Interview with Christylez Bacon

Hip-hop artist Christylez Bacon plays the acoustic guitar, western African djembe, beat-boxing, ukulele, and spoons. Bacon explains he was raised to not curse in his music, and taught the importance of subject matter and topics in music. He performed his first open mic while attending Duke Ellington School of the Arts in northwest Washington, D.C. He studied web design and graphic design at Duke Ellington and during one semester at Montgomery College. Bacon explains he worked hard at his web design/graphic design while hitting the open mic scene hard throughout Washington, D.C. He states he realized what is happening in southeast Washington, D.C. is happening in other places through listening to the music of artists from other places. Bacon talks about the evolution of his career from open mics in Washington, D.C. to development of a children's album which led to a Grammy nomination to his present endeavors. He also talks about the MLK program with youth, Strathmore residency, what he learned during his residencies in Idaho and Utah, teaching hip-hop, and performing for children and adults. He states his performances are about teaching and education. Bacon discusses his musical style, the inspiration for his lyrical content, the future of his art, his desire to tour the world and learn about other types of music, and his advice for up-and-coming artists. At end of the interview, he raps freestyle a summary of his life.

Interview. Dated 20101203.