Slangston Hughes

Born in and influenced by the HipHop era, yet at the same time always acknowledging the foundations laid down by fore runners and trail blazers such as Langston Hughes, Amiri Baraka, Gil Scott Heron, The Last Poets, Sonia Sanchez, Nikki Giovanni, Jaki Terry, Saul Williams, Jessica Care Moore, Taalam Acey, E The Poet Emcee, etc… In 2010 Mr. Hughes released a book of original poetry entitled “Slanguage Arts” (The Readers Edition) the follow up to 2007’s Album of the same title which was critically praised as “A deeply profound representation of this generations next and most important radical poetic voice” by Umar Bin Hussin of The Last Poets. And another collection of poems entitled “Griot Glimpses” in 2011. Slangston Hughes attempts to bridge the gap between the legacy paved through the Harlem renaissance and Black Arts Movement with the innovative but yet rebellious spirit of HipHop culture, evoking the eternally emerging essence of the town crier or “street poet.” Slangston’s newest album Ghetto Griot vol 1 (Tubman City Times) released april 2012 is an epic of truth that brings together HipHop Afro Beat and Rhythms with the revolutionary spirit of the black consciousness movement and the ancestral spirit of griot and nomo (speaking words to life) tradition. Slangston is also one of the slam coach’s for the Baltimore City Youth Poetry Team who has competed nationally in Brave New Voices 3 years in a row.

Photo: Rebecca Dupas

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