J. Ivy is an NAACP Image Award-winning and Grammy-nominated poet, spoken word artist, actor and songwriter. He is known for his appearances on “HBO Def Poetry Jam” and his feature on Ye West’s Grammy-winning album The College Dropout. Dear Father: Breaking the Cycle of Pain, is Ivy’s third book and his fifth album, Catching Dreams: Live at Fort Knox Chicago, was recently nominated in the category of Best Spoken Word Album. To add to these accomplishments, Ivy is also the lead writer for an upcoming Netflix documentary, Jeen-yuhs: A Kanye West Trilogy, directed by Coodie and Chike.
Give us some background on your journey.
It’s actually [the] 20[th] anniversary of “Def Poetry Jam.” Coming out of Chicago, I was introduced to the world on the Def Poetry stage, back in 2001. And then, fast forward, I was on [Ye‘s] first album, The College Dropout, on a song called “Never Let Me Down” along with [Ye] and Jay-Z. So you know, that album went triple platinum, I won a Grammy. So, that was another introduction to the people and then from there, I’ve done thousands of shows.
I have a book out called Dear Father that I authored some years ago. I’ve done a lot of commercial work, from college football to television and film. I’ve been in documentaries. We got an image award with Cootie and Chike, my buddies who directed Muhammad Ali’s documentary, which I starred in and narrated. I’ve done a lot of things over the years and most recently, along with the music, I’ve been a part of the Grammy board. So, I was the president of the Chicago chapter for the past two years and currently, I am the trustee for the Chicago-Midwest chapter.
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