The Grandmaster: "Time"
Leroy 'The Grandmaster' Young is a fixture in Belize's poetry scene. His critics might say his poems are often nonsensical and redundant, but The Grandmaster accomplishes an integral task for any poet. He takes that simple, mundane thing from within our worlds an breathes new life into it, makes us pay attention to the way we interact with the world around us, with one another, with our inner nature and even with our very own language. His signature dragging cadence and repetitive style are simply further evolutions of African Call-and-response. Like a running gag, he sets up the audience in such a way that they end up participating in the performance, calling out the refrain before even the poet does. Detractors may giggle at the stringing of simple words or p-shaw at the effort to make the profound out of minute, day-to-day details of life, but this allows his poems to stay with the audience, rattling around in their minds until it eventually knocks loose some sort of revelation, whether big or small.
(From Wikipedia)
Belizean Dub Poet Leroy 'The Grandmaster' Young briefly starred in rap group Fresh Breeze with the Morgan Brothers, Kenny and Turbo, but eventually became addicted to drugs and got into various misdeeds, resulting in a trip to rehab after twice attempting to commit suicide. After spending time in prison and drug rehabilitation he turned to poetry and received a segment in the news broadcast on Channel 7 television station, improvising poems about stories in the news and whatever else.
He parlayed his time on Seven into two books of poetry, Made in Pinks Alley and Generation X. His debut album Just Like That... was released on Stonetree Records in 2004.
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