Leonard Kevin Bias was an American college basketball player for the Maryland Terrapins. During his four years playing for Maryland, he was named a consensus first-team All-American. Two days after being selected by the Boston Celtics with the second overall pick in the 1986 NBA draft, Bias died from cardiac arrhythmia induced by a cocaine overdose. In 2021, Bias was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame.
Joshua David Bell is an American violinist and conductor. He plays the Gibson Stradivarius.
Rory Elizabeth Katherine Kennedy is an American documentary filmmaker. Kennedy has made documentary films that center on social issues such as addiction, nuclear radiation, the treatment of prisoners-of-war, and the politics of the Mexican border fence. Her films have been featured on many television networks. She is the youngest child of U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Skakel.
Saul Stacey Williams is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, musician, poet, writer, and actor. He is known for his blend of poetry and alternative hip hop, and for his lead roles in the 1998 independent film Slam and the 2013 jukebox musical Holler If Ya Hear Me.
Sonja Denise Plack, known professionally as Sonja Sohn, is an American actress, activist and filmmaker, best known for portraying Baltimore detective Kima Greggs in the HBO drama The Wire (2002–2008). She is also known for having starred in the independent film Slam, which she co-wrote, and appearing as Samantha Baker in the ABC series Body of Proof. Her role in The Wire led to her work as the leader of a Baltimore community initiative called ReWired for Change.
Marc Levin is an American independent film producer and director. He is best known for his Brick City TV series, which won the 2010 Peabody award and was nominated for an Emmy for Exceptional Merit in Nonfiction Filmmaking and his dramatic feature film, Slam, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and the Caméra d'Or at Cannes in 1998. He also has received three Emmy Awards and the 1997 DuPont-Columbia Award.
Jeffrey McDaniel is an American poet. He has published six books of poetry, most recently Holiday in the Islands of Grief. He is the recipient of a creative writing fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. His writing has been included in Ploughshares, The Best American Poetry 1994, The Best American Poetry 2010, The Best American Poetry 2019, and The New Young American Poets, as well as on the National Endowment for the Arts website. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Ray Bremser was an American poet married to Brenda Bremser.
Streetwise is a 1998 hood-action-crime thriller film written and directed by Bruce Brown in his directorial debut, and stars Tim Taylor, Kurt Matthews, Jerry Cummings, D.C. Scorpio and Sidney Burston. Streetwise also stars Taraji P. Henson making her acting debut in a featured film.
Bönz Malone is an American writer and actor.
Manito is a 2002 American independent film written and directed by first time film maker Eric Eason. Shot in the cinéma vérité style, Manito chronicles 48 incident-packed hours in the lives of a Washington Heights Latino family. One of the most critically acclaimed films of the year, Manito was hailed by critics as a film that heralded the reemergence of American neorealism and won a Special Jury Prize for Best Ensemble Cast at the Sundance Film Festival and Best Emerging Filmmaker at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Brave New Voices was created by Youth Speaks Inc in 1998 after the inaugural Youth Speaks Teen slam poetry in San Francisco – the first poetry slam dedicated to youth in the world. Since that time, Brave New Voices has grown to represent youth ages 13–19 from all across the United States and several cities and countries from around the world. BNV is the largest ongoing spoken word event in the world. Cities compose teams of their top 4-6 youth poets to bring to the festival. When the festival began only four teams participated, and the competition has since grown to more than 50 teams.
Brooklyn Babylon is a 2001 film written and directed by Marc Levin, and a modern retelling of the Song of Solomon, set against the backdrop of the Crown Heights riot, starring Black Thought of The Roots.
Larry Donnell "Donnie" Andrews was an American armed robber, murderer, and anti-crime advocate. He was one of the inspirations for the character Omar Little on the HBO series The Wire.
Blue Caprice is a 2013 American independent crime film directed by Alexandre Moors, and based on the 2002 D.C. sniper attacks. The film stars Isaiah Washington and Tequan Richmond as the perpetrators of the attacks, John Allen Muhammad and Lee Malvo, respectively, although the two are only referred to by their first names. It recounts how Lee, a lone teenager, was drawn into the shadow of John, who served as a father figure to him, and how they eventually began their killing spree.
Alberto Geddis Martinez, better known as Alpo Martinez, Abraham G. Rodriquez, or more simply as Alpo or Po was an American drug dealer from Harlem, New York City of Puerto Rican descent. He rose to prominence in the mid–1980s. In addition to New York, Martinez expanded his drug trade to other cities, notably Washington, D.C.
Get Rich or Die Tryin' is a 2005 American crime drama film directed by Jim Sheridan and written by Terence Winter. It stars Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson in his feature film acting debut, alongside Terrence Howard, Joy Bryant, Bill Duke, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Omar Benson Miller, Ashley Walters and Viola Davis. The film, which contains autobiographical elements from 50 Cent's life, follows his character, Marcus Greer, a drug dealer who turns away from his criminal life to pursue his passion of rap music. The film's title is shared with 50 Cent's 2003 debut album of the same name.
The Gotham Independent Film Award for Breakthrough Performer is one of the annual Gotham Independent Film Awards. It was first awarded in 1998, with Sonja Sohn and Saul Williams being the first recipients of the award for their roles as Lauren Bell and Ray Joshua in Slam, respectively.
Travon DaShawn Frank Smart, better known by his stage name Jimmy Wopo, was an American rapper from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
William Clifford Brown, who went by the name Big Brown, was a mid-twentieth century American street poet, performer, and recording artist. Prominent among the Beats in New York City from the late 1950s to the late 1960s, his distinctive language and style influenced a number of artists and musicians, including Bob Dylan, who declared Brown's to be the best poetry he had ever heard. Brown also influenced the later genres of hip hop and rap. In 1973, after moving to California, he recorded an album, The First Man of Poetry, Big Brown: Between Heaven and Hell, produced by Rudy Ray Moore. Brown was murdered in Los Angeles seven years later.
