J. Ivy credits one of his high school teachers with pushing him to pursue a spoken word career. Today, he was at Hyde Park Academy High School encouraging students to go for their dreams.
‘’First and foremost, it starts with loving yourself. We have to believe in ourselves, but to truly believe in ourselves, you have to love yourself. So, love yourself, believe in yourself, dream big,” J. Ivy told students.
“Seeing different things as a young person changed my life,” Lateefa Harland-Young said. Harland-Young is a broadcast technology instructor at Hyde Park Academy High School.
She is the one who invited J. Ivy to speak to students on Friday.
“I think that being able to see people be successful in the spaces and industries that they are in lets them know it’s possible,“ Harland-Young said.
Harland-Young told NBC 5 that there are a lot of aspiring journalists, poets, storytellers at the school who are encouraged to tell their stories and empower their voices, and the students were grateful for the teachable moment.
“I’m a poet myself too, so I took a lot of inspiration from him,” student Angelo Martin told NBC 5.
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Student Jeremy Moore says J. Ivy’s message, “Let me know I can do whatever I want in my future.”
Student Kyla Blackman agreed, telling NBC 5, “Him being from Chicago, and he could make it out and do something with himself, it’s giving me inspiration."
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“He let you know that everybody goes through those things, and you can do what he did to get where you want to go,” student Daniyah Johnson said.
One of the students asked him to perform a poem, and J. Ivy chose one he dedicated to his father.
“A lot of Black kids in Chicago, we sometimes grow up with no father." I was in the back crying. I was shedding a tear because I felt that really in my soul, it was very beautiful.”
The city of Chicago declared today J. Ivy Day, and the poet is still celebrating his Grammy win, which made him the first spoken word artist to win in the newly created category, "Best Spoken Word Poetry Album."
As a national trustee of the Recording Academy, J. Ivy spent 6 years lobbying for it.
"Last year, I submitted a proposal, renamed the category and the proposal passed, and for the first time in the history of the Grammys, five poets were nominated,” J. Ivy said.
A proud moment for this Chicago poet, proving that dreams really can come true.
J. Ivy will be performing at City Winery later this month.
