Nikki Giovanni and I had done some projects together here and there, but I never really wanted to ask her to do much for me artistically. I really wanted to make my own success, even though she had offered. Something told me though, in late 2023, to just ask her to be a part of this album…

It's crazy that this year is coming to an end. I’ve had buried myself away working on something that is actually a culmination of my life’s work. I once asked Kwame Alexander how long it took him to write “The Crossover”, he said about 7 years. At the time it felt like that was a crazy response, but now….I get it.

Every day, 100 men in the U.S. die by suicide, and many more deal with mental health challenges.

We are all in our own swimming pools with life’s inputs, conditioning, and pressures. Sometimes we are swimming along just fine, and at other times, we may be drowning without anyone realizing (including ourselves). Men’s inner struggles are often misunderstood, and there aren’t many clear ways to get and accept help.

This spoken word album and movement offers a life raft for men to feel heard, get tools to internally “swim,” and find community support. It does so while using powerful metaphors to help others better understand men’s internal battles.

In Nikki Giovanni’s final recorded work, she leaves a potent letter to men: your well-being matters too. Jordan “Dxtr” Holmes uses his own journey from drowning with his mental health struggles to thriving, to bring other men up with him.

Jordan “Dxtr”Holmes camping trip reflections. Are we taking on too much screen time and not enough trees?

I’m ready to change to a new season of releasing more to the world, and happy to say I can do so feeling more like the me I need to be to endure it.