About Me
BaussT
BaussT was born and raised in the inner-city neighborhood of Adams Morgan in Washington DC. His formative childhood years were spent in DC public schools where he served 12 years to life. It was there that he first embraced the freedom of cognitive expression and dialogue in elementary school creative writing classes. In BaussT’s early years, Adams Morgan was a neighborhood of local shop owners, living above their stores. He played with Blackies, Whiteys, red-headed Brownies, and even a few Chinamen. Over the years, the hood evolved into a
diverse cultural, ethnic and economic potpourri of all kinds of fruit baby – I’m telling you. It was here that he first saw the stark economic realities of poverty on one side of the Calvert Street bridge and the lavish opulence of wealth and society on the other – TWO WORLDS – one bridge. His family sat somewhere in between the two extremes more towards hardship than good n’ plenty unless you count his personal consumption of Slim Jim’s and Twinkies, as a sign of affluence. His afterschool activities revolved around his grandfather’s humble Chinese-American carry out shop. It was in the restaurant kitchen where the work ethic was ignited and it was in the alley behind the Carryout and the streets and sidewalks around the neighborhood where he found sweet escape…but he hasn’t escaped the alley rats of his childhood which continue to call out today. It was the same concrete venues where BaussT discovered the urban vibe that weave throughout his work. The magic of his childhood discoveries give wings to the power of the written, and then spoken words. BaussT is a product of exposure to a diverse and dynamic set of influences that he won’t soon forget. So finally emerging from this spectacular clash of cultures are the themes of life, death, wealth, class- distinction, knowledge-formation, explosive identity, sexual pranksterism, oriental mystery, technocratic mumbo-jumbo, criminal caricaturization, street-wise resilience, lost innocence, urban decay, ethnic prejudice, and systematic struggle that can be found in the lyrics today. It’s just not clear where he got his righteous rhythm … Soul Train maybe…dig dat.
