Mic Crenshaw (born 1970) is an American

recording artist A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

political activist A political movement is a collective attempt by a group of people to change government policy or social values. Political movements are usually in opposition to an element of the status quo, and are often associated with a certain ideology. Some t ...

, and

educator A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

living in

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

in the U.S. state of

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. Mic Crenshaw creates music and musical platforms that connect artists across political and geographic boundaries.

Biography

Crenshaw was born on the South Side of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in 1970. He graduated high school in

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

, where he became a leading voice for social equity and racial justice. In 1992, he moved to Portland, Oregon to focus anti-racist activism into music and music education. Over the last twenty years he has recorded and produced more than ten albums. Mic Crenshaw recorded and performed with

Dead Prez Dead Prez, often stylized as dead prez, is an American hip hop duo composed of stic.man and M-1, formed in 1996 in New York City. They are known for their confrontational style, combined with lyrics focused on both militant social justice, sel ...

and

Immortal Technique Felipe Andres Coronel (born February 19, 1978), better known by the stage name Immortal Technique, is an American rapper. Most of his lyrics focus on controversial issues in global politics, from a radical left-wing perspective. Immortal Techn ...

, and in 1994 formed the Portland-based hip hop group Hungry Mob as its frontman. In 2001, Mic Crenshaw won the Portland Poetry Slam and finished as a national finalist. He has served as co-manager of

KBOO Community Radio KBOO is a non-profit organization, listener-funded FM Community radio station broadcasting from Portland, Oregon. The station's mission is to serve groups in its listening area who are underrepresented on other local radio stations and to provi ...

twice since 2015.

Activism

In his teenage years, Crenshaw confronted white supremacist gangs as a founding member of

Anti-Racist Action Anti-Racist Action (ARA), also known as the Anti-Racist Action Network, is a decentralized network of militant far-left political cells in the United States and Canada. The ARA network originated in the late 1980s to engage in direct action (inc ...

. He co-founded GlobalFam a non-profit project to create and maintain a computer center for young people in

Burundi Burundi (, ), officially the Republic of Burundi ( rn, Repuburika y’Uburundi ; Swahili language, Swahili: ''Jamuhuri ya Burundi''; French language, French: ''République du Burundi'' ), is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley at the ...

. Crenshaw uses music to critique American law enforcement as a system that perpetuates brutality against black and brown people. Crenshaw partnered with Education Without Borders (NGO), which supports education, music and art initiatives such as Books to Prisoners. He works with the Black Lives Matter movement and acts as the Political Director of

Hip Hop Congress The Hip Hop Congress (HHC) is a non profit, international grassroots organization. Its mission is to evolve hip hop culture by ''inspiring social action, civic service and cultural creativity within the community''. This includes events and wor ...

In 2004, Mic Crenshaw attended the Economic Justice and Youth Empowerment conference in

Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...

. In 2013, Mic Crenshaw worked with a global group of artists to found Afrikan Hip Hop Caravan. The mission is to connect artists across Africa and the Diaspora through annual performance tours in Eastern and Southern Africa. During 2013–2015, the Caravan toured a live performance set in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

South Africa,

Harare Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its metropolitan ...

Zimbabwe;

Arusha Arusha City is a Tanzanian city and the regional capital of the Arusha Region, with a population of 416,442 plus 323,198 in the surrounding Arusha District Council (2012 census). Located below Mount Meru on the eastern edge of the eastern bran ...

Tanzania and

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...

Kenya. In 2014, Afrikan Hip Hop Caravan produced "Afrikan Hiphop Caravan Collaborations" with Soundz Of the South. Mic Crenshaw is the lead organizer of Afrikan Hip Hop Caravan in the United States. In 2017 Crenshaw recorded an album, ''Last of a Dying Breed'', with Micah Fletcher, a survivor of a

2017 Portland train attack On May 26, 2017, Jeremy Joseph Christian fatally stabbed two men and injured a third after he was confronted for shouting racist and anti-Muslim slurs at two black teenagers, Destinee Mangum and Walia Mohamed, on a MAX Light Rail train in Portla ...

in which two others were murdered. While serving as an artist-in-residence at

Benson Polytechnic High School Benson Polytechnic High School is a technical public high school in the Portland Public Schools district. It is temporarily located in Portland's Lents neighborhood while a renovation project is underway at its campus in the Central Eastside ...

, Crenshaw was awarded a $100,000 fellowship from the Fred W. Fields Fund, to help Oregonians "understand the impact of the opportunity gap on families and communities, inspiring people to help solve it." In 2020, Crenshaw performed at several

George Floyd protests in Portland, Oregon Starting in May 2020, demonstrations over the police murder of George Floyd were held in the city of Portland, Oregon, concurrent with protests in other cities in the United States and around the world. By July 2020, many of the protests, which ...

, including Juneteenth in Oregon. During Black History Month 2022, Crenshaw performed with Mt. Olivet Baptist Church Gospel Ensemble in Portland.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crenshaw, Mic Living people American hip hop singers American political activists Educators from Portland, Oregon African Americans in Oregon 1970 births African-American history of Oregon