He was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA, and was a professional DJ in the DC area. From 1994- 1999 he competed in the National Poetry Slam, and was the 1998 and 99 Haiku Slam Champion. Places his poems have been published include Time Magazine, The Washington Post, Callaloo, Antioch Review, Red Brick Review, Beltway Quarterly and the anthologies Gathering Ground, Love Poetry Out Loud, Meow: Spoken Word from the Black Cat, Short Fuse, Role Call, Def Poetry Jam, 360 Degrees of Black Poetry, Slam (The Book), Revival: Spoken Word from Lollapallooza, Poetry Nation, Beyond the Frontier, Spoken Word Revolution, Catch a Fire, and The Black Rooster Social Inn, an anthology of poems and photos of visual art. In 1995, he received the Furious Flower "Emerging Poet Award" from James Madison University. Performances include the Today Show, the documentary SlamNation, on BET, and in the feature film Slam. A Cave Canem fellow and the father of a young son, he has a CD of jazz and poetry on Black Magi Music, entitled "LibationSong".