Surreal Sista, dba: Kamaria Adelabu (aka:Stephanie Lynne Williams) got her start in SLAM poetry at The Shantis Open Mic Night in late May, 2002. A week later, she was competing in the second round of the Grand SLAM. A month later, she was featured at the St. Louis Poetry SLAM. Since then, Surreal has been a driving force in the St. Louis poetry community.
Surreal has been on the 2003, 2005, 2006 & 2007 St. Louis Poetry SLAM teams (THE 2007 ST. LOUIS POETRY SLAM TEAM IS: SURREAL SISTA, COPASETIC SOUL, BOBBY WILLIAMS, 7CZ, KAT MIEREK), she was the Marketing Director for the National Poetry SLAM 2004 St. Louis, was the 2006 St. Louis Individual Grand SLAM champion, and was a finalist at the 2006 Individual World Poetry SLAM Competition, finishing 8th out of 72 of the best SLAM Poets in America and abroad. Surreal performance along with all 13 finalists at iWPS is available on the DVD: Individual World Poetry SLAM 2006 and can be purchased BY CLICKING THIS TEXT (the video is the second from the bottom). In Spring 2006, Surreal released her debut CD: Now What? which features sultry innocent spoken vocals weaving rhythmic political anthems around neo-soul trip hop tracks produced by 7Cz at Cobalt Skyy Productions, with otherworldy mastering and engineering by Jerry Hill at Mind Energy Entertainment. TO PURCHASE THE CD "NOW WHAT?" AND DOWNLOAD IT ONLINE, OR TO PURCHASE AND DOWNLOAD SPECIFIC SONGS FROM THE CD "NOW WHAT?" CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING SITES:
RHAPSODY.COM TRADEBIT.COM PAYPLAY.FM OR, TARGET.COM
Additionally, Surreal was the juried winner of the Sistas' Slam-Off Podslam competition in November, 2006. HER PODSLAM VIDEO CAN BE VIEWED BELOW. Other Podslam videos can be viewed BY CLICKING THIS TEXT. In January 2007, Surreal Sista was the champion of the 4th-Annual Tampa Bay Black Heritage Festival Poetry Slam and in June 2007 Surreal was a 6th place finalist (out of 88 poets) at the Southern Fried Regional Poetry Slam and her team, Black on Black Rhyme Ft. Lauderdale, placed 9th out of 21 teams.
Surreal has been interviewed by The West End Word, The St. Louis American, Confluence Magazine, The Vital Voice the St. Louis Scene, the Arch City Chronicle and Black On Black Times internet zine. She appeared nude on the front cover of the Riverfront Times with 50 other women of all sizes, shapes and colors in the form of a peace sign as promotion for Peace Out, an artistic resistance to war. She was interviewed and spat two poems live on Uncle Rudys Afternoon Blackout - an internet radio show on the now-defunct New Black City.com. Her poetry has been featured in University of Illinois-Springfields newspaper and the Sankofa Edition of Sisters-Nineties newsletter.
In the St. Louis community, Surreal has volunteered her skills as the Marketing Director of WORD In Motion, a non-profit organization that provides logistical support for artistic activities that foster cultural growth in the St. Louis region. She has conducted SLAM Poetry workshops in area schools, has hosted local events such as Girlpower, Maryville Universitys Open Mic Night and The St. Louis Poetry Salon at Peace Out. Currently Surreal Sista has been doing research for her upcoming writing projects as an administrative assistant for a rather large pharmaceutical company. Actually, she's been up to her elbows in 9 to 5 drudgery that drains most of her creative energy. Please call her often as she needs her engine jumpstarted from time to time. Her contact number is 314-659-8187. Book her for evenings or weekends or patronize her fantasy of becoming a well-respected famous person pre-postmortem by getting her a recording contract with some big fancy pants in New York City. LOL! The insanity is ENDLESS these days...just checking to see if anyone still reads this outdated thing and trying to make things fun for everyone else! Take care and God bless!!!
In the poetry community, Surreal has taught poetry to area Charter School students in an after school program called Exodus To Excellence, conducted SLAM poetry workshops for the St. Louis Public Library during their reading series and was a Poetry Workshop Facilitator for The St. Louis Poetry Centers Community Outreach program. She is the new Marketing Director of The A.F.R.O. Group based out of Birmingham, Alabama and is working on performance and workshop tours at Historically Black Colleges and Universities throughout the United States through the cooperation of non-profit A.F.R.I.C.A.N.S. Arts & Culture Network out of Birmingham. More information about this and other A.F.R.I.C.A.N.S. projects can be found on their yahoogroup digest. If you are interested in contributing your talent to, or sponsoring the efforts of these projects please subscribe to the afrogroup yahoogroup digest. To subscribe to this group, please use the link below:Subscribe to theafrogroup