Mic Crenshaw (born 1970) is an American recording artist, political activist, and educator living in Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon.
Mic Crenshaw | |
|---|---|
 Mic Crenshaw performing at Black Lives Matter demonstration at Reed College | |
| Background information | |
| Born | 1970 (age 53–54) Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Origin | United States |
| Occupation(s) | Recording artist, political activist, and educator |
Biography
editCrenshaw was born on the South Side of Chicago in 1970.[1] He graduated high school in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he argued for social equity and racial justice. In 1992, he moved to Portland, Oregon to focus his anti-racist activism into music and music education.[1][2] Over the last twenty years he has recorded and produced more than ten albums. Crenshaw recorded and performed with Dead Prez and Immortal Technique, and in 1994 formed the Portland-based hip hop group Hungry Mob as its frontman.[1] In 2001, he won the Portland Poetry Slam and finished as a national finalist. He served as co-manager of KBOO Community Radio twice.[3]
Activism
editIn his teenage years, Crenshaw confronted white supremacist gangs as a founding member of Anti-Racist Action.[2] He co-founded GlobalFam, a non-profit project to create and maintain a computer center for young people in Burundi. Crenshaw uses music to critique American law enforcement as a system that perpetuates brutality against black and brown people. Crenshaw partnered with Education Without Borders (NGO), which supports education, music and art initiatives such as Books to Prisoners. He works with the Black Lives Matter movement and acts as the Political Director of Hip Hop Congress.[4]
In 2004, Mic Crenshaw attended the Economic Justice and Youth Empowerment conference in Rwanda.[1] In 2013, Mic Crenshaw worked with a global group of artists to found Afrikan Hip Hop Caravan, which goes on annual performance tours in Eastern and Southern Africa. During 2013–2015, the Caravan toured a live performance set in Cape Town, South Africa, Harare, Zimbabwe; Arusha, Tanzania; and Nairobi, Kenya.[5] In 2014, Afrikan Hip Hop Caravan produced "Afrikan Hiphop Caravan Collaborations" with Soundz Of the South. Crenshaw is the lead organizer of Afrikan Hip Hop Caravan in the United States.[1]
In 2017, Crenshaw recorded the album Last of a Dying Breed with Micah Fletcher, a survivor of a 2017 Portland train attack in which two others were murdered.[6]
While serving as an artist-in-residence at Benson Polytechnic High School, Crenshaw was awarded a $100,000 fellowship from the Fred W. Fields Fund, to help Oregonians "understand the impact of the opportunity gap on families and communities, inspiring people to help solve it."[7]
In 2020, Crenshaw performed at several George Floyd protests in Portland, Oregon,[8] including Juneteenth in Oregon.[9] During Black History Month 2022, Crenshaw performed with Mt. Olivet Baptist Church Gospel Ensemble in Portland.[10]
Crenshaw co-hosted the KBOO 11 episode podcast series "It Did Happen Here" in 2020. The podcast traced the roots of Portland community-based anti-racist organizing in the 1980s and '90s to the anti-racist group "The Baldies" in Crenshaw's native Minneapolis, and explored the context and aftermath of the 1989 murder of Ethiopian immigrant Mulugeta Seraw.[11][12] The producers were interviewed about the podcast in an Oregon Historical Society event in 2021.[13] He was also featured in an episode of Minnesota Public Broadcasting's "Minnesota Experience" about the Baldies.[14]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e Zalokar, Suzanne (January 10, 2015). "Mic Crenshaw: Talking music, race and getting results, the Portland artist and activist doesn't mince words". Street Roots. Retrieved April 9, 2018.
- ^ a b Dineen, James. "Interviews Sessions From The Box: Mic Crenshaw Live from Fur Vault PDX". Vortex Magazine. Retrieved April 9, 2018.
- ^ Singer, Matthew (February 11, 2014). "Q&A: Mic Crenshaw The Portland MC and new KBOO co-manager talks community radio and the war on hip-hop". Willamette Week. Retrieved April 9, 2018.
- ^ McIntyre, Christine Morletti (September 29, 2015). "On rap: how Mic Crenshaw gets on". Oregon Arts Watch. Retrieved April 9, 2018.
- ^ Peet, Roger (December 14, 2015). "Afrikan Hip-Hop Caravan: Interview with Mic Crenshaw". Just Seeds. Retrieved April 9, 2018.
- ^ Gormley, Shannon (January 10, 2019). "Veteran MC Mic Crenshaw and MAX Attack Survivor Micah Fletcher's New Album is a Cross-Generational Conversation About Social Change". Willamette Week. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
- ^ "Mic Crenshaw gets $100K to bridge opportunity gap". Hollywood Star. June 19, 2019.
- ^ Van Wing, Sage; Novotny, Tess (June 26, 2020). "News Roundtable - Play At Home - Hip-hop Protests". Oregon Public Broadcasting.
- ^ "Juneteenth Oregon Celebration Goes Livestream". The Skanner. June 18, 2020. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
- ^ "Walk. Hike. March. Through History - Crossing the St. John's Bridge".
- ^ Pander, Jacob (December 29, 2022). "Seminal Portland hip-hop artist Mic Crenshaw on the art of making a difference". Oregon Public Broadcasting. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
- ^ "It Did Happen Here". KBOO. October 19, 2020. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
- ^ "It Did Happen Here: Histories of Fighting White Supremacists in Portland". Oregon Historical Society. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
- ^ "The Baldies". Twin Cities PBS. September 16, 2021. Retrieved July 20, 2023.