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mdotdapoet Joined: Mar-18-2014 |
Mdotdapoet was born Marquise Person on June 3, 1988 in Elgin, Illinois. After growing up in south side Chicago, his family moved to Jackson, Tn and relocated to Nashville in 2011 to attend college at Middle Tennessee State University. His first spoken word performance was at Soul Food Poetry Cafe and after high praise from those in attendance, he hoped to one day have his name known around town as one of the best poets in Nashville. He perfected his craft by joining Word Up! Poetry Collective on campus and started performing weekly at different shows and open mics. As his name grew, the poetry scene was dying quickly as common shows lost venues and the amount of open mics were on the decline. Marquise co-founded That's That Juice to help spread the art of spoken word and make more people aware of other poets and open mics around town. July 2013, he started hosting monthly shows at Carpe Cafe in Smyrna, Tn. He has been nominated for a NIMA award for "Best Live Spoken Word Artist" in each of his first two years of performing. He has performed at college campuses such as TSU, MTSU, UT-M, University of Memphis, Fisk, Lipscomb, and Vanderbilt and was part of the Word Up! team that performed in Southern Word's college slam competitions in 2011 and 2012. His poetry has been published in countless anthologies and magazines. Marquise continues to host monthly show and That's That Juice also has grown as a result of his hard work and dedication to expand the awareness of spoken word in Nashville. He still lives in Smyrna with his fiancée, Celeste and three kids, Jaiden, Justice and Zoey. With this book being the first collective of his own work, it's evident that his dreams of being known as one of the best in Nashville to do spoken word has come full circle.
