Who Is DJ 9:27?

So who is DJ 9:27? Around August 2006, I was asked by my good friend L.I.F.E., President/CEO of the Black on Black Rhyme poetry collective to be his co-host for weekly poetry shows and featured shows in Tampa, Florida. For those unfamiliar with Black on Black Rhyme, the collective was started by then students of Florida A&M University (FAMU) in Tallahassee, FL has several franchises nationwide in cities such as Tallahassee, Florida; Tampa, Florida; Rochester, NY; Atlanta, Georgia; Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

Shows meet in each city at least one night weekly and feature some of the best local underground poets performing "spoken word", "open-mic" poetry. Open-mic refers to the practice of signing a list at the door; the show host then calls up each open-mic signee to perform their piece at some point during the show. Also, a spoken word artist is a performance poet who stands before an audience and recites their poetry aloud. Some poets are also singers, musicians, and/or song writers who may perform pieces to music. Each show will at times have a featured poet who is usually visiting from out of town. This featured poet will stand and perform a set consisting of several poems and may offer his work for sale whether a CD or book. From time to time groups of poets will also get together at a local, state, national, or international performance poetry competition called a "slam" in which poets compete for the love of the audience, high scores from slam judges, and cash prizes which may range from a nominal amount of money up to thousands of dollars for the winners.

Anyhow, I myself do not consider myself to be a poet (because I'm not) but I have been a performance musician since age 9 (piano/keyboard, saxophone, organ, snare drum, xylophone, etc. are among the instruments I have studied) and feel comfortable addressing crowds oratorically or performing music for hundreds to thousands of people in an audience, so it seemed natural for me to begin hosting the shows while having the chance to meet some of the worlds greatest poets and performers, many of whom have appeared on BET, HBO Def Comedy Jam, TV One, etc. such as Taalam Acey (poet, author), Kevin Sandbloom (guitarist, writer, poet), Sunni Patterson (poet, college professor), and more.

In the meantime, I always wanted to learn the art of DJ'ng and since our DJ, Forge was getting ready to leave to begin his Masters of Psychology studies in Missouri, he began showing me his craft, and would sometimes have me to work part of shows while he watched me. By July 31, 2007, Forge's last show, I was ready to go and made the transition from show co-host to DJ. L.I.F.E. figured that since I didn't have a DJ name or moniker, and all DJ's do, he would let the audience name me. So for the next few months, he held a weekly contest, and audience members that arrived by the opening time of 9:30pm got to submit names which the entire audience voted on. By December, 2007, I had a permanent name, DJ 9-2-7 (Also written, 9:27) which was chosen by audience member Aleysha E. because I had a reputation for arriving around 9:27pm just a few minutes before the start of the show. Well, the moniker stuck, and that is "the rest of the story."

This blogger DJ'd Black on Black Rhyme Tampa full-time from 2007-2008.

Barack Obama American Stories Recap

Full video of Barack Obama's half-hour commercial/mini-documentary broadcast on Wednesday, October 29, 2008, 8pm on BET, CBS, Fox, MSNBC, NBC, Univision, and TV One.

Commentary from former Clinton Aide, Howard Wolfson:

Let's quickly dispense with the silly spin from the McCain campaign and the notion that Senator Obama's infomercial might somehow be overkill or extravagant--there isn't a campaign anywhere that wouldn't want to be able to afford thirty minutes of network time a week before the election to make a final pitch to undecided voters.

And this ad was clearly aimed at those voters still deciding--it effectively interspersed geographically and ethnically diverse tales of middle class hardship, narrated sympathetically by Barack Obama, with specific policy details about how an Obama Administration would address the problems confronting American families. [...]

This ad won't win Senator Obama the election--he was going to win in any case. But it was a highly effective, well-produced and well-executed closing argument. And at a time when the McCain campaign is doing everything it can to knock Senator Obama off his game, it's another example of how and why that task is so difficult.

Barack Obama American Stories Airs Tonight

In a move which smacks of "screw you John McCain, I have more money than you", Barack Obama will air half-hour long informercial tonight during the pregame of the World Series Game 5/6. The buy cost $3 million, and after a record-breaking $150 million month in September, the Obama for America campaign feels justified that there is no such thing as too much publicity when you're running for President of the US. Unlike the past couple Democratic Presidential candidates, Obama has learned that even when leading your opponent in polling in the last week of the election season you can never coast into an election lest you are doomed to failure by overconfidence.

For more information, check out Huffington Post's article, "Obama's Prime Time TV Commercial: A Preview", and of course tune in tonight to CBS, NBC, Fox, BET, MSNBC, Univision & TV One at 8:00pm EST to watch "Barack Obama: American Stories". This made-for-TV event is part infomercial and part testimonial, will primarily feature vignettes of people and families whom Obama has met during his nearly two-year campaign, and will include a live component from a campaign rally in Florida at the very end of the show. The show may also feature American leaders talking about why Obama is the right leader for the USA at this time.