Antwidamala JUSTICE Umbiya recently married his one true love. Although the official ceremony was private, the public has the honor of hearing him renew his vows every week. He pledges his love to her exactly the way she is, but he also supports the fact that she will constantly change. He doesn’t just accept her for the worse, but he strives to make her better. Together they weave words that create meaning, identity, and beauty. His union with Spoken Word can only be called Poetic Justice.
Justice has been performing professionally for the past two years. He is an accomplished poet and host, and released his first CD, “The Dead Fall of November” in 2007 to wild success. He has competed in multiple Rustbelt Midwest Regional Slams as well as the 2008 National Poetry Slam, in which he was one of only 400 poets chosen nationally. He competed there with the 2008 EchoVerse Slam Team, beating out 40 other poets from the city of Detroit to earn his spot. In November 2008 Justice was invited to compete at The Individual World Poetry Slam (iWPS), after winning the iWPS video slam by a large margin. At iWPS he placed among the top 25 poets in the nation.
To his hosting credits, he was the founder and host of The Parallel Movement Poetry Series at Intus Night Club, host of Open Mic Poetry at Katwalk, and was a Hip-Hop and Poetry DJ at the University of Detroit University Local radio station. He has also served as guest host at The Detroit EchoVerse Slam Series and Poetry, Pages and Scribes at the Southfield Public Library. He has toured the Midwest and East Coast and performed at numerous slams, college campuses, and media events.
No corner of the poetry market is large enough to hold him; he is a master of all forms of his craft. His work is all at once passionate, intellectual, vulnerable, and raw. His sophomore CD, “The Man Behind the Poet” will exhibit his ease with all styles, including comedic, sensual, political, social, and the very abstract. Some of his strongest pieces are autobiographical. He sacrifices his most private and intimate memories in an effort to connect with the audience on a deeper level.
Justice does more than just write poetry. He IS his poetry. He is in constant evolution, perpetually growing as a writer, a performer, an artist, and as a man. He has made a transition from page poet to performance poet, honing his craft with a vengeance. His name alone describes who he is as an artist. Antwidamala Justice Umbiya translates directly to, “He who greets with fire,” and “Just and righteous champion of the people.” Every time he takes the stage, it is consumed by his inner flame. He speaks from a place of ethics, morality, and responsibility. He uses relatable tales from his own life to speak to and for those who are unable to put those feelings into words. Put all those things together, and you don’t have art imitating life-you have art expressing life.
