hippie era. How the fuck did you even do that back then? It's wild to think about what his lived experience must have been like.
Now that I've surrendered to the whole maverick thing, the idea of being able to play a second character sounds kinda fun. A lot of spiritual work I do involves transmuting things. I think what I'm being called to do is transmute the associations that are typically made with that word which kinda seems like a lot of pressure. I'll do my best, but as always... thank you for your patience and understanding :)
Now I just need to decide on the spelling. The responsible part of me feels like I need to stick to the original spelling with "ck" in order to transmute it most effectively. When I look at it spelled Maverik with a "k" like my name it just feels right sometimes though. It might be time to consult that Magic 8-ball again.
There's a reason I truly love a Saab 9-5 wagon more than any other vehicle on this planet. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be piloting something one day but it sure as heavens won't be a fighter jet. Stand by for more on that. Roger. Niner. Over and out.
12:57 PM Update: As I sit here in the Target parking lot charging my car and tweaking a few words on this post I realize I no longer need to consult my 8-Ball. Maverik it is. The universe is magic ✨