Ms. Key Da Queen a.k.a Underground Kween is a poet, songwriter, and motivational speaker from Cleveland, OH by way of Buffalo NY and Baltimore MD. She started writing at the young age of 7 after falling in love with writers/poets such as Phyllis Wheatley, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Walter Dean Myers, Langston Hughes, and Rosa Guy. While secluding herself in corners and parks while her siblings and peers played and did the normal things young adolescents do, Kween began to perfect her art purely as...
Ms. Key Da Queen a.k.a Underground Kween is a poet, songwriter, and motivational speaker from Cleveland, OH by way of Buffalo NY and Baltimore MD. She started writing at the young age of 7 after falling in love with writers/poets such as Phyllis Wheatley, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Walter Dean Myers, Langston Hughes, and Rosa Guy. While secluding herself in corners and parks while her siblings and peers played and did the normal things young adolescents do, Kween began to perfect her art purely as a release and therapeutic measure. At 13 she delved deeply into Hip Hop after being inspired by artists such as Queen Latifah, MC Lyte, X-Clan, and Public Enemy, but it was that moment she walked into a record store in Mondawmin Mall (in Baltimore, MD) at age 13 and heard the song Spontaneity by Bahamadia, when she realized how powerful words truly were. Being inspired by the lyrical genius and/or artistic talents of Bahamadia, Tribe Called Quest, WU Tang Clan, Ursula Rucker, The Roots, Little Brother, Black Ice, Slum Village, Nikka Costa, Res, Pharoahe Monche, Kadir Nelson, Hulis Maruk, The Last Poets, Nikki Giovanni, Donald Goines, Paul Robeson, Billie Holiday, Cornell West, Marcus Garvey, and a tremendous list of many more, prominent individuals, Kween continued to hone her passion: Poetry.
Kween, has been a spoken word poet and Hip Hop activist for almost 5 yrs. She has performed in many venues in Cleveland OH, such as the Vibe Session at Kamikaze Coffeehouse (house poet), Lyrical Rhythms at the B-Side (house poet), The Sirrha House, The Robins Nest Lounge, Club 75, Cleveland Coyote, The Club HiFi, The Grog Shop, Cleveland State University, Tri-C Metro Campus, The Labyrinth, along with many other venues in and around the Cleveland area (including Akron, Cincinnati, Columbus Monticello NY, hometown Buffalo, N.Y.). She has been a feature poet in NappyHead Entertainments reoccurring event Queens Of The Iron Mic. Kween is also not just a poets poet, she shares her talent among very diverse crowds, ranging from elementary schools to Hip Hop showcases. She was also on the coordinating committee to Clevelands From The Streets to The Classroom, an event that was held at Tri-C Metro and CSU about finding ways to implement Hip Hop into the current educational curriculum.
On a more personal note, Kween is a single mother of 4 boys (two of which are Autistic). She resides in Cleveland (Ohio City), Ohio and is a graduate of Tri-C Metro. She recieved her Associates of Arts degree in the Spring 08 and will be attending C.S.U. to obtain her Bachelors in Social Work. At her school Cuyahoga Community College (Metro Campus) she was the President of the Black Student Union, a reporter on The Mosaic school newspaper, a mentee in the Black Caucus mentoring program, on the coordinating committee of the Action Zone, Treasurer of the Tangkagle Mask Dancers (a West African Dance Club), and a member of Student Support Services. And amongst all that she is a poet, a student of life, whose purpose is to uplift and enlighten.
FOR BOOKING CONTACT Underground Kween @ 216-254-7479/ undergroundkween@yahoo.com.com/ or send me a message on myspace. Also....my yahoo instant messenger screen name is UNDERGROUNDKWEEN
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