Off Air: The Beauty of the Draft

A Free Writing Session: Prompts, tips, and more to inspire creative writing

Off Air: Frequency Files is a segment for paid subscribers, where I share exclusive recordings from select Friday Killer Frequency live shows, so you can tune in at your convenience.

Remember, you can catch me live every Friday at 1PM AST from the radio station at Curaçao’s premier art school and contemporary art institute, Instituto Buena Bista. Put me on in the background and let me take you to the cutting edge.

The Beauty of the Draft

I recently came across André 3000’s newest project, 7 Piano Sketches, which was released in May 2025. I was actually searching for his flute album, New Blue Sun, at the time, to play for during my live free write episode of Killer Frequency. When I opened his Spotify page, the new album stopped me in my tracks.

The cover art showed a sketch of a man carrying a piano on his back. I immediately thought of André’s appearance at this year’s Met Gala. I didn’t understand the fashion choice at the time, but suddenly, with this album, it all clicked.

I decided to use 7 Piano Sketches as the soundtrack for that free write session instead, and it turned out to be a profound inspiration for my creative practice.

Free writing with 7 Piano Sketches in the background was a perfect pairing. Free writing is the written version of sketching: you let the raw material spill onto the page without worrying about polishing every line.

André’s project was a sonic sketch.

What struck me most was the way he released these pieces as they were. As a complete project. It was a reminder of the beauty of the draft. The meaningfulness of the process itself. Too often, I tell myself that anything I share must be finished, refined, or made ready for some imagined audience’s taste. His work challenged that.

Later, I worked on charcoal sketches to accompany a piece I wrote during that live free write, titled The Beauty of Breaking. The album kept coming back to mind. It gave me permission to create without demanding a final product.

And it nudged me past even my usual self-assurance—my habit of saying, It doesn’t matter if others like it, as long as I do. Listening to André’s sketches, I thought: What if I didn’t even have to like it? What if the act of creating itself was enough?

That shift felt liberating: to step outside not only public judgment but even my own. To let go of the binary of like/dislike, success/failure, finished/unfinished.

To sketch—whether in words, sound, or charcoal—simply because I can.

[My own sketches, along with a recording of the free write session below the paywall.]

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Killer Instinct is a cultural dispatch on Black diasporic life and sharp media critique. I host a live Internet radio show called Killer Frequency every Friday at 1pm AST—join me. Support, subscribe, and stay sharp 🗡.