Present Perfect
ALBANY — The pursuit of perfection is both the light that guides artists to create and the weight that anchors them to the mire. For Ozymandias Merci Morris Jr., perfectionism is a sparring partner with whom he’s all too familiar.
The need to be great supersedes the effort. When the words come to him, he picks up his phone and begins typing out a few bars. They sit on the screen before he selects and erases them. Back to the start.
On this afternoon, he hides from the blazing midday sun under the shade of a tree inside the amphitheater at Jennings Landing. He recalls how he would come here to sit near the water and write. Next Thursday, July 11, he’ll return to take the stage as an opening act for Alive at Five’s Hip-Hop Night, featuring KRS-One.
Water holds power, but Morris doesn’t invoke Bruce Lee when he speaks of it. He conjures his mom and how she’d often sit next to the lake in Washington Park. Bruce Lee, the fighter, spoke of water’s ability to adapt or destroy. Morris, the rapper, sees it as a manifestation of peace and constant flow.