As the inaugural Poet Laureate of Albuquerque, NM (2012-2014), Hakim Bellamy is a national and regional Poetry Slam Champion, and holds three consecutive collegiate poetry slam titles at the University of New Mexico. His poetry has been published in on the Albuquerque Convention Center, on the outside of a library, in inner-city buses and in numerous anthologies across the globe. Bellamy was recognized as an honorable mention for the University of New Mexico Paul Bartlett Ré Peace Prize for his work as a community organizer and journalist in 2007, and was awarded the Emerging Creative Bravos Award by Creative Albuquerque in 2013. In 2014, Bellamy was named a W. K. Kellogg Foundation Fellow and was awarded the Food Justice Residency at Santa Fe Art Institute. Bellamy has been named “Best Poet” in the Weekly Alibi’s annual Best of Burque poll every year since 2010. His first book, SWEAR (West End Press/UNM Press) won the Tillie Olsen Award for Creative Writing from the Working Class Studies Association. He is the co-creator of the multimedia Hip Hop theater production Urban Verbs: Hip-Hop Conservatory & Theater that has been staged throughout the country. He facilitates youth writing workshops for schools, jails, churches, prisons and community organizations in New Mexico and beyond. Currently, Bellamy is completing multidisciplinary arts projects (manuscripts) from his travels to Turkey and Nepal last summer. Bellamy has had his work featured on AlterNet, Truthout, CounterPunch and the nationally syndicated Tavis Smiley Radio Show. He is the on-air television host for New Mexico PBS's ¡COLORES! Program. Bellamy holds an M.A. in Communications from the University of New Mexico, is the proud father of a 7 year-old miracle and is the founding president of Beyond Poetry LLC. Hakim’s journey as a poet has come full circle as of late, wearing the hat of musician. A product of the Hip Hop generation and influenced by his parents extensive wax collection (which included the likes of Janis Joplin, Sly and The Family Stone, Carlos Santana & Buddy Miles, The Grateful Dead, Gil Scott Heron, The Temptations, Teddy Pendergrass & The Last Poets), Bellamy is equal parts musical artist, archivist and archeologist. He digs music. Piano lessons, recitals and many years singing in the church choir prepared him for the funk-infused, experimental yet melodic brand of Hip Hop that he produces today with creative partner Colin “Diles” Hazelbaker. His eclectic music background and vision is literally front and center as lead vocalist, emcee and singer-songwriter in his band Waylaid (with Hoofer/Tap Dancer Donne “Wychdokta” Lewis on feet and bass, and Stuart “Fish Out ‘O Water” Smith on guitar, percussion, peddles and buttons). He’s shared the musical stage with Zion-I, The Wailers, The Last Poets, Amiri Baraka, Cecil Taylor & Blacklisted Individuals. For over two years he has staffed a bi-weekly music column in Albuquerque. In 2013 Bellamy won his first New Mexico Music Award in the category of Best Hip-Hop for his song Ain’t Nothing Better Than That produced by Tuman Productions (ABQ, NM). As an actor, Hakim has grown his talent on both the screen and the stage. He made a cameo in the independent film Romeo & Juliet Vs. The Living Dead (2009) and has made multiple appearances in local commercials (Television and Radio). He has done voice work for television and radio, worked for two years as a radio journalist at KUNM 89.9FM in Albuquerque, NM and has been cast as an extra in such films/tv shows as Gamer (2009), Swing Vote (2009) & Crash the Television Series, Season II (2010). On the stage Hakim was cast in a major role in the 2009 Albuquerque production of The Exonerated, produced by NMRepeal.org. In the summer of 2011, Hakim secured a major role as the Friar in the Vortex Theater’s Summer Shakespeare Festival production of Romeo & Juliet for a 14 show run. In 2013, Bellamy was cast in the 2011Pulitzer Prize wining play Clybourne Park to great reviews. Most recently, in 2014 he played the iconic role of Tom Robinson in Harper Lee’s classic To Kill A Mockingbird. He has since co-written and starred in Urban Verbs: Hip Hop Conservatory & Theater with his creative partners Carlos Contreras and Colin Diles Hazelbaker, currently booking tour dates for their second originally written show in the Spring of 2015. We make the time to create art together because we believe what we are creating has such a sense of duty and responsibility to inspire change in people, that NOT doing it is akin to giving up on beauty, positivity and hope for a different kind of Hip-Hop, a different kind of world for ourselves and our children.