Jamaal St. John

Jamaal St. John is a performance poet/spoken word artist who has been honing his literary craft for fifteen years. Jamaal is a graduate of New Rochelle High School and attended Northeastern University majoring in Criminal Justice. This poet’s lyrical style is like no other. Jamaal’s poetry is a cross between old school hip-hop rhyme schemes with cunning wordplay, accentuated with relevant social, political, cultural and economic topics. Jamaal manages to layer these aspects with a comical dexterity that only few poets can match.

Jamaal has many accolades to his credit. He is a five (5) time Nuyorican Poets Café Grand Slam Finalist for years 1996, 1997, 2000, 2008,2010, & 2012 (he is the only poet in Nuyorican Poets Café history to do so) and has won the coveted title of Nuyorican Slam King (December 2000). Jamaal highly contributed to the success of the Nuyorican National Slam Team placing third in August 2000 as a member along with fellow teammates Bryonn Bain, Helena D. Lewis and Tehut-Nine. He is a 6 time winner of The Toronto International Poetry Slam and was crowned Nuyorican Grand Slam Champion in 2008 & 2012.

He is a member of the Canvas of Words Poetry Tour that kicks off January 2015.