Meet Kenneth Lowery | Spoken Word artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kenneth Lowery and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kenneth, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
I was born in South Carolina and raised in Nashville, TN and my Geechee roots and city upbringing molded me into poet I am today. By finding the poetry in the difference between the deep rooted culture of the low country and the city. I won’t say that my life has been any harder than the next man, we all have our journey but through the good I’ve learned that is another side of things to look forward to when the bad times roll around. Then the bad times taught me how to appreciate the good ones. I can say from the traumas I’ve experienced I have I have become more aware of myself and at the same time given me a voice that fuels my craft. From the lessons I’ve gained from the relationships and friendships I’ve encountered and lost to fatherhood and the lessons I’ve learned from my daughter I try to apply them in my everyday life. With that being said also not allowing effects and results to turn me into something I don’t want to be. All in all I try find balance and every experience teaches me a that life can be poetic.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am Spoken Word artist which is performance based poetry, it calls for certain energy and bringing to life that sets it a part from poetry. Although all spoken word is poetry but all poetry isn’t spoken word. My style or genre of poetry can be put in the wheelhouse of battle rap or hip hop due to its bar heavy build and delivery but still has a poetic essence to the word play and message. Well one of the things I’m most proud of is being nominated 3x in a row for spoken word artist/poet of the year at the SEA awards, but what I’m most excited about is being apart of the building process that is the poetry genre. I had to me would be considered a cliche beginning I decided one day that I was going to bet on myself, I had always wanted to perform my poetry like Larenz Tate in “love jones” only thing was I didn’t know how to look for showcases or open mics I didn’t even know what they were called. So I decided to put together my own showcases which both went pretty well that’s when I got my first nomination and decided to start hitting all the open mics I could find and ended up doing two hundred shows in a year and just never stopped. Elevating as I go and trying new things has kept me moving and growing as an artist. One of the main things I’ve learned is trust your discernment every situation is meant for your progression and trust people for who they are nobody owes you anything. Most of all trust the process and fall in love with it because thats what’s going to keep grounded. As far as what I want the world to know about me my poetry speaks for me but my brand Southside of 65 is representation of everything southern because I love being from the south everything about our culture the people the food and how we carry ourselves I’m carrying that wherever I go.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’m honestly a simple person and really a home body, but I would definitely make sure they got some slim n husky’s. Some prince’s hot chicken the originator of Nashville hot chicken I’d take them to a couple live events because nashville thrives on live entertainment. Depending on the season a few marinas for drinks.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
So I’d definitely want to shoutout my family for always supporting me whether it’s buying merch or coming to shows or even help me promote my different events. I want to shoutout my daughter for being my inspiration in everything I do. I want shoutout my manager Epifany for keeping me booked and busy and being a good friend overall. I want to shoutout the poetry community for embracing me and giving me so many opportunities.

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