Where are the Growing Artists???

The P4CM crew

           Hello Family!!!!!
Hope ya'll doing good?(let me write like an Americana....Ya'll koh, ya'll ni). But really, I hope you all are doing great? You might not be feeling great, but that's alright. Joy shouldn't be dependent on feelings anyway.
          In today's post, we'll be addressing spoken word poets....Yea yea! I love spoken word poetry!!!!!! As a matter of fact, Its at the moment my most listened to art(no offense to other art forms tho. But spoken word poetry rocks!). For those of you that know,I'm a spoken word poet. I've being doing it for about three years now. Its being fulfilling speaking the Gospel of Jesus and seeing people's life being transformed by God. Trust me, it can get stressful and uncomfortable at times, but deep down inside, Its fulfilling.
      Having established the fact that I'm a spoken word poet, I would also like to say that I'm not writing this post because I think I'm an awesome spoken word artiste....nah, nah, nah...Nothing like that at all. Its important to me that we don't get it twisted at all. I'm still a learner at this art(We all are!).
      The four guys in the above picture are bosses!!!! I have learnt greatly from them and I'm still learning. So let's get it straight guys, I'm not the best spoken word artist and I sincerely don't consider myself the best. I'm just writing this post for the sake of that one poet who needs to know this. Those four poets in the above picture give a lot of tips on how to be a better spoken word poet and I'm grateful that they do.
       Since we've started the 'learning gist', maybe I should just give one of my first observation with several spoken word poets I have met.

*Many spoken word poets don't grow:
   
      Okay, pause and understand the point I'm trying to make before you crucify me. I've listened to several spoken word poets again and again and I can tell you categorically that their last performance  I witnessed was just like the current one. No improvement whatsoever. For some of them, the current performance is even worse than the last one.
As an artist that's representing God, you have a responsibility to be better than your last performance!!! Yea I said! That's the standard!
          Search for materials on YouTube. The P4CM crew have being amazing so far, if you go on YouTube, you'll see so much material made available. I watched a video on YouTube early this year on poetry and how to be better and my poetry life has never being the same ever since. It was a video by Janette..ikz and Ezekiel Azonwu.

*Spoken word poets don't listen to poetry videos:

         This one was very shocking for me because its just outrageously not nice. How can you be a spoken word poet and not watch or listen to spoken word poems by other poets. I'm not even talking about your own videos, I personally can't stand my videos. Every time I watch them, I'm just always seeing something I did wrong and all, so I try not watch them too often. But other people's videos are a must for me! Yes! Because I'm not an island, I need the wisdom of my colleagues in the business. If you're a spoken word poet and you don't watch spoken word videos regularly, please change, except you don't want to grow in the art.
       We'll stop there today with the observations! But really, if you're an artist(It isn't just restricted to spoken word poets) and you're guilty of these things that I mentioned, please try and do something about it. We really need growing artists!
Having said that, lets get on to the other juicy thing! Let me do small introduction on my bosses! I mean the p4CM crew.
     I was telling myself recently that no matter wherever I get to in my spoken word career, these guys would still be my bosses. I would regard them as such. Because they have yielded their lives to God so much that it has blessed me.  I'm not just talking about spoken word poetry, I'm talking about their lives generally.
Their videos on YouTube are highly recommended by me! If you want to grow and you're looking for someone to listen to, they are the guys! I can drop my money for that one, that's how good they are.

Lets start with Jackie Hill Perry...

Jackie Hill Perry 

Jackie was the very first spoken word poet I ever listened to. After listening to her, I immediately knew I could do what she was doing. It was almost as if God placed this conviction in my spirit. It just clicked, 'Amakason, you can do this thing'. There's being challenges off course, but God has being good!

       I also really love her dreads!!!! you look at Jackie's dreads and you just want to have dreads. They are really nice!  I have already started my dreads journey tho! But I won't show it yet. WAIT FOR THE PICTURE!  If you want to learn how to be deep, go and listen to Jackie. Trust me, it will come upon you! 

The second person I'll introduce you to is a woman whose life and story has challenged me big time. Her name is Janette..Ikz(pronounced genetics)...

Janette...ikz

This is from me to you guys, If you want to be a great performer, Please go and watch Janette...ikz. She practically gives her life to performance! She's super good at it. One of the definitions of excellence I live by was given by her, she said: "Excellence is knowing what your limitations are and going beyond it!" DANG! Also, she is the first spoken word artist to reach up to a million views on YouTube with her poem: 'I will wait for you' . She's amazing guys! If you haven't listened to her, then grap your phone and search her up! (Do that after reading tho...lol)

Janette...ikz and Amakason

A dear friend and brother did this picture collage and sent it to me...and I was like, this people should leave me alone jare....They are saying that Myself and Janette look alike...Do you agree? 

Preston Perry performing a poem titled: 'Dear Mike Brown'

If you're a poet who loves using stories to pass a message, then Preston Perry is the guy to listen to. His story telling skills are amazing! His imagery is jaw breaking.... I'm not hyping oo, he most likely won't see this post, so there's no point hyping. Just listen to him. He can tell a story and practically place you in the scene of the story. As in, your mind will literally follow his words... He is the husband to Jackie Hill Perry and father to Eden Grace Perry.

Eden Grace Perry..She's such a cutie!!!!

Next on the list is, Ezekiel Azonwu.
              A father of four, three girls and a boy( the boy is just a few weeks old). Ezekiel's word play is superb. I'm serious! If you're very much into Puns(word play), then uncle Ezekiel is the guy you should get familiar with. I think the best description of Ezekiel's kind of poem was given by Jackie hill Perry: "It's almost as if Ezekiel goes to Jupitar and Mars, eats all the food in there and then comes back to write poems" I couldn't have described it better.

The Jupitar and Mars guy, Ezekiel Azonwu!

There are many other Poets I listen to. Talking about, Jamaica West, Canden Webb, Daniel King Robertson(these guy is really deep. I've heard only one of his poems and he's really good!), Propaganda(He's more of a rapper tho, but his poems are tight!), Tina B.......the list just keeps going. 

These are some of the spoken word artist who I respect big time. Search them up, if you don't know them yet(search for every single poet I mentioned oo, they are all deep. Whether or not I showed you  a picture of them. They are all deep gan!).

         Keep raising the bar, keep breaking out of the box, keep growing. The greatest disservice you can ever do to yourself as an artist is to ever get to a point in your poetry or artistic career where you begin to think that you've arrived. Don't get it twisted bro, you haven't arrived at all. You must always seek for ways to grow! There shouldn't even be any form of negotiation about that!

Amakason performing a poem titled: 'The C!'

 

That's Me, Myself and I. I was performing a poem at a university in Nigeria, Bells University precisely (I had fun with those guys mehn! their choir was tha bomb!). There are few things that are as fulfilling to me as the opportunity to preach the Gospel through spoken word! It gets stressful and demanding sometimes, but who's complaining?  We're enjoying and loving it anyways! It's a big honor to be tired and exhausted for the sake of Christ! 

       Please lets keep being excellent artists! Lets keep expanding our knowledge! Lets never stop growing! 

Umoving water isn't the only thing that stinks you know, Ungrowing people do too!
Thanks for reading!

Submitted to His word,
Amakason