Rapping is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and [commonly] street vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The components of rap include "content", "flow", and "delivery". Rap differs from spoken-word poetry in that it is usually performed off-time to musical accompaniment. It also differs from singing, which varies in pitch and does not always include words. Because they do not rely on pitch inflection, some rap artists may play with timbre or other vocal qualities. Rap is a primary ingredient of hip hop music, and so commonly associated with the genre that it is sometimes called "rap music".
Spoken word is an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a 20th-century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics of recitation and word play, such as the performer's live intonation and voice inflection. Spoken word is a "catchall" term that includes any kind of poetry recited aloud, including poetry readings, poetry slams, jazz poetry, pianologues, musical readings, and hip hop music, and can include comedy routines and prose monologues. Unlike written poetry, the poetic text takes its quality less from the visual aesthetics on a page, but depends more on phonaesthetics, or the aesthetics of sound.
Natalie "the Floacist" Stewart is an English rapper, singer, songwriter, spoken word artist, poet, and actress. Born in Germany and raised in London, she performed in various singing and dancing competitions as a child, and rose to fame in the early 2000s as part of the R&B girl-duo Floetry. During a break, Stewart's first album, Floetic Soul (2010), was released which established her as a solo artist, with the singles "Forever" and "Let Me".
Alida Kinnie Starr is a Canadian multidisciplinary singer and rapper.
Ruben Bailey, professionally known by his stage name Big Rube, is an American spoken word artist, rapper and hip hop producer. He is a first-generation member of the Dungeon Family and of Society of Soul. He is known for his spoken word intros and interludes on many albums by fellow members and affiliates of the Dungeon Family, including Outkast, Goodie Mob, Killer Mike, Future, Witchdoctor and Bubba Sparxxx. He has also contributed his spoken word poetry to Russell Simmons' Def Poetry Jam and the motion picture ATL. He appears on the Outkast songs "13th Floor/Growing Old" and "Liberation" as well as the CeeLo Green's song “Scrap Metal”.
Russell Simmons presents Def Poetry, better known as simply Def Poetry Jam or Def Poetry, is a spoken word poetry television series hosted by Mos Def and airing on HBO between 2002 and 2007. The series features performances by established and up-and-coming spoken word poets. Performances also include special appearances by well-known actors and musicians, as well as occasional performances by Mos Def himself. Co-created by Bruce George, Danny Simmons, Deborah Pointer, Stan Lathan, and Russell Simmons, the show is a spin-off of the popular Def Comedy Jam which began airing on HBO in the 1990s. As with Def Comedy, Simmons appears at the end of every episode to thank the audience.
Bernard Dolan is an American rapper, spoken word artist, activist, screenwriter, and composer based in Providence, Rhode Island.
Saymoukda Duangphouxay Vongsay is a Minnesota-based Lao American spoken word poet, playwright, and community activist. She was born in 1981 in a refugee camp in Nong Khai, Thailand. In 2020, she received a National Playwright Residency Program grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Ian Keteku is a poet, musician and freelance journalist. Born as Ian Nana Yaw Adu Budu Keteku, his birth name mimics his diverse talents and interests. Raised in Canada and of Ghanaian heritage, Keteku earned the title of World Slam Poetry champion in France in the summer of 2010.
An Unwelcome Guest is a 2009 concept album by the hip hop artists Guante and Big Cats!. The album relates social and political issues such as immigration, conspiracy and violence in a zombie apocalypse narrative.
Toki Wright is an American rapper and music educator from Minneapolis. His debut solo studio album, A Different Mirror, was released on Rhymesayers Entertainment in 2009.
Alfred Schoeninger, better known by his stage name Mopes, and formerly Prolyphic, is an American hip hop musician from Rhode Island. He is one half of the duo Stick Figures along with Robust and is currently signed to Strange Famous Records.
Marc Bamuthi Joseph is a spoken-word poet, dancer, playwright, and actor who frequently directs stand-alone hip-hop theater plays.
