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Shihan

The Year of The Balance 2008

About Me

Shihan’s 5th CD, “The Balance” is set for a January 14th Release on Prototype Records. On “The Balance,” Shihan combines his hip-hop with his poetry and winds up with an absolute masterpiece of a record. The album consists of all new material. 18 tracks moving from traditional hip-hop to a cappella poetry, with selections produced by Dert, D'mon Fingaz, Bump Beats and Dro The Least. It's Poetry the way only a few can deliver - intelligent, free flowing, fresh as can be, and with plenty of substance and style. 'Full Time' a live DVD featuring performances and over an hour of previously never relased footage is being released mid 1st quarter 2008. ------------------------------------------------------------ ----------------------------- A native of New York’s Lower East Side and a current resident and local legend of Los Angeles, Shihan is undoubtedly one of the most dynamic spoken word artists of our generation. This National Poetry Slam Champion (2004) and National Poetry Slam Finalist(2nd in 2001, 5th in 2003 and 3rd in 2005) has been featured on a variety of media outlets such as 6 appearances on HBO’s Def Poetry, NBC, Oprah Winfrey’s Oxygen Network, Al Gore’s Current TV, Nike’s Battlegrounds, Reebok, Adidas, NBA, CNN, Artisan Films’ Belly DVD, Complex and Billboard Magazine, several national commercial spots, 5 National Tours including the Tony Award Winning Russell Simmons presents Def Poetry Jam International Tour and 2 upcoming spoken word documentaries with theatrical releases, SP!T and the sequel to 1997’s cult doc Slam Nation, Slam Planet. His abilities to transcend cultural and generational boundaries have made Shihan a much sought after talent. In addition, Shihan has independently released 2 CD’s The Poet and Music Is The New Cotton which have both received critical praise for their honesty and creativity. ------------------------------------------------------------ ----------------------------- For the past 10 years, Shihan has been co-hosting Da' Poetry Lounge, the nation's largest open mic night held in Hollywood, CA. This very busy man is also the official producer of Spoken Word Fest at the Pan African Film Festival (the world's largest and most prestigious black film festival), and is currently working on a follow up to 'The Poet' tentatively titled 'The Balance.'

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 2/27/2005
Band Website: shihansback.com
Band Members: Me, Myself and I - Sometimes Brutha Gimel
Influences: My Family & Friends, LL Cool J, KRS One, Public Enemy, Prince, Michael Jackson, PM Dawn, Jay Z, Mos Def, Outkast, Cee-Lo and a slew of others...
Sounds Like: The Truth
Record Label: Prototype Records
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

Listening to...

Listening to my Airplane playlist:  First up 'Graduation' by Kanye West Last night, I was supposed to go to a poetry spot in New Orleans but I winded up falling asleep in my room because it didn'...
Posted by Shihan on Mon, 10 Mar 2008 10:08:00 PST

Just got to New Orlenas

I can't believe I missed my flight again.  I got to the airport 10 minutes too late to check my bag with my flight so I have to come back to the St. Louis Airport at 530pm to pick up my bag. ...
Posted by Shihan on Fri, 29 Feb 2008 10:32:00 PST

Don’t drink the kool aid

"I wanna be black, so I can drink kool aid all day" Funny or not? I'm on a plane heading to Kansas but, while I have the time I wanted to tell you about my show last night in Russellville, Arkansas.&...
Posted by Shihan on Fri, 15 Feb 2008 08:53:00 PST

Oh how sweet it is

I am so tired I'm slightly delirious.  My sinuses are the worst the dry air on planes makes it damn near impossible for me to breath.  And breathing through my mouth bothers me and scares m...
Posted by Shihan on Tue, 12 Feb 2008 02:30:00 PST

Airport Journal

Airport Journal:  Detroit, MI 10:30am Waiting for my connection.  I woke up this morning at 345am to drive to the airport to catch my 5:50am flight out of Oklahoma City.  No cars on the...
Posted by Shihan on Wed, 06 Feb 2008 08:21:00 PST

Days go by...

Day 3 Cleveland, OH Playhouse Square Rehearsal Last night my Giants won the Super Bowl and I don't really understand why but I felt better there was a brief moment of escape for the 3 hour broadcast ...
Posted by Shihan on Tue, 05 Feb 2008 07:57:00 PST

Another day another...

Friday concluded my second week of touring&shout outs to the University of Texas  Tyler(middle of nowhere&people told me make sure I had gas to make it all the way to Tyler because I wouldn't want to...
Posted by Shihan on Sun, 03 Feb 2008 09:26:00 PST

Calling Europe, Asia and Africa

I'm trying to make my way across the world before this year is out if anybody out there is interested in helping make this come true send me an email and let's try and make it happen.  Any help w...
Posted by Shihan on Mon, 21 Jan 2008 11:10:00 PST

Alone on the road and money doesn’t make it any better

Every so often I get into conversations with my friends about how lucky I am to have the opportunity to do what I love to do for a living.  And the truth is there is some luck involved but I've b...
Posted by Shihan on Mon, 21 Jan 2008 10:58:00 PST

Damn

So I'm sitting at my desk it's 12:15am and I'm done with my work finally. I'm tired as hell and my brain is racing a million miles an hour. In the background I'm listening to the documentary "Inside...
Posted by Shihan on Mon, 10 Sep 2007 12:54:00 PST