Meet Akeem Chandler-Prescod | Poet (Barbados Poetry Slam Champion), Arts Administrator & Visual Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Akeem Chandler-Prescod and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Akeem, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
Caribbean children are often exposed to cultural forms and artistic disciplines at a very young age, whether it is through the curriculum in our schools, the community groups and churches in every parish, or the massive annual summer festivals/carnivals; we are initiated into the process of creating even when we don’t know what or why we are creating. I was one of the many initiated and would have found an interest in the creative arts through my secondary education at The Combermere School. However, during my tenure at the institution, I never saw the creative arts as a viable career option and swiftly abandoned them once I graduated. Years passed by before I began creating again and my spark was reignited when I tried my chore-battered calloused hands at writing. I wrote many short stories on Wattpad and used creative writing as a healthy distraction from the monotony of my day job. Eventually, I stumbled upon spoken word poetry and began to perform at open mics before then enrolling in my first degree which was a Bachelor of Arts in Arts & Entertainment Management where I graduated with honors. During that degree, I began to see creativity as a renewable resource that can be used to revitalize Caribbean economies. We already have a fully articulated industry around Soca/Calypso. Still, Literature, Poetry, and Theatre are seen as sub-cultural forms and don’t exist in a meaningful way in our dominant culture. Coming from Barbados, a country with very little in the way of natural resources, our main resource is our people. I see creativity and our culture not only as a self-replenishing renewable resource but also as a tool to give us a competitive advantage globally. In a more intrinsic sense, I see the creative arts as a vehicle for education and sensitization, one where we can share new ideas and information with our community and social groups. A career in the arts is a career of connection—a labor of love and a commitment to understanding yourself, your environment, and your kin. I pursued a career in the arts to not only make money selling our culture to the world but also to impact social development and stimulate intellectual paradigm shifts.
Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Let me start by saying I am a multi-disciplinary artist functioning as a recording artist, performing artist, photographer, videographer, and writer. My writing is typically packaged as poetry, spoken word, and Hip-Hop music but occasionally can be short monologues and short plays. I discovered spoken word through rapping back in 2016 when I felt like the ecosystem of Hip-Hop was becoming very melodic and there wasn’t much of a market for the style of Hip-Hop, I was creating. I took my unrecorded, unreleased records and deconstructed them into poetic pieces laced with music and began weaving theatrical elements into them such as characterization, props, storytelling, and movement. The result was something that resembled Hip-Hop musical theatre with a uniquely Barbadian twist. I prototyped this product at a few open mics in early 2016 before gaining the confidence to showcase my experimental work nationally at The National Independence Festival for Creative Arts. This experiment led to me winning two silver medals and The Earl Warner Trophy for Excellence in Theatre along with a Certificate of Merit for Writing. Over time, I refined this product until it became what it is today, which is musical poetry that can be performed theatrically, recited, or mounted with a band at a concert. I believe this malleability makes my work easily integrated into many festivals, events, and exhibitions and has led to me becoming the current National Poetry Slam Champion, The Gine On People’s Choice Poet of The Year for 2023 as well as a finalist in The Frank Collymore Literary Endowment Competition. Throughout my seven-year career, I have performed in Bloemfontein, South Africa, amassed over 100,000 aggregate streams on Spotify & Apple Music as well as over 500,000 organic video views across TikTok & Instagram. I can be found on all these platforms as STONEDWITHCUPID
During the pandemic, I bought a cheap Nikon D3300 to record my poems while we were on lockdown, and completely fell in love with photography and video creation. What was supposed to be a tool for my poetry became an entirely separate business by the name of Cupid Productions (@stonedwithcupidphotography on Instagram). I already understood the importance of good storytelling as a writer and my camera became the most expensive pen I owned, a tool for me to capture and tell stories I couldn’t otherwise using prose. In the first year, I specialized in Fine Art/Surrealism where the visual pieces would explore a concept or idea. In Barbados, there were only a handful of artists who truly grasped the genre, and I was able to grab market share relatively quickly and acquire clients. As time passed, I upgraded my gear and began exploring Food & Beverage, Real Estate & Event Photography. With the advent of A.I tools I saw a decline in the demand for my starting niche, however, I now utilize A.I tools in my Fine Art works to further enhance and depict my complex concepts. Beyond the realm of artistic creation & consumption, I utilize my camera for research and documentation. Photographs are a way to preserve our tangible and intangible cultural heritage and my work has been instrumental in documenting our local reparatory movement, indigenous art forms and craft such as Stick-Licking, Stilt-Walking, and The Landship, antique artifacts, and emerging new cultural forms. Visual Art is a way to preserve the present, access the past, and safeguard the future and I am fortunate to be able to do the work that I do.
Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I’d say St. Lawrence Gap would be the first stop. We would pop into South Gap Hotel and lounge in comfort while sipping mojitos and enjoying some of the most consistent food on the island. Next door is Halo Ultra Lounge where we can party in a safe, somewhat secluded manner. The next day we would pop into Sage Bar, depending on the night they may be poetry, jazz, dancing, or a songwriting session. The drinks there are quite good too. The following day I’d say we would go to Zouk’s, a club on the west coast, and the next day to Folkstone beach to relax and soak in the sun.
The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There are so many people that have assisted me in my journey and first and foremost I’d like to shout out my parents for not judging their son for wanting to be creative on an island where it is seen as a second job or a hobby. I’d like to shout out the development agencies such as The National Cultural Foundation and my two alma maters The Combermere School and The Barbados Community College. Lastly, I’d like to shout out Write Right PR Services and my friends.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stonedwithcupid/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Stonedwithcupid
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@stonedwithcupid2739/featured
Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@stonedwithcupid https://music.apple.com/us/album/body-count/1665820156?i=1665820336
Image Credits
Cupid Productions & Write Right Pr Services