Billy Tuggle is a South Side Chicago native; a vocalist, performance poet, mentor, teaching artist and parent. His involvement with HipHop culture and the competitive art of poetry slam has enabled him to perform and facilitate collegiate and professional workshops in his craft across North America.
He has featured in many of slam's most revered venues (Nuyorican, Bowery Poetry, Berkeley, Boston-Cantab, Austin Poetry Slam) away from his hometown where the game was created. He represented his home town a for 11 years running as a competitor and/or coach in the National Poetry Slam and is a 2006 Rustbelt Champion [Team Mental Graffiti] and 4-time Chicago Grand Slam Champion. Billy has shared stages with such luminous writers/performers as Patricia Smith, Saul Williams, DJ Spinna, Brother Ali, Psalm One Aesop Rock and KRS-ONE. He is a member of the PolyRhythmic arts collective; co-founder of the Chicago Four Star Poetry Club; curator of the Haiku Battle Royal; co-host of the long running open mic In One Ear. Often published and recorded, his latest printed collection, 'The Way of the B-Boy', is a series of poems and meditations of HipHop culture, its urban roots and its global reach. |