 | Traditional Skill/Art: Emcee, Rapper, Spoken Word Artist Years Awarded: 2015, 2018, 2021 Contact Information: Phone: (503)929-6723 Email: crenshaw33@gmail.com Website: https://www.miccrenshaw.com/ |
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Mic Crenshaw is an emcee, rapper, spoken word artist, poet, activist, and educator. Born in Chicago, Mic taught himself to rap beginning at the age of eight and began doing it professionally in 1994 after he arrived in Portland. In 2001, Mic won The Portland Poetry Slam Championship and is actively involved in the Afrikan Hip Hop Caravan, an annual event put together by various African Hip Hop Collectives that tours through cities in Africa performing and creating an international hip hop community. Mic’s music has been featured in a number of venues, and he has collaborated and performed with internationally-acclaimed acts such as the Fugees, Outkast, and Wu-Tang Clan.
Mic was also a Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program (TAAP) Awardee in 2015-2016 with apprentice Baqi Coles and again in 2018-2019 with apprentice Daniel Lasuncet. In 2022, Mic is working with Brozie Lathan.
APPRENTICE BIOGRAPHY - Brozie Lathan 2021
Brozie Lathan is a rapper, self-taught hip hop dancer, and street artist. As a kid, he had been a street performer and he immersed himself in street culture. During the past few years, Brozie became interested in rapping and started writing and recording songs and is looking to improve his skills in the tradition by collaborating with Mic Crenshaw.
APPRENTICE BIOGRAPHY - Daniel Lasocet 2018
Daniel Lasoncet is a young musician of Cuban descent who grew up listening to music through his mother and his father’s participation in many rap groups during his youth. This exposed Daniel to music at a young age, he began to play the piano at the age of two and made his own music at age seven. He is currently producing, engineering, and or collaborating with other artists in Oregon, Michigan, Florida, Washington, California, and Louisiana while also teaching piano to students of various ages. His career goal is to be an artist with a main focus on production, he also wishes to counsel at the Caldera camp and become a mentor and teaching artist like Mic Crenshaw.
APPRENTICE BIOGRAPHY - Baqi Cole 2015
Baqi Cole is a Hip Hop Emcee from southern California who moved to Oregon in 2013 and was a senior in high school when starting his apprenticeship with Mic Crenshaw. He met Mic at the Youth Summits contest. He is also a social activist and an artist in Portland. He is a poet, skater, athlete, producer, and video maker. He also plays guitar, piano, and drums and loves being able to create in any art form. He says Hip Hop to him is a culture, one that was created as a response to cultural struggles and the misplacement of their ancestors. Growing up, both of his parents were into Hip Hop and understood the meaning of Hip Hop culture to themselves and others.
Q+A WITH THE MENTOR ARTIST
Describe your traditional art.
Body
I am an emcee, rapper, spoken word artist, poet, activist, and educator. As a hip hop emcee, I write, record, and perform songs that draw inspiration from the social conditions that shape our lives. The content of my work often has political and social commentary woven into the lyrics. I have used this style of art to not only engage the audience and fans but to drive and inform curriculum in the classrooms.
How and from whom was the tradition learned?
Body
The tradition of hip hop emceeing is self-taught, driven mostly by imitation and innovation. First, one develops an affinity for the art form, then creates their own style of expression based on the characteristics displayed by professionals and one's own experience and personality. I taught myself how to rap and have been doing it as a hobby since I was eight years old living in Illinois and have been doing it professionally since 1994 locally, nationally, and globally.
Why is this cultural tradition important to your community?
Body
Hip hop music is the most popular and influential art form in our community. Young African Americans look to Hip Hop culture for their role models. A high number of young people participate in Hip Hop through dance, fashion, and emceeing and actually contribute to the culture artistically and economically. TAAP provides an opportunity for professional Hip Hop artists to share art that is socially, politically, and culturally relevant within the community. This project will foster future mentor/apprentice relationships, formal and informal, as the young learn from their elders through observation, discussion, education, critique, and interactive entertainment.
Experience/Honors
Body
2001 Portland Poetry Slam Grand Champion
2019 Inaugural Fields Fellowship Artist
Visit OFN's Culture Keepers Roster to learn more about the artist.
Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program
More OFN programs
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