SHYSTER IS A AWARD WINNING POET 2008 ALTERNATIVE SOUL AWARD FOR BEST POEM ;THE NOTORIOUS P.O.E.T AND CO-HOST OF ATLTERNATIVE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST VENUE JUS WORDS ALSO NOMINATED 2007 PHILLY HIP-HOP AWARDS BEST POET AND ALTERNATIVE SOUL AWARD FOR BEST CD THE FINAL CALL ASLO AGAIN NOMINATED 4X IN 2008 ALTERNATIVE SOUL AWARDS BEST SPOKEN WORD ARTIST,BEST SPOKEN WORD CD AND ,BEST PERFORMER.
So, when and where did I begin my journey into the word art you ask?? Two answers: the beginning goes way back to childhood, growing up during the birth of hip-hop, falling in love with it, and rapping with friends from my neighborhood and school. Being a Closet Poet, only letting my 9th grade English teacher, Mrs. Holliday, read my writing. (Thank you Mrs. Holliday!) The early passion I had for Black History, reading anything I could get my hands on. Now we jump through childhood to January 2004 when I recited my first piece on stage at Jus Words (the venue I'm now the co-host of, along with Queen Shakirah (who appears on my last two CD's Mrs. Betty's Son 2006 and The Final Call) and Sam-I-Am) By the way, Jus Words is every Thursday night from 9pm-1am at 1310 N. Broad Street, Philly, PA.
Since January 2004, I have released three CD's: the 1st in July 2005 entitled "Mrs. Betty's Son, which people inside and outside the open mics have received well. The follow-up to the 1st CD is titled "Mrs. Betty's Son 2006" (released April 2006). I have now combined the two and packaged it as a double CD, bringing me to my third and current CD "Mrs. Betty's Son: The Final Call" (I promised my mother after she passed in August 2004 that I would put her name on everything I do, to keep her spirit alive). I love the growth in the writing and production of each CD. I do everything I can to keep them in rotation because it documents my life, ideas, and beliefs. I have been blessed many times over since beginning my venture into word art, doing venues and shows from Delawrae to Philly to New Jersey D.C,NYC AND BALTIMORE, meeting and making friends and family out of people I have come in contact with. But I felt I was becoming drained from being inside the open-mics, reciting words of empowerment and social commentary and not being able to get to the people that need to hear it the most. Yet again, God opened more doors for me, inspired me to do community outreach with my word art, giving me access to schools, church events, youth shelters, prisons and youth summits where 90% of the time I was able to give the children something to feel and think about.
Which brings me to this stage, where I have become a member of Poetry-N-Motion, a collective who is about impowering the community through art. For more information, go to www.myspace.com/wlpoetrynmotion.To contact or comment, please email to:
[email protected]/
