Apollinaire's calligramme (1918)

The Chinese poem Quatrain on Heavenly Mountain by Emperor Gaozong of Song; fan mounted as album leaf on silk, four columns in cursive script

A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary greatly in different cultures and time periods.^[1] Throughout each civilization and language, poets have used various styles that have changed through the course of literary history, resulting in a history of poets as diverse as the literature they have produced.

The English word "poet" is derived from the French poète, itself descended from the Latin first-declension masculine noun poeta, meaning "poet". The word "poetry" derives from the Latin feminine noun poetria, meaning not "poetry" but "poetess".

French poet Arthur Rimbaud summarized the "poet" by writing,

A poet makes himself a visionary through a long, boundless, and systematized disorganization of all the senses. All forms of love, of suffering, of madness; he searches himself, he exhausts within himself all poisons, and preserves their quintessences. Unspeakable torment, where he will need the greatest faith, a superhuman strength, where he becomes all men: the great invalid, the great criminal, the great accursed—and the Supreme Scientist! For he attains the unknown! Because he has cultivated his soul, already rich, more than anyone! He attains the unknown, and, if demented, he finally loses the understanding of his visions, he will at least have seen them! So what if he is destroyed in his ecstatic flight through things unheard of, unnameable: other horrible workers will come; they will begin at the horizons where the first one has fallen!

Although that is only one opinion of many on a poet's definition.^[2]

William Wordsworth once described the poet's task as to

make A present joy the matter of a song, Pour forth that day my soul in measured strains That would not be forgotten and are here Recorded

(The Prelude Book 1)

Marianne Moore famously described the poet's job as creating 'imaginary gardens with real toads in them'.(Poetry)

Many poets such as Virgil in the Aeneid and John Milton in Paradise Lost invoke the aid of a Muse to help them in their tasks.

See also[link]

Poetry portal

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Poets

Look up poet in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: poets

• Bard
• List of poets
• Lyricist
• Poet Laureate
• Writer

References[link]

Kendrick Lamar Duckworth^[1] (born June 17, 1987), simply known as Kendrick Lamar, is an American rapper and songwriter from Compton, California currently signed to Top Dawg, Aftermath and Interscope. He first gained major attention after the release of his 2010 mixtape Overly Dedicated. In 2011, his album Section.80, released exclusively through iTunes, instantly ranked as one of the top digital hip hop releases of the year.^[2] Lamar has amassed a large internet following, is a member of hip hop collective Black Hippy, along with Jay Rock, Schoolboy Q and Ab-Soul, and has worked with Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Wiz Khalifa, Game, Drake, Busta Rhymes and Tech N9ne among other popular artists.^[3]

Biography[link]

1987-2009: Early life and career beginnings[link]

Kendrick Lamar was born in Compton, California, a community southeast of Los Angeles city limits, to parents from Chicago, Illinois.^[4] At the age of eight, in 1995, Lamar witnessed his idols, Tupac Shakur and Dr. Dre film the music video for their hit single "California Love," a very significant moment in Lamar's life.^[5] In 2003 at the young age of sixteen, Lamar released his first mixtape, Youngest Head Nigga In Charge under the name K. Dot.^[6] The mixtape was able to garner enough attention for Lamar to get a record deal with Top Dawg Entertainment, a Los Angeles-based independent record label.^[6] He then released a twenty-six track mixtape two years later titled Training Day.^[7] More recognition came Lamar's way after a video of a Charles Hamilton show surfaced, where Hamilton goes in the crowd and battles rappers at attendance. Lamar didn't hesitate and began rapping a verse over Milkbone's "Keep It Real", that would later appear on a track titled "West Coast Wu-Tang".^[5] In 2008 Lamar made a cameo appearance on Jay Rock's "All My Life (In the Ghetto)" music video. After receiving a co-sign from Lil Wayne, he released his third mixtape in 2009 titled C4, heavily themed around Tha Carter III LP.^[8] Soon after, he decided to drop his stage name K. Dot and go by his real name. This resulted in him releasing a self-titled EP; the Kendrick Lamar EP in late 2009.^[9]

[edit] 2010–2011: Overly Dedicated and Section.80

Kendrick performing at a concert in Toronto, Canada

In 2010 he toured with Tech N9ne and Jay Rock on The Independent Grind tour.^[6] On September 23, 2010 he released O(verly) D(edicated) a highly acclaimed mixtape that included a song titled "Ignorance is Bliss" in which he glorifies gangsta rap and street crime but ends each verse with "ignorance is bliss" giving the message "we know not what we do".^[10][11] It was that song specifically that made hip hop producer Dr. Dre want to work with Lamar.^[12] This led to him working with Dre and Snoop Dogg on Dre's Detox album and him considering signing to Aftermath Entertainment.^[6][13] In January 2011 Lamar said his debut album was 90% finished.^[6]

