10 FACTS ABOUT MYSELF:
1. I'm a poet, rapper and songwriter.
2. I was born and spent my formative years in Port Harcourt.
3. I'm a shoe merchant, I have a start-up brand that manufactures and sells shoes.
4. I'm quite the talkative.
5. I'm an orphan — I think I might be too old to fit this profile in its entirety though, after all, I'm not really a child anymore.
6. I have a bachelor's degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering.
7. I'm a bit of an art critic, mostly music, and I believe the critic is not the enemy of the artist.
8. I'm highly invested in Hip hop, aware that it is more than just a music genre, it is a culture.
9. I'm an amateur photographer.
10. My art is an extension of myself and I'm refining my skills, evolving as an artist so I can use it as a tool not just for entertainment, but also one to consciously add good to my environment.
A piece of my poetry:
THREE COURSE MEAL
Lot of these guys talk much about how "shawty look like a snack"
But I think you look like a three course meal.
It doesn't matter if I do, or don't mind
A little belly fat is still fine
God is a tattoo artist and stretch marks are his design
You're not just a barbecue, you came with sides.
Peeking out of your hijab
These things are hard to hide
And as I get ready your order, filled with the green like vegetable soup
I want a partner that will nurture me like a mother
Amala thick girl who will complement me well
We'd be the special of the heavenly cook
Such a match means that I hit the shot, I put the ball through the hoop.
If I'm tea leaves, you're hot water.
You draw out all of my potential
And we form something brand new
Move my kinetic, set the static in motion
If I am the Earth, you are the oceans
That means it is you who keeps the skies blue
Evaporate to condensate and make rain fall,
You water the dry lands of my soul.
Lot of these guys talk much about how "shawty look like a snack"
But I think you look like a three course meal.
It doesn't matter if I do, or don't mind
A little belly fat is still fine
Besides I've always liked plus size
So I think you look good like that
You look take-away, a single serving of you can't just finish like that
You leave enough with me to take back
Enough knowledge from our conversations
A linger of your perfume
An after taste of our kiss
Lipstick on my shirt collar
And a voice in my head when I get home whispering "call her"
They don't know what they are missing
If you're a cake, I'm passed the icing
I know what is in the filling
I've experienced a feeling that is filling
Lot of these guys talk much about how "shawty look like a snack"
But I think you look like a three course meal
It doesn't matter if I do, or don't mind
A little belly fat is still fine
God is a tattoo artist and stretch marks are his design
You're not just a barbecue, you came with sides.
Intelligent ones
Physical ones
Historic ones
And some of which you are shy.
But they'd swell out of a cassock
Peek out of your hijab
All that beauty will leak out your frame
They'd ooze out of your mind.
These things are hard to hide
-Tonton Raymond, 2018
A link to my music:
My Social media: "Tonton_raymond" on Instagram and Twitter
