POETRY ELECTRIC: BACK TO THE BEAT - (TERRY LEWIS AKA KID LUCKY CELEBRATION II)

Derick “D-Cross” Cross is a Queens, NY born Brooklyn-based multi dimensional visual and vocal hip hop artist D-Cross has performed at venues nationally and internationally, including Madison Square Garden and Lincoln Center. This “Vocal Beat Expressionist “. talents have been highlighted on MTV, The Electric Company TV series, Nickelodeon, and BET’s 106’s and Park. His vocal skills have also appeared on the award-winning Alfac “Pigeon Rap” ad and 7-Up’s “10” campaign.

Jane LeCroy is a mother, a teaching-artist, and fronts the lyrically driven bands: The Icebergs (cello/voice/drums), hear the records “Eldorado” and “Add Vice”, also, the spontaneous music project, Ω▽ (Ohmslice), with Bradford Reed’s modular synth, hear “Conduit” on vinyl, both from Imaginator Records, available streaming everywhere. Jane has toured with the women’s poetry troupe, Sister Spit, and is a character at The Poetry Brothel. Three Rooms Press published, “Signature Play”, a multimedia book of her lyrical poems, including a nomination for a Pushcart Prize. Her poetry book, “Names” was published by Booklyn and is archived in the Library of Congress along with her braid. She has a new book of poetry coming out on Pink Trees Press this year.

Arabelle Luke, aka Airloom Beats, is a New York based beatboxer and educator who aims to connect and inspire people through music regardless of their background. With roots as the beatboxer for Rutgers University's award winning all-female acapella group ShockWave, Arabelle strives to showcase the dynamics within her art form while emphasizing a sense of community. Working through non-profit organizations like BEAT Global, Kids Creative and Get Empowered!, she facilitates professional developments, workshops, and classes in beatboxing, loop station song production, and hip hop culture with special needs populations and participants of all ages across theTristate area. She is a BEAT Global T3 certified instructor, as well as, producer and musical director for Kids Creative's play creation program at Archer Elementary School. Arabelle incorporates her unique, melody-driven beatbox style into original short plays with The Network Theatre Company and creates content for media organizations such as ELLE.com and BET Centric. Along with performing at classic venues The Barrow Group, The Bergen PAC, LaMama Theatre, and The Blue Note, Arabelle has opened for iconic rapper Rakim at the Stanhope House. 2019 finds her earning a position in the Top 16 at the EastCoast Beatbox Battle and becoming Volume 3 champion of the Beatbox House Party Battles. During the quarantine, AirLoom has continued performing on virtual platforms as a “one-woman house band” for MAAAD Late!: The Improvised Late Night Show and PROPS!: The Hip Hop Gameshow. In 2020, Airloom was selected to be a US Hip-Hop Ambassador for Next Level USA, and she is eagerly awaiting to complete her first residency in The Ukraine.

A founding member of the legendary Cold Crush Brothers, MC Easy A.D. started out making hip-hop history, and then went on to become one of the genre's great historians. Born and raised in the "boogie-down" Bronx, Easy A.D. first entered the hip-hop game with the four-member As Salaam Brothers. When the short-lived crew split up, Easy A.D. took a break from performing and decided to focus on both improving his writing and sharpening his performing skills by attending shows and listening to the competition. He was ready when approached by DJ Tony Tone, who was assembling the Cold Crush Brothers. A series of influential singles on the Tuff City label followed, along with an appearance in the hip-hop film Wild Style. The Cold Crush Brothers split in 1986, although they briefly re-formed in 1994 for a guest appearance on the Terminator X album Super Bad. Easy A.D. went on to manage programs for teens at the Harlem YMCA, combining his love of sports with his belief in the upcoming generation. In 1999 he partnered with his longtime friend KRS-One for The Temple of Hip-Hop Project, a popular college lecture tour focused on the genre's rich history.

‍Sam Sellers creates radically inclusive spaces through music at concerts, on dancefloors and in classrooms. With an expansive discography begun on wax in 2001, a performance career touching 5 continents, and over two decades in Education, there are countless places where you may have encountered him, from head coaching on MTV's MADE to headlining the Blue Note Jazz Festival in consecutive years; facilitating interactive workshops from community centers in Uganda to Teacher's College at Columbia University. He is dedicated to artistic evolution, helping global citizens connect through the cypher, pursuit of clarity in personal pedagogy and deepening his catalog. Recently he was Artist-in-Residence at AIR Cassis, France; released his first self-produced album; added to his C.V. teaching new college courses; headlined Breakthrough Hip Hop Dance Fest in Zurich; and was minted to 2019 End of the Weak Challenge of Champs U.S. Vice-Champion. He's been the official DJ for Saturday Night Live Season 43 & 44 afterparties; spent 4 years as resident DJ/MC at renowned NYC jam session The Lesson; and is in his 8th year teaching university seminars of his own design at The New School, where he is the faculty advisor to The New School Hip Hop Collective student group. He is also an ordained wedding officiant, having performed 14 secular ceremonies. Along the journey, he has shared the stage and studio with Aloe Blacc, bell hooks, Biz Markie, Common, Doug E. Fresh, Kool Herc, Last Poets, Lin Manuel-Miranda, Robert Glasper, The Roots, and Slick Rick, among many others.

Mark Martin is a mixed vocal artist specializing in beatboxing. Based in NYC, Martin combines beatboxing with theater and comedy, performing on Broadway in Freestyle Love Supreme, and winning the 2016 American Beatbox Championships. Martin believes strongly in the power of music to teach, heal, and bring people together. Martin co-founded The Academy of Noise, a music education program focusing on providing music education through beatboxing to everyone with an imagination. Martin is also a co-organizer of The American Beatbox Championships, the USA’s premiere beatbox battle community. Martin has beatboxed in several immersive and off-Broadway shows as well, and toured internationally as well. Martin graduated from NYU’s Gallatin School, creating his own major exploring beatbox as a medium for communication.    

Avenue DJs BRING DA FLOW! Lower East Side Girls Club DJs - Let them take you on a journey of the issues they face and embrace. Gun violence, social injustice, Women's Rights, Black Lives Matter, prison reform, LGBTQ acceptance... LES Avenue DJ's. They will spin some tunes to add to the celebration.