Shah Echelon Hip Hop Meets Poetry

A beautiful fusion of Hip Hop, Poetry and ambience laid the foundation of good vibes for the showcase put on by Shah Echelon in Brooklyn this month. Under the looming shadow of the Brooklyn brigde on Water St., Miami educated and Memphis, raised, Brooklyn resident, Tracy Smith explained the drive behind her Shah Echelon movement. As founder and CEO she recalled her reasons for starting her promotions, "I wanted to bring some positive things to the community, and enhance, educate and preserve the Hip Hop music culture. (in addition) strengthen the lyrical content and the positivity. Poetry is the foundation of Hip Hop. Today the originality and the creativty has been lost. But there are so many talented emcees out there that might not have the look or the clothes but have the sound, style and passion for the music. You don't have to be a gimmick or fit a certain record label's idea of what a rapper should be. We have a stage for you and you can perform here."

Hosting the evening's festivities for Shah Echelon was the duo of Definition and Sosoon. As writers, poets and emcees themselves, they were able to galvanize the support of the crowd for each artist that reached the stage. Performed was an eclectic mix of spoken word that ranged from raw, erupting emotion with poets like Elijah Kuan Wong, to tentative, sincerely rendered introspection from first time poets like Marcia Howard. The music crossed the spectrums of polished R&B singer/pianist G Martin providing hooks for classic-style rap artists Maintain and Kon, to acoustic guitar performed by a soul-felt female singer named Bridgette B. Special Shout Outs to Tongo, Kazu, Aisha, Naima, and Chaz Raps.

Summer 2008

- Kurt Nice