Kevin Powell

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kevin Powell (born 1966) is an African-American journalist, poet, activist, and lecturer. He currently lives and works in Brooklyn. He was born and raised in Jersey City, New Jersey, and attended Rutgers University.

He became famous when he appeared on the first season of MTV's reality television series, The Real World: New York in 1992. From 1992 to 1996, he was a senior writer for Vibe magazine. He writes most notably about hip hop music and politics.

He co-founded the nonprofit community-based group Hiphop Speaks (with activist, entrepreneur, writer April Silver), which he describes as "a series of forums and MC battles geared toward using hip hop as a tool for social change." He has frequent speaking engagements at colleges, speaking about race issues, literature, and the history of hip hop.

In 2006, he announced that he was running for the United States House of Representatives in the 10th Congressional District of New York against Representative Edolphus Towns. He later withdrew from the race.

[edit] Books

In the Tradition: An Anthology of Young Black Writers, (1993), co-edited by Ras Baraka (ISBN 0-86316-316-5)
recognize (1995), an anthology of poetry (ISBN 0-86316-324-6)
Keepin' It Real: Post-MTV Reflections On Race, Sex, and Politics (1997) (ISBN 0-345-40400-9)
Step into a World: A Global Anthology of The New Black Literature (2000) (ISBN 0-471-38060-1)
Who's Gonna Take The Weight (2002) (ISBN 0-609-81044-8)
Who Shot Ya? Three Decades of HipHop Photography, (2002), featuring the photography of Ernie Paniccioli (ISBN 0-06-621168-9)
Someday We'll All Be Free, (2006, Soft Skull Press) (ISBN 1-933368-57-8)