Within the bustling creative panorama of Chicago, the place rhythm meets poetry and neighborhood activism thrives alongside artistic expression, Ok Love The Poet stands as a beacon of authenticity. Her journey from memorizing poems at her grandmother’s behest to turning into considered one of spoken phrase’s most compelling voices reveals a lot concerning the energy of embracing one’s true calling.
On a crisp morning earlier than her anticipated efficiency with hip-hop legend MC Lyte, Ok Love displays on her path with the mild assurance of somebody who has discovered dwelling inside herself. “I’m completely fabulous. I actually don’t have any complaints,” she begins, her voice carrying the identical melodic high quality that has captivated audiences throughout the nation.
From childhood verses to discovering goal
The origin story of Ok Love’s relationship with poetry begins in fifth grade when her grandmother, an assistant principal at what was then Bryn Mawr (now Bouchet Academy) on Chicago’s East Facet, had her memorize Lucille Clifton’s “Harriet Tubman.” The expertise planted a seed that wouldn’t absolutely bloom till years later.
“Junior yr I began courting the native rapper in my hometown, and I began sending him my poetry,” she remembers. However the pivotal second got here on New 12 months’s Eve 2002, when a date took her to Giovanni’s on 147th Road. “As quickly as I walked in, I actually stated, ‘Oh, I can do that for the remainder of my life.’” By February 2003, she had returned to carry out and “actually by no means stopped.”
What distinguishes Ok Love’s work from others within the subject is her deeply private strategy to common themes of self-love and empowerment. Having grown up watching her mother and father’ early marriage, her father was 17 and her mom 15 once they received collectively, she initially anticipated her life would comply with an identical trajectory.
“Very early on I spotted that was not going to be my path,” she says. “In my teenage years I used to be on the lookout for my husband; each boyfriend, I wished him to be my husband. However as I received older, one factor that was all the time working was poetry, my goal.”
Dwelling in goal by poetry
For Ok Love, poetry grew to become greater than an artwork kind, it grew to become a car for her true calling. “I’m created to nurture, love, uplift, look after, breathe life into individuals who don’t really feel like there’s something value dwelling; to be a pal to the friendless,” she explains. “That’s my actual present. Every part else is a car to do extra of that.”
This sense of goal manifested early. Her mom remembers that at 11 years previous, Ok Love would collect the 7-year-olds within the neighborhood each Saturday, combing their hair, taking them to the library, and defending them from bullies. “These aren’t your youngsters, little woman. You might be my little one,” her mom would remind her. However the intuition to nurture and shield remained.
When requested what it feels wish to dwell in her goal, emotion creeps into her voice. “I didn’t notice what a present it was as a teenager,” she says. “Poetry was the wild card that popped up. And it was like, ‘Yeah, you’re gonna train. However you’re gonna use this to do it.’”
Million Greenback Melanin
Maybe no piece higher exemplifies Ok Love’s affect than her viral poem “Million Greenback Melanin,” a tribute to Black magnificence impressed by her mom’s struggles with colorism.
“I wrote the poem about my mom’s wrestle with being dark-skinned,” she shares. “She was severely teased and made enjoyable of for being of darkish pores and skin, having coarse hair. Sarcastically sufficient, she would give beginning to a bit of chocolate woman that didn’t have these sort of points. I all the time felt fairly.”
The poem, written to empower her mom and lift consciousness about colorism, resonated far past her quick circle. “I had no concept that it will attain in the best way that it did,” she says, noting that individuals from varied nationalities have approached her about their very own experiences with colorism after listening to her carry out it.
From poetry to sharing the stage with MC Lyte
Ok Love’s genuine strategy to her craft has opened sudden doorways, together with an upcoming efficiency with hip-hop legend MC Lyte at Chicago Metropolis Vineyard on March 14, 2025.
The chance arose after her video “Do a New Factor” went viral. When MC Lyte introduced she was in search of artists for her “Lyft Up Cypher,” Ok Love submitted the piece. Inside 24 hours, MC Lyte personally contacted her requesting administration data.
What makes this collaboration significantly becoming is the profound affect hip-hop has had on Ok Love’s strategy to spoken phrase. “Once I’m speaking about who I’m influenced by, I begin saying rappers earlier than I say poets,” she admits. “I began off with Tupac. The primary poetry e book that I ever received was ‘The Rose That Grew from Concrete.’”
Different influential figures embrace Lauryn Hill, Jay-Z, Eve, and, after all, MC Lyte herself. Solely after these names does she point out the canonical poets: Maya Angelou, Nikki Giovanni, and Gwendolyn Brooks.
Chicago roots and religious foundations
When discussing what makes Chicago distinctive, Ok Love provides a vivid metaphor: “I describe Chicago to folks like your imply grandma, she gonna minimize you out, however she gonna feed you, although, too. You’re going to get some fussing, and the fussing could be the violence, the recklessness. However you’re positively going to get some nurturing, and the nurturing is the neighborhood engagement.”
This duality of harshness and nurturing has formed each her artistry and her strategy to neighborhood work. Even after relocating to Baltimore, she returns often to Chicago, proof that “even distance doesn’t separate me from my metropolis.”
Spirituality types the inspiration of her work. Initially often known as a “Christian poet” or “gospel poet,” she now describes herself as “an artist whose basis is religious, not essentially spiritual.” This religious grounding informs how she approaches her craft: “I do really feel like this can be a God-given present above all, so I deal with it prefer it’s sacred.”
Books, schooling, and continued affect
As Ok Love seems to be to the long run, her plans embrace increasing her youngsters’s e book collection, creating on-line courses primarily based on her poetry curricula, and pursuing schooling after returning to highschool following a 22-year hiatus.
However on the core of all these endeavors stays her elementary goal: “You’ll be able to constantly anticipate instructing, reaching, loving, nurturing, uplifting, creating areas for folks to course of their trauma utilizing poetry. I’ll be wherever the love is required.”
Ok Love will headline her personal present at Metropolis Vineyard on March 31, 2025, devoted to celebrating girls of Chicago who’ve impacted historical past, from educators like Marva Collins to activists confronting police brutality.
For these desirous to expertise her work firsthand, tickets for each the March 14 efficiency with MC Lyte and her March 31 headlining present can be found now. As she prepares to take these levels, Ok Love stays grounded within the perception that has guided her journey: “You by no means miss something that’s actually for you.”
Join with Ok Love The Poet at www.klovethepoet.com or on Instagram and Fb.
