SPONSORED BY
BLACK ICE
The Tony, Peabody and Emmy Award winning, 6 time HBO Def Poet Black Ice is credited with being a major pioneer in turning spoken word into a mainstream art form.
Born Lamar Manson, he began perfecting his craft on the streets of North Philadelphia. He was discovered by Russell Simmons at New York’s Soul Café and became the first spoken word artist signed to Def Jam Records. Black Ice has performed to audiences as diverse as those at the Hip-Hop Summit, the Congressional Black Caucus, the Source Youth Foundation and ShiNE, and performed for such notables as the Reverend Jesse Jackson, Muhammad Ali and Minister Louis Farrakhan, as well as performing a poem on rapper Fabolo.
