BOOK MONTE BY EMAILING: matthew(AT)33third.com or monte(AT)33third.com (replace the "(AT)" with the @ symbol)
See Monte in action below in the Red Bull Word Clash documentary, winner of the audience award at the 2006 New York City Independent Film Festival.
Modern poetry was dead until Monte Smith made his mark.
He began his writing career in the late 80s and early 90s working with social and political groups in North Carolina. As the 90s continued, he moved to Atlanta with a group of DJs (Faust, Shortee, Klever, T-Roc) that he managed and started writing articles and interviews for different hip-hop music publications such as 'Urb', 'Subculture', and '312.' He sharpened his teeth, working from the bottom up, and in no time, his writing and hip-hop collective, 'Third World Citizens' grew in popularity. With his future on the verge of national and international success things happen, and usually for a reason. In 1998 'Third World Citizens' broke up and Monte returned to North Carolina to wait for the dust of what should have been, to settle.
With over a lifetime of experience packed into 26 years, Monte returned to writing for himself and found his passion in his life experiences. He started performing street poetry anywhere he could. Almost immediately he received standing ovation after standing ovation. At the same time he also was shunned for his up-front outspoken firebrand style of poetry. Monte pushed on and after winning local and regional Poetry events including, 'The Roanoke Poetry Slam', (Twice) and 'The Rough Rhymes 101 Competition', Monte was asked to headline the closing events for Racial Equality Week at the Lawrence Joel Coliseum in Winston-Salem.
Winning is good, however Monte was not content. After being on the road he realized there was a lack of venues for real street poetry. So beginning in 2002 Monte began hosting a monthly poetry night called 'Strange Fruit' in a small coffee shop in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Unfortunately after only 4 nights (4 months), 'Strange Fruit' was shut down due to its content by the powers that be.
The small but increasingly popular event made enough noise to generate interest from Red Bull Energy Drink, who approached Monte to help him create his ideal poetry event. Thus, 'The North Carolina Poetry Grand Slam' was born, an event created to showcase progressive/revolutionary Street Poets that has continued to increase in popularity and talent every year.
Directly after the success of the NCPGS, Monte went back on the road performing to standing ovations from Athens, Georgia to Boston, Massachusetts. Most notably he performed at the 'Nuyorican Poets Cafe' in New York City two times, he received an encore at 'Mangos' Open Mic Night in Washington D.C., impressed Amiri Baraka (who told the Winston Salem Journal,
"Monte Smith is the reincarnation of Allen Ginsburg") at Wake Forest University, was featured at an anti-war rally in Athens, Georgia, and was a featured poet on defpoetryjam.com.
2004 proved to be a big year with the release of 'The Wargasm EP', Montes spoken word collaboration with the legendary DJ Soundmachine and UKs DJ Vadim. The record was released to rave reviews, and while the interest in his recording grew, this did not slow Monte down. He continued his work as producer of the 'NC Poetry Grand Slam', which became the 'Red Bull Word Clash' in early 2005. The event premiered to an overflowing crowd at the Kress Building in downtown Greensboro, and was webcast live worldwide. Added to the success of the 2005 word clash; Monte continued to receive standing ovations for performances with hip-hop acts like J Live, Mr. Complex, Little Brother, and Talib Kweli (1000+ crowd). Finally to cap off the year he was written as a major character into the book 'Dutch 2', which was a bestseller on the Essence and BET book list's. And let's not forget the release of 'In the Raw with Monte Smith', a popular incendiary pod-cast of poetry and social commentary available at Riot Radio.org
In keeping with his ideals of social activism and youth empowerment, Monte has made time to create and work with guided poetry groups for high-risk youth in the Winston-Salem area and has become a frequent lecturer at West Guilford High School. Currently, Monte is putting the finishing touches on his second book, 'Dont Shoot the Hostages', which features an introduction by Bruce George and contains work by Carlos Andreas Gomez, Cherryl Aldave, J.D. of the Lynch Mobb (notorious west-coast militant rap group), and Andrew Davis. Montes poem 6/15/83 is featured in The Bandana Republic, an anthology of gang-related writings, due out spring 08. Montes first book, 'High Protein Tongue Arrangements: Poetry for the Urban Survivalist, Volume I', quickly sold out of its first two printings. Oh yeah, be sure to check for Monte's poem, 'Dopeboy Folklore' in the most anticpated ghetto street novel of our time,
'Dutch 3', due out summer 07. - Matthew Stibbe/33third.com
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