We recently connected with Teejay tha Protege Spoke N-Words and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Teejay tha Protege thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

Spoke: We have facilitated, participated, and curated nearly a hundred events ranging from benefits concerts, toy drives and of course our regular open mic night event. If we are being honest they all provided different forms of fulfillment even with our open mic night even it bring us so much joy to say that our stage has provide a platform of many of Nashville’s up-and-coming artist to flourish and master their crafts. By far the most meaningful project that we have been blessed to be apart of would be the National Black Poetry Day Festival, It allow for us to the be the change we want to see in the world. Although it has not been made in to an official government holiday; we treat and respect it in that regard. NBPD Fest is a day for us to honor the Black Poets that proceed up whilst inspiring the future poets that will succeed us.

We would like to provide a bit of context the day without being to lengthy, Although we hold our event on October the 16th NBPD Fest is celebrated on October 17th, The date was chosen in honor of Jupiter Hammon, who is believed to be the first African American to publish poetry in the United States. He was born into slavery in Long Island, New York on October 17, 1711. He was an effective businessman in handling his master’s estate, but he is best known for his poetry and for the “Hammon Address,” the inaugural speech to the African Society of New York City.

Teejay: When we first came about the Black Poetry Day we were in the process of wrapping up the final touches to our poetry anthology “MAKE NOISE VOL. 2”. Much like the Honorable Juniper Hammon we consider ourselves to be Businessmen. We wanted to find the perfect release date to accompany our book. Through research we discover that most businesses us holiday sales as a tool for marketing. We started research holiday that were based on Literature, and there were some great ones like Paperback book day, Authors day and National Poetry Month (we host an event for this aswell). Ultimately we chose Black Poetry Day because felt it was a story that needed to be shared. It is a common misconception that all slaves were labors, But not only was Juniper Hammon a profound poet he was a bookkeeper, which speak volumes to the level of intellect of a man that had been enslaved, We embody a great sense of pride in keeping his name and legacy alive for generations to come and if this should be our calling to carry this torch that ignites the flame that will someday lead to the official nationalization of Black poetry day Fest then we are honored to play our parts.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Tj: I think I should take this one. Our story is one of divine intervention. Initially we began as an organization called Pen and Paper, we settled on this name because we knew everything starts once pen hit the paper; weather it be planning events or writing spoken word pieces. We would meet daily and discuss different ways for us to introduce ourselves to the poetry scene. We started off with attending some of the local open mic poetry event in Nashville and becoming familiar with the poets of the area.

This is where opportunity meets preparation, we were able to meet a man by the name of Joseph Basils, as staple in the Nashville arts community. He connected us with Joseph Woods a poet in the Knoxville that was wanting to expand his brand into the Nashville demographic. Being that we had been preparing to start a show of our own we we ready to take on the challenge. One would describe our show as a failure but we thank the heavens above that no one was there to see it. literally, we only had 2 people to attend the show. That was a blessing in disguise because now that we know what it was like to fail we were determined to succeed.

So we were back to the drawing boards carefully making changes and finetuning our process until we became the brand that we are today. We have list of accomplishments to date that looking back at where we started we couldn’t phantom. We have hosted nearly 100 open mic nights, self Published 5 books, produced some of Tennessee’s most Pristine Poets, We created platform for Artist to hone their skills while provide good wholesome fun for the community to enjoy. We are proud of the impact that we have made here in Nashville. We are excited to see where this journey will take us because we know this is just the Tip of the Iceberg.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Teejay: Our most challenging feat we had to overcome was the constant fallout of venues. We have have several location through out the Greater Nashville area. We have been in an array of establishment from Restaurants, tattoo parlors, biker bars, once we even did a show on the side of the Road (we called that one poetry in the streets.) We have had shows where we have been promoting for weeks only to show up to the building with a sign on the door stating that they were closed indefinitely on numerous occasions. Each time we persevered, Every time one door closed we found a new one. We would build new business relationships find a new venue and rebuild. Through it all we managed to stay resilient each loss was not defeat but only and opportunity to grow, to adapt. to evolve. through those mishap we were able to gain new skill and make more relationships to the point we have become well recognized with a resume that speaks for itself. the g0al when we started was to make Poboys and a Poets a brand that would be recognized on it own for generations to come.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Teejay: The most rewarding aspect has been all of the connections that we have made over the years. We have managed to build an entire community of not only poets but mover and shakers of many different avenues. I am also proud to say that we provided a platform of artist to sharpen their skills and explore the idea of becoming a professional poet. I love seeing the artist blossom first had to see the creativity flourish. It has been a tremendous journey but looking back at it all I can say with out a shadow of a doubt I wouldn’t change a thing.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pbnpnash/?hl=en&__coig_restricted=1
• Facebook: Facebook.com/pbnpnash
• Youtube: Youtube.com/pbnpnash
• Other: eventbrite.com/pbnp.nash

Image Credits
Po’boys and Poets; Nash Context Teejay tha Protege With locs Spoke N-words Without Locs