By Shayler Richmond
Darion The Poet sits down to discuss the release of his poetry album titled, "Near Death Experience," and his journey as an artist.
"I want people to ride around listening to my poetry like it's their favorite song," said Darion during our first interview for "The Culture of Curation," a two part written series featuring 13 artist from different disciplines.
Fast-forward, Darion is releasing his first poetry album and he's excited but nervous. He's grown as a person and artist. His growth is accompanied by new challenges, including the pressure of performing solo.
"I'm releasing a lot of things that i've never talked about before," said Darion.
His album features some crowd favorites, as well as some new poems that his fans have never heard before.
"Poetry introduced me to activism and being able to speak up on things that matter," said Darion. "I've always been a pretty vocal person, but poetry gave me a platform to due so."
Culturally we are in yet another era where many people are realizing the great impact and transformative capabilities of art, especially black art.
"Poetry saved my life," said Darion. "For a nice chunk of my life I was in a mental and emotional place that I didn't know how I was going to shake myself out of, and poetry ended up being that way out for me," he continued.
Photo by Derick Jerome
Follow Darion @ Darion_ThePoet on Instagram and Twitter.
Also read, Darion The Poet owes his life to poetry.