Dasan Ahanu

Booking & Contact

• PO Box 3164
• Durham,
• NC
• 27715
• US
• 919-295-0176

"Putting Poetry Where his mouth is"

When you meet Dasan Ahanu, you won't forget him. Not only will you not forget him, but as educator Daniella Cook put it, "Once you hear him, you want to get to know him. It's a sense of urgency." Ahanu towers over most people at an impressive 6 feet 7 inches. You will most likely have heard him command the stage at any number of spoken word events throughout the Triangle, the state or the United States. It could be argued that Ahanu is the Triangle's most ubiquitous spoken word artist--everywhere and always present.

"Hip hop summons all"

If you haven’t heard by now that N.C. Central University is hosting its second hip-hop summit, consider yourself extremely uninformed.

The summit will be held February 9-10 and will be preceded by a week of events, beginning with a poetry slam on February 5.

Co-sponsored by the Hayti Heritage Center, the poetry slam will showcase local spoken word artists and poets.

“I feel good about the poetry slam,” said host Dasan Ahanu.

“I’m very excited about bringing this type of element to poetry at Central.”

Durham is becoming a national hotbed for spoken-word poetry

"Connected to words like Siamese twins": That line from Dasan Ahanu's poem "Deep in Thought" epitomizes the rise of the Triangle's spoken-word community. Metaphors and similes dangle with cadence and intonation. The words—bled from poets who carry pens, pads and bags filled with homemade books and CDs in store-bought cases—entertain and inspire. These poets live in these words, and, symbiotically, those words live off of their poets.

Rise Up Winston-Salem, Poetry Workshop

SECCA partnered with the Winston-Salem Gateway YWCA to launch the Inside Out Classroom in February 2009. During this inaugural month-long class, over 24 students from the YWCA created spoken word poems inspired by artist Charlie Brouwer’s installation Rise Up Winston-Salem. These poems drew upon the students’ personal stories of hope and aspiration, and were recited by the students during a Community Day event held at Old Salem. Renowned spoken word poet and hip-hop artist Dasan Ahanu led the class, and the recital was recorded and made available as a podcast on SECCA’s Web site and on YouTube.

Dasan Ahanu

It's been two years since poet and hip-hop artist Dasan Ahanu released his debut recording, "The Jim Crow Jackson Experiment." Since then, the Raleigh native has become a beacon of the spoken word scene in North Carolina, working to inspire a new generation of musicians and performers. He joins guest host Laura Leslie to discuss his craft and perform some of his work live in the studio.

Gil Scott-Heron: Spiritual father of Hip Hop

Dasan Ahanu, who teaches poetry at St. Augustine's College in Raleigh and leads the Bull City Slam Team, called Scott-Heron a main influence. He "was one of my inspirations in wanting to write poetry and write music and to do it in a way that entertains" but also deals with social issues in a way that brings people together, Ahanu said.

Release: Dasan Ahanu + Picasso "Jim Crow Jackson Experiment"

The project features Amp Truth Records spoken word artist, Dasan Ahanu, and music producer, Picasso. “The Jim Crow Jackson Experiment is somewhat of a preview to our upcoming solo projects,” says Dasan Ahanu. “It allows me to be edgier and reach a different audience and affords Picasso the opportunity to take more chances with his music. You may be saying to yourself, I heard of these guys before. Maybe it’s because, Dasan is one of the most prolific spoken word artists to emerge out of North Carolina in recent years, or maybe it’s from his numerous appearances on Ed Gordon’s “Poetry Corner” segment on NPR.

Slam Session: Self-Expression through Spoken Word

The Hayti Heritage Center hosts its own poetry slam each month, called the Jambalaya Soul Slam, which provides a venue for spoken word artists to perform and compete. In January the center added another initiative – the Jambalaya Soul Slam Academy, where experienced artists lead exercises to help other poets bring their work to life.

Dasan Ahanu performs at a poetry slam in Greensboro. He performs in a variety of venues, has conducted workshops across the state and has presented guest lectures on the topics of writing and literacy. (Photo courtesy of Dasan Ahanu)

“The hope is to kind of build confidence and help people to feel comfortable sharing their work on stage,” said Dasan Ahanu, who organized both the slams and the workshops.

Poets Competing in National Slam

For Chris Massenburg, the Bull City Slam Team has been a labor of love that's bearing fruit beyond Durham.

Now as the 36-year-old leads his team through this week's National Poetry Slam in St. Paul, Minn., he does so with some bona fides. The spoken-word artists took first place in the Southern Fried Poetry Slam, a regional contest, in June. It was the team's first since forming in 2005. The win brought praise from county leaders during a Durham commissioners meeting.

But Massenburg says he's most proud of how the team's success is feeding a new group of young poets in the Triangle.

Bull City Poetry Team Wins Southern Fried Poetry Slam

The five-member team beat out 23 other teams including those from Tampa, Fla., New Orleans, La., and Knoxville. This year’s team members are: Slam Coach, Chris “Dasan Ahanu” Massenburg, George “G” Yamazawa, Elliott “Axiom” Miley, Kane Smego and Will McInerey.

The team won $3,000 in cash prizes along with MoonPies and RC Cola.

Massenburg, a creative writing instructor at St. Augustine’s College, had a good feeling about this year’s team. “We knew we had a good chance. We only had one newcomer to the team. We’ve been around each other all year. We’ve been performing and writing around each other.”

Bull City Slam Team makes national competition semifinals

Chris "Dasan Ahanu" Massenburg, founder and coach of the Bull City team, said the Durham team was feeling upbeat about its prospects. "We feel really confident," he said in a phone interview Friday. "We still have some very good pieces left." The team has been preparing for a victory and has "worked hard enough to have well-written poems for this."

Slam poets do Durham proud

The Bull City Slam Team made it to the finals of the National Poetry Slam in St. Paul, Minn. on Saturday, competing against three other teams for top honors.

Durham finished third behind Soapboxing (St. Paul) and Nuyorican (New York City).

"It was an amazing experience for the whole team," said team captain Chris "Dasan Ahanu" Massenburg.

Black Poetry Theatre expands the meaning of a hero

That's the beginning of a poem written by Dasan Ahanu, Joseph 'Church da'Poet' Churchwell and Elliot Axiom for Black Poetry Theatre's "Definition of a Hero," being performed tonight and Saturday at Common Ground Theatre in Durham.It is a slightly revised version of a play they first presented in 2008 for Father's Day, with the theme of fathers and sons. But this production expands on the definition of a hero to add other family members.

Dasan Ahanu

This week, on “True Poetics”, we caught up with ‎poet/spoken word and hip-hip artist Dasan Ahanu (Chris Massenburg) from Durham, NC to talk about life as a poet, the Bull City Slam Team, and his love for Hip-Hop music.