Speaking Life…

Bobby Drake started out simple enough. A young man with hopes and dreams like many others, but as he began to realize that life after high school was divided into the have’s and the have not’s, he decided to make a move to have.This led Drake to pursue emceeing, but he hit a road block when he realized his personal growth wouldn’t make for the best rap album. He was invited to a book/cd release party for a well-known poet by the name of Dan Vaughn. It was there he met many of the poets that would later come to coach, mentor and mold Bobby Drake into the poet he has become today.

The first large-scale show he performed at that garnered a lot of attention was One Mic Ain’t Big Enough at the Black Holocaust Museum in 2004. From there, he was placed in the Harvest Moon lineup, held by Dasha Kelly every year to help aspiring poets promote their first product. After that, a myriad of shows followed, from small clubs where people weren’t there to listen to the poetry, to shows with 3000 plus people present with all eyes on the man on stage.

Bobby Drake has traversed many terrains, from artsy crowds, to urban crowds, to religious crowds, to schools, block parties and basement freestyle sessions. Although he is oft referred to as the wile out of poetry by fellow friends and poets, Bobby Drake says, I just like to be truthful. His style has been called everything from raunchy, raw, pure and energetic, to introspective, informative, captivating, inspiring and just real. Bobby Drake fell onto the scene at 19 and has since built a following that ranges from ages 13-35. His poetry often follows tales of personal revelations and introspective questions. The driving force behind his poetry is just being a young man trying to figure out how to do more than survive in life. He’s often heard saying, I know these problems aren’t new; I’m not the first one to go through ‘em. But, this is the first time I’m going through ‘em.

Bobby Drake maintains that his only goal is to write, perform, help, be helped and to live life and love.

… By: DeJuana Thompson