Feeling as healing: Zakisha Brown uses her spoken word poetry as a balm for living

Describing herself, hip hop artist, emcee and poet Zakisha Brown notes that she's "a proud African woman who loves her people, who loves her culture, who loves her roots — who understands that we must feel in order to heal." And this tone is present in all of her poetry, where she speaks directly to the listener about pain, love and empowerment.

Watch the video:

Zakisha Brown uses poetry as healing

6 years ago

Duration 3:50

Hip hop artist, emcee and poet Zakisha Brown uses verse to speak to her community and to the future. Filmmaker: Bobby Singh Brown

In this video made by filmmaker Bobby Singh Brown, you'll meet Zakisha Brown as she opens up about what drives her poetry, how it's helped her process pain and loss and why she's always going be writing.

"I'm trying to spread a message of — even if we don't know who we are, there's ways and methods of trying to get to a deeper part of ourselves that we might be afraid to do," she explains. For her, poetry is that method.

"Poetry is life. Poetry is me."

Zakisha Brown's new album will be coming out this year, and her first music video, "Dey Know," drops in May.