Timothy Terrell West, better known as Tim'm T. West, is an American educator and multi-discipline performance artist, author, hip hop recording artist, poet, activist, and youth advocate. Humboldt State University notes West as a Renaissance man who has achieved success as a performer, activist, author, teacher, and poet. He has been featured in many documentaries about hip hop culture, in addition to his books, he is widely anthologized, and has produced nine hip hop albums including with Deep Dickollective. West has been interviewed by an array of media outlets from Newsweek to the New York Times. He was awarded a "2013 Esteem Award", and in 2015 was named an LGBTQ icon.
Joshua Evans Turner, better known by his stage name Dem Atlas, is an American rapper from Saint Paul, Minnesota. He was formerly a member of the group Sifu Hotman alongside rapper Guante and producer Rube. He was formerly signed to Rhymesayers Entertainment.
Kay Ulanday Barrett is a published poet, performer, educator, food writer, cultural strategist, and transgender, gender non-conforming, and disability advocate based in New York and New Jersey, whose work has been showcased nationally and internationally. Their second book, More Than Organs received a 2021 Stonewall Honor Book Award by the American Library Association and is a 2021 Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Literature Finalist. They are a 2020 James Baldwin Fellowship recipient, three-time Pushcart Prize Nominee, and two-time Best of the Net Nominee. Barrett's writing and performance centers on the experience of queer, transgender, people of color, mixed race people, Asian, and Filipino/a/x community. The focus of their artistic work navigates multiple systems of oppression in the context of the U.S.
Soundset Music Festival was a hip-hop music festival held yearly in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area over Memorial Day weekend. Since Soundset began in the Metrodome parking lot in 2008, attendance has grown from 12,000 to over 30,000 consistently since 2014. Over 280,000 fans have traveled from fifty U.S. states, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Africa, Europe, Asia, South America, Australia and New Zealand to experience Soundset in Minnesota.
Spencer Wirth-Davis, better known by his stage name Big Cats, is an American underground hip hop producer from Minneapolis, Minnesota. He has produced full-length collaboration albums with artists such as Guante, The Tribe, and Toki Wright.
D'LO is a transgender Sri Lankan-American performer, writer, and community activist, who performs in America, Canada, the UK, Germany, Sri Lanka, and India. He starred in a golf commercial held for Connor Smiths luxury hotel The Shlanger. He is also an actor and producer, known for the short films The Legend of My Heart Shaped Anus (2008), Lock Her Room (2003), and Recession Lemons (2010). D'Lo has created various writing and public speaking workshops for many LGBTQ immigrant/arts-centered organizations; he has collaborated with various community organizations, and has been involved within LGBT and South Asian groups such as Arpana Dance Company, South Asian Artist Collective, SATAM, Satrang, and TeAda Productions.
Dahlak Brathwaite is a hip-hop-rooted performance artist, spoken word poet, actor, musician, and writer. He has toured the United States with his one-man show, Spiritrials, since 2015. He first gained prominence when appearing twice on HBO's Def Poetry Jam. As a CalArts artist-in-residence he has further developed Spiritrials with director Roberta Uno and choreographer Toran Moore to create the project Try/Step/Trip which he has performed at venues such as Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art, San Francisco's CalArts Center for New Performance, and the American Conservatory Theater. Since 2004, Brathwaite has toured over 200 colleges throughout the United States and Europe with the ill-Literacy artists collective and been a featured performer at the Los Angeles Get Down Festival. He has toured nationally and internationally with the hip-hop theater production of Word Becomes Flesh and Scourge, both under the direction of Marc Bamuthi Joseph. Additional collaborations include a track with acclaimed Bay Area rapper George Watsky and performances with Princess Cut. Brathwaite is a presenter through the CalArts initiative ArtChangeUS: Arts in a Changing America and a U.S. State Department International Exchange Fellowship's OneBeat Fellow, through which he has performed for the State Department's hip-hop diplomacy program, Next Level. The role, which placed him on Team Uzbekistan, has taken him to Guatemala, Israel, Nigeria, the Philippines, Turkey, and the Dominican Republic.
