This week Peter deGraft-Johnson (The Repeat Beat Poet) speaks to Hip Hop artist and former Sheffield Poet Laureate, Otis Mensah. They discuss how the concept of introspective documentarianism underpins Otis' work of building a personal identity and creative voice around artistic truth and vulnerability, through rap and poetry. There's also talk of surviving and decrying racial capitalism, and a breakdown of Otis' tenure as laureate.  

Otis reads three poems - 

17:12 - Contrary To The Intangible Grapevine

Download a full transcript here: (COMING SOON)

For more from Otis: www.otismensah.com

For more from PJ: linktr.ee/repeatbeatpoet

Order 'Why Poetry?': The Lunar Poetry Podcasts Anthology here: vervepoetrypress.com/product/why-poetry/

Episode music is an original composition by Snazzy Rat. You can find more from Snazzy here: snazzyrat.bandcamp.com 

Our production team is Mystery Planet Productions. https://mysteryplanet.net/ 

Also mentioned on the podcast - 

Rhyme & Reason (series of filmed conversations as part of Otis' Artist Residency with Sheffield University, ft. Awate, Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan, and Open Mike Eagle) https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKKXT6kV3PhsxOlnBZLxAg4mTWAN4IHy4 

Pen-Ting Poetry - www.instagram.com/pentingpoetry

Kid Cudi - Man On The Moon (2009)