In early 2011 Lamar was featured on XXL Magazine's 2011 Freshman cover along with CyHi the Prynce, Meek Mill, Mac Miller, Yelawolf, Lil B, Big K.R.I.T. and Diggy Simmons among others.^[14] On July 2, 2011, Lamar released his third solo project Section.80 to critical acclaim. It features guest appearances from GLC, Colin Munroe, Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul and includes production from longtime collaborator Sounwave, Wyldfyer, Terrace Martin, J. Cole and more. On the topic of whether Section.80 would be an album or a mixtape Lamar said "I treat every project like it’s an album anyway. It’s not gonna be nothing leftover. I never do nothing like that. These are my leftover songs y’all can have ‘em, nah. I’m gonna put my best out. My best effort. I’m tryna look for an album in 2012". The first single for Section.80 was the J. Cole produced track "HiiiPower", of which the concept was to further explain the HiiiPower movement. Section.80 went on to sell over 10,000 copies in its first week^[15] without any television or radio coverage and received many very positive reviews. In the second half of 2011, Lamar appeared on Game's The R.E.D. Album, Tech N9ne's All 6's and 7's, 9th Wonder's The Wonder Years and Drake's Take Care.

In August 2011, while onstage with Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre and Game, at the West Los Angeles concert, the three of them crowned him the "New King of the West Coast"^[16]

[edit] 2012–present: Good Kid in a Mad City

On February 15, 2012, a song titled "Cartoons & Cereal" featuring Gunplay of Triple C's was leaked.^[17] Lamar revealed later that the track was for his upcoming album and he was planning to shoot a video for it.^[18]

In March 2012, MTV announced that Top Dawg Entertainment, the independent record label Lamar is signed to, have closed a joint venture deal with Interscope Records and Aftermath Entertainment, marking the end of his career as an independent artist. Under the new deal, Kendrick Lamar’s projects, including his upcoming debut studio album Good Kid in a Mad City will be jointly released via Top Dawg, Aftermath and Interscope, while releases from the rest of Black Hippy will be distributed via Top Dawg and Interscope.^[19]

Lamar premiered "The Recipe", his debut single and the lead single from Good Kid in a Mad City, at Power 106 on April 2, 2012. The track was released for digital download the following day. The song was produced by Scoop DeVille and features Dr. Dre.^{[citation needed]}

It was announced on May 14, 2012, that Lamar is working on a collaborative album with J. Cole. In an interview with Bootleg Kev, Cole stated that "I just started working with Kendrick the other day. We got it in, finally, again. We got maybe four or five [songs] together."

Personal life[link]

In high school, Centennial in Compton, Lamar was a good student.^[4] Lamar said that he has seen relatives who have died in his dreams for years. Tupac Shakur is also his favorite rapper, and influences not only his music, but his day-to-day lifestyle as well. In terms of subject matter, Kendrick Lamar has often been compared to Tupac Shakur. ^[6][20][21] He revealed that his favorite and most influential rappers are Tupac Shakur, The Notorious B.I.G., Nas, Jay-Z and his label-mate Eminem.

Discography[link]

• Section.80 (2011)
• Good Kid in a Mad City (2012)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Kendrick Lamar on Twitter
• kedricklamar.com Official Site

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (April 2012)

Wretch 32
Performing at Jersey Live in 2011.
Background information
Birth name	Jermaine Scott
Born	(1985-03-09) 9 March 1985 (age 27)
Origin	Tottenham, London, England
Genres	Grime, British hip hop
Occupations	Rapper
Years active	2006–present
Labels	Ministry of Sound (2010–present)
Associated acts	The Movement, Bashy, Chip, Ed Sheeran, Skepta, Wiley, Double S, Tinie Tempah, Kano, Example, Angel, Skyhigh, Sherif, Lowkey
Website	wretch32.com

