ARMY of Bangtan Book Club: Basquiat’s Crown, Namjoon’s Voice

I can’t help but smile at the juxtaposition of Basquiat’s crowned dinosaur appearing beside Namjoon as he talks about art in a Samsung Art TV feature. The image feels serendipitous! Basquiat’s bold creature of selfhood meeting BTS’s message of self-love. Both carry that same beat: the courage to be raw, to be seen, to be yourself, even when the world insists otherwise.

Interestingly, Maya Angelou’s poem “Life Doesn’t Frighten Me” was published as a picture book with Basquiat’s art. Her fearless verses wrapped in his fierce lines and bold colors. Angelou’s voice, like Namjoon’s, speaks of resilience; Basquiat’s brush, like BTS’s music, insists that vulnerability is power.

Namjoon, BTS, Maya Angelou, and Jean-Michel Basquiat — what a combination! Radical. Revolutionary. And utterly romantic in their shared belief that to live artfully is to live bravely.

Life Doesn't Frighten Me

By Maya Angelou

Shadows on the wall
Noises down the hall
Life doesn't frighten me at all

Bad dogs barking loud
Big ghosts in a cloud
Life doesn't frighten me at all

Mean old Mother Goose
Lions on the loose
They don't frighten me at all

Dragons breathing flame
On my counterpane
That doesn't frighten me at all.

I go boo
Make them shoo
I make fun
Way they run
I won't cry
So they fly
I just smile
They go wild

Life doesn't frighten me at all.

Tough guys fight
All alone at night
Life doesn't frighten me at all.

Panthers in the park
Strangers in the dark
No, they don't frighten me at all.

That new classroom where
Boys all pull my hair
(Kissy little girls
With their hair in curls)
They don't frighten me at all.

Don't show me frogs and snakes
And listen for my scream,
If I'm afraid at all
It's only in my dreams.

I've got a magic charm
That I keep up my sleeve
I can walk the ocean floor
And never have to breathe.

Life doesn't frighten me at all
Not at all
Not at all.

Life doesn't frighten me at all.

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