Since meeting the lovely Latanya DeVaughn, founder of Urban Voices Heard(UVH), we have found a new respect for Spoken Word Poetry groups. It seems hard enough to find gigs for just one poet these days, but this young woman manages to organize and find opportunities for her whole group to go out and do what they love to do – SPIT!! With nothing but a love of poetry and an idea, Ms. DeVaughn took 5 young artists and made a group that is inspiring, talented and will go to the ends of the earth to give the people what they want. This group takes Spoken Word to a whole ‘nutha level with art and entertainment. Who is Urban Voices Heard(UVH)? I sat down with Ms. DeVaughn to find out what UVH does and why they feel so passionate about doing it. You’re sure to hear a loud buzz about this group in the upcoming months.

Get to know Urban Voices Heard(UVH)!

How did you all get started?

I started out wanting to create a space for people to express themselves and
network. Some place (even if it was your first time or thousandth time
performing) for artist to use a vehicle to get them to the next place in life, poetic career or personal growth. I believe I’m doing that and building long lasting friendships along the way. The team comes from all walks of life, nationality, ethnicity, struggle and we all just meshed together.

After having 5 successful shows at the Spoon Theater. I still felt
something was missing. Walking in my neighborhood in the South Bronx I
stumbled across a bookstore “books in the hood”. I found out what was
missing. After hearing the positive messages from all the poets, MC’s
and vocalist. I felt these messages weren’t being heard loud enough.
The people in my community need to hear the messages. So I made
arrangements to have the show at the only black owned bookstore in the
South Bronx.

When did you know you wanted to get into performing Spoken Word for the public?

On December 30, 2008 I organized my first open mic/showcase. Not
knowing too many people in the spoken world aka the spoken word
community. I took a risk. I can laugh now but I wasn’t laughing at the
time. My first venue was a small black box theater called The Spoon
theater.  Everyone I knew thought I was crazy. When I told them what I
was doing. After going to some of the well know venues in the city. I
saw things I wanted to change. I wanted to create an environment where
urban voices would be heard. Especially, artist too afraid to “spit”
at the better know venues and for those voices never heard before. The
show was called Urban Voices Heard Presents “WRITE OUT LOUD”.

Who Are Urban Voices Heard?

Ibrahim Siddiq aka P.O.E.T

The very first person to respond to my ad looking for artist was
Ibrahim Siddiq aka P.O.E.T. It stands for putting out eternal
thoughts. He was the very first artist to arrive as well. He hasn’t
missed any of our monthly shows. He’s also an official UVH Member.
He’s been performing poetry for 3 years. Since the release of his 1st Spoken Word CD titled “Spoke World”, he has been steadily working on his sophomore CD titled “Nerd At the Cool Table” – to be released this year.

Passion

Passion – No Last Necessary – she never performed poetry before she
performed for my show in March 2008. After her first feature with UVH.
Since then she’s been featured at the NuyoRican and other venues
around the city. She is an official UVH team member.

Samson DaPoet

Samson DaPoet. I met him at an open mic a friend of mine organized for
her church. He blew me away with a poem called “Mutation”. I gave him
my info he came to. He reached out. We call him 2008 poetry rookie of
the year. He’s been the opening performer for El Grito de Poetas. He’s
performed and features at too many venues to count. As a student at Utica College, Samson is one of the founding members of A Poetry Collective that he helped form at school called “Open Moments.”

Prophet

Prophet is our 19 year old rapper. I’ve seen people actually fall out
there chairs after hearing the words coming from his mouth. Topics
range from the streets to the bible. He has an album due out this
summer “Follow the Leader”.

James Kennedy

James Kennedy is also an artist who sings and plays his guitar. He is also a member of UVH. James Kennedy is a 19 year old singer/songwriter, whose soulful style and relative lyrics have captivated many audiences. He plays all over NYC from the Bronx to Brooklyn, including the subway trains and platforms in between. He meets all of his fans in person as appose to creating an almost imaginary fan base of people he has never met on the internet. Believing in the importance of relationships between him and those who enjoy his music, rather than the shallow and bullshit accolades that come along with being consumed in the world wide web of everyone thinking they are a star.

Where can people go to see you perform?

We have since changed the location of our open mic to a black own restaurant named Z’novia located at 888 B Grand Concourse (161 street), Bronx, NY. We will start doing poetry workshops at the Books In The Hood bookstore 815 Westchester Ave, Bronx, NY. We are also organizing our first showcase at the famous NuyoRican Poets Cafe on August 7th, 2010 the event is called listen up. We also have a monthly open mic TV show on Bronx-net and other public access channels in BK, Queens, and Manhattan. We also hosted a block party for Kips Bay Boys and Girls club last summer called Nation Night Out. We’ve also provided entertainment for Jewish Home and Hospital elderly Day center. We also provided entertainment for the 1st Bronx literacy fair last summer.  Additionally, we performed as a group for various colleges. Our anniversary show December 5th 2009 was filmed and was our first installment of our monthly TV show.

UVH can be seen performing at the Z’ novia Restaurant in Bronx, NY with their “Write Out Loud” Spoken Word Poetry Open Mic & Showcase. Every 2nd Saturday of the month starting May 8th. (Check out their event here under “Hottest Groups”)

For events and more information on UVH visit them on Facebook(facebook.com/urbanvoicesheard).

Tags | Spoken Word New York, Spoken Word Poetry, Spoken Word Poetry groups, Urban Voices Heard