Jermaine Scott (born 9 March 1985),^[1][2] better known by his stage name Wretch 32 (three-two), is an English rapper and former Grime MC from Tottenham, London where he grew up the son of a local reggae DJ in the Tiverton Estate.^[3] He was a member of the grime collective "Combination Chain Gang", before forming The Movement with Scorcher, Ghetts, and Mercston. The world and online community including the UK music industry especially, first set eyes on Wretch 32 when 32 was given the opportunity to appear on RMC TV Artist Spotlight back in 2005 around the same time as N-Dubz drummer BreakBeat. Wretch 32 – The Beginning!^[4] Needless Beef a short film based on UK street life and gun crime starring Wretch 32 was first edited and broadcast exclusively on RMC TV, which later inspired MTV’s Dubplate Drama Series.^[5] He is also often associated with the TMT crew, also from Tottenham, due to his close relationship to fellow Tottenham rapper Cell 22. The pair have made several songs together. He released his first single "Traktor" in January 2011.

2009 Mp3 Music Awards announced that Wretch 32 was nominated for an Mp3 Award alongside Chipmunk and Haringey Independent^[6] and Channel U / Channel AKA published the story.^[7]

On 6 December 2010, the BBC also announced that Wretch 32 had been nominated for the BBC's Sound of 2011 poll^[8] and MTV named him as a nominee for MTV Brand New for 2011.^[9]

Career[link]

Early life[link]

Born in March 1985, Scott grew up alongside crews Combination Chain Gang and The Movement, the latter of which featured Scorcher, Ghetto, Mercston and Devlin, Lowkey & Wretch 32 In My Lifetime. Continuing his MC career in 2006, Scott under the name Wretch 32 released a series of mixtapes, including Teacher's Training Day – which featured guest appearances from Ghetts, Bashy and Scorcher.^[10] After coming to the attention of BBC Radio 1 Xtra's DJ Cameo, Wretch went on to win a 1Xtra Mixtape Award.

2007 Early Exposure[link]

Wretch 32 got his first big break when he performed at the first annual MP3 Music Awards in 2007 alongside signed US recording artist Chenelle, signing her chart single “I Fell In Love With The DJ” in front on a live crowd and industry audience that included the likes of the BBC Head of Music Mark Cooper, PRS Chairman Ellis Rich and various other individuals from EMI, Sony, Warner and more. After performing at MMA 2007, his album was released. Wretch 32 Punctuation Live and a Wretch 32 Live Accapella at MP3 Music Awards 2007 on youtube.

2008–2011: Early career[link]

The movement into mainstream began when Wretch 32 appeared at Radio 1's Big Weekend on the BBC Introducing stage in 2009. His debut studio album, Wretchrospective was released in the United Kingdom during 2008, prior to Wretch's signing with record label Ministry of Sound. Wretch 32 and Chipmunk were both nominees for the UGG Awards, Urban/Garage/Grime category at the 2009 Mp3 Music Awards followed by Haringey Independent Press Release. On 6 December 2010, Wretch 32 was named as one of the nominees for BBC's Sound of 2011, an annual poll which predicts artists that will progress during the upcoming year. In 2010 Wretch 32 won a Official Mixtape Award for the 'best hiphop mixtape of 2009.

[edit] 2011–present: Black and White

Wretch then continued, releasing his debut single "Traktor" on 16 January 2011^[11] through Ministry of Sound as both a digital download and a CD single. The track saw commercial success, having been selected as BBC Radio 1's Reggie Yates Weekend Anthem on 19–20 December 2010,^[12] before debuting at number five on the UK Singles Chart as the third highest entry of the week.^[13] The release was succeeded by second single "Unorthodox", which featured British rapper Example. The song, which sampled The Stone Roses' 1989 hit "Fools Gold" debuted at number two in the UK, also topping the R&B chart and independent releases chart; having been selected Jo Whiley's Weekend Anthem on 26–27 March 2011.^[14] also he featured on female artist Jaya's single 'Outta Control' along side Diggy Simmon, although this failed to chart due to lack of exposure.

On December 11, 2011 Wretch 32 released the single "Forgiveness" featuring Etta Bond (artist who is signed to Labrinth's record label Odd Child recordings) from the album Black and White.

It is confirmed that Hush Little Baby, featuring Ed Sheeran will be the next single from the album.

Discography[link]

Albums

• 2008: Wretchrospective
• 2011: Black and White

Mixtapes

• 2006: Learn From My Mixtape
• 2007: Teachers Training Day
• 2009: Wretch32.com
• 2010: More Fun! [Wretch 32 + Chipmunk]
• 2012: Wretchercise

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Official Web Shop
• Wretch 32 on Myspace
• Wretch 32 on Twitter
• Wretch 32 on Facebook