Rhonda L. Taylor's introduction to the world of performance poetry was coincidental. After winning free tickets to a poetry event from the local radio station in Baton Rouge, Louisiana her senior year in high school, she attended the event only to discover that she had found her niche."I was only seventeen. I had written page poetry, but had no knowledge of performance poetry. I wasn't old enough to get into the bars that were holding the poetry events. You had to be eighteen. But they liked my enthusiasm and my talent, so they would let me sneak in under the condition I wouldn't drink any of the alcohol. The open mic events would take place on school nights and wouldn't end sometimes until one in the morning. Most parents wouldn't allow their daughters to be out at the time on a week night, but my mom knew that I was being productive, so she was cool with me staying out late."Rhonda was admitted into Howard University where she continues to study Psychology. Rhonda performed for the Howard University 2003 Blackface awards honoring Russell Simmons, who was in attendance. She was the youngest to be chosen for the prestigious performance, only a freshman at that time."Russell came back stage and shook my hand. He told me he loved my performance and left me with information for submitting my work to Def Poetry Jam. I never submitted a tape. I had no motivation and performance poetry was not a major concern at that point in my life. It was a hobby."By Fall 2005, Rhonda was performing alongside Black Ice, Georgia Me and Ishle Yi Park from HBO's Def Poetry Jam for Howard's 2005 Homecoming. She was also performing for local open mic nights around the District of Columbia. One of her favorites was Thursday night's "Spit Dat" sessions at Mocha Hut Cafe in the northwest section of the District of Columbia."I would go to "Spit Dat" religiously, because Droopy Anderson, former member of the DC/Baltimore Slam team was one of my earliest inspirations for continuing my growth in performance poetry. I wanted to support his venue, plus the people were positive. One night, Delrica Andrews, DC/Baltimore's Slammaster saw my performance and invited me to try out for the slam team. I didn't know much about slam, so I figured why not give it a try."Only a month prior to semi-final competitions for the DC/Baltimore slam team, Rhonda had to accrue ten points to make it to semis."I did the math. In order for me to make it into semis I would have had to win first place atleast three weeks in a row at the weekly slam. I kept trying to figure out how in the hell I was going to accomplish that with no prior slam experience. "Rhonda won three consecutive weeks in a row earning her a position in the semi-finals competition. Shortly thereafter at the age of 22, she became DC/Baltimore's Rookie of the year and attended her first National Competition in Austin, Texas during August 2006. The team made it all the way to the top five final stage where Rhonda L. Taylor blew the audience away in the third round while performing a selection about interracial dating."I plan to release an album in the next year as well as tour both nationally and internationally. I'm excited about my overwhelming growth and my potential to progress even further in the near future. There is always that moment that marks a great change in an individual's life. I guess I'm special because there were three moments for me: Winning those tickets from the radio station, receiving an invitation to slam from Delrica Andrews, and finally listening to the voice in my head screaming, "Why not?!" Those moments transformed a hobby into a a lifelong passion.MySpace Layouts by Iron Spider
