Stephen Harvey
My name is Stephen Harvey and I am 41 years old. I am a learning mentor working in local primary Schools, and have also worked for Stoke on Trent City Council delivering after school clubs in break dancing and rapping in a workshop environment.
I joined City voices after visiting the festival of words they had organised for The Axis Festival in 2008. I was very impressed with the content and enthusiasm the members had for their own and other members work, and the non-competitive aspect that they had for one another. The members give constructive feedback and help each other in any way they can.
I have always been involved with music and dance in some form from a very early age, and was a semi professional dancer in the eighties travelling all over the British Isles competing and doing exhibitions with a break dancing crew called The Atomic Force.
I have recently been concentrating on collaborations with local musicians by adding my lyrics/raps to their tracks. My poetry is based around a rap style format mostly, although I do dabble in other forms on occasions.
I also work with another local musician named Andrew Brereton, producing electronic music and hip hop. We are collectively known as God complex and are regularly played on BBC Radio Stoke, and have also been featured on BBC Radio One courtesy of Huw Stephens unsigned show. We have also written the music for three theatre shows that have been performed at The Mitchell Memorial and The Regent Theatre in Hanley.
I am the editor for a website which promotes local arts and music in the area, and I am also a regular contributor to Stoke Sounds website and The Local Edition newspaper. I have written CD and album reviews for various bands and genres, and also organise the Hip Hop @ Fatcats Basmemt club night, which has become very popular in the local music scene and has attracted artists from Birmingham, Manchester and Bristol to appear on the shows.
Examples of Rap: