Poetry vs. Hip-Hop: Team Boston vs. Team Atlanta
Following a sell-out show this past April, Poetry vs. Hip-Hop, the ultimate showdown of words and beats, returns to City Winery Boston for Round 2 on Wednesday, July 10th.
The main event is a "FRIENDLY, all Peace and all Love" battle, as Poets go head-to-head with Emcees. Poetry vs. Hip-Hop is the brainchild of Queen Sheba, the Atlanta-based 2024 Spoken-Word Poetry Grammy Nominee and two-time National Slam Poetry Champion. Her work has been seen on The Apollo Theatre, Radio One and Verses & Flow, and on collaborations with multi-Grammy winner Robert Glasper.
Queen Sheba hosts the show. She is celebrated for her dynamic sets from Boston Calling and Boston Celtics games, to First Night Boston 2024.
The night opens with poet Amanda Shea (two-time Boston Music Award Music Spoken Artist of the Year). and live music by Berklee College alum and singer-songwriter Autumn Jones. A New Jersey native, Jones has carved a niche with her soulful R&B compositions, drawing from her personal journey and life stories, and collaborated with notable artists such as John Legend, Erykah Badu, and Anderson Paak.
July’s edition of Poetry vs. Hip-Hop features a friendly Boston vs. Atlanta team battle. Atlanta is still mad about the infamous 2017 Super Bowl in which the Falcons blew a 28-3 lead in just 17 minutes to lose to the Patriots. Team Atlanta, representing the best of the ATL: Poets Shebarz and Chev, along with Emcees Dreek Jones and King Jai are coming to regain some dignity for their city. Boston is gearing up to defend its home turf over and has stacked their team with 4 amazing artists as well: Poets D Ruff and Cloud, with Emcees Rayel and Cakeswagg.
Over 3 rounds, Queen Sheba will call up one poet and one emcee who are REQUIRED to hug (or dap or show each other love in some way) to emphasize the bridging of gaps and culture - then the Poet and the Emcee perform one at a time, with the order being alternated each round.
Each artist is encouraged to perform their BEST work in a 4-minute time period - at the end of each round, the audience cheers wildly, throws money, stomps on the floor and goes bananas for their favorite performance! The team who wins the best out of 3 rounds wins $1000 in cash on the spot!
City Winery was founded in New York City in 2008 by Michael Dorf to deliver a unique combined culinary and cultural experience to urban wine enthusiasts. Each City Winery offers intimate concerts, food and wine seminars, private event spaces, upscale dining, and a fully functioning winery. Today, City Winery has physical locations in New York City, Chicago, Nashville, Atlanta, Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Hudson Valley.
