Biography:

G Yamazawa is a Japanese-American poet/emcee born and raised in Durham (Bull City), NC. Growing up with a Buddhist background, he first began spittin' as a young child chanting mantras and sutras with his father. Influenced by hip hop culture and music, he began writing his first rhymes at the age of 12. During his freshman year of high school he wrote his first spoken word piece and started performing at local venues, but didn't think it was for him at the time. Aspiring to become a famous rapper, G dedicated his writing towards hip hop music but his life took a sharp turn when he was expelled from high school at the beginning of his junior year. That following year was when poetry found him again, and soon G stopped rapping all together and started competing in poetry slams. After experiencing the Brave New Voices Poetry Festival in 2008, he made the transition from a rapper to a poet and realized the importance of his words. Quickly moving into the adult slam scene, G started competing at the Southern Fried Regionals and the National Poetry Slam in 2009. In 2010 the Bull City Slam Team won Southern Fried and placed 3rd in the nation. That summer G was also honored to share his experience in faith and perform a poem at the Rock the Era Youth Buddhist Festival in front of 11,000 people at Temple University. He also ranked 5th in the world at the Individual World Poetry Slam 2010 in Charlotte, NC. Widely considered one of the top spoken word artists in the country, G has released a book of poetry and a spoken word album, and has decided to return back to his first love, hip hop. After an amazing three year journey of spoken word and slam poetry, G is challenging his pen to write bars with conviction.