Billy Tuggle

2008 Mental Graffiti/ Chicago Grand slam champion Member of Chicago' PolyRhythmic arts collective.

Billy Tuggle, a native of Chicago’s south side, is a performance poet who uses heritage and urban culture as a platform for what HipHop ambassador Kris “KRS-ONE” Parker calls “edutainment”. With great artist/ activist/ cultural influences such as KRS, Bob & Rita Marley, Bad Brains, Ben Harper and his own performance poetry contemporaries, Billy is always striding to push forward the art of the spoken word in original directions. Billy is a seen and unseen force in the rise of Chicago’s first generation of HipHop. Circa 1985, many had treated early HipHop including b-boyin’ or “breakdancing” as a fad, Billy stopped dancing but picked up a marker. As ‘writer’ CRU1SE, he formed the crew STS- Style Takes Substance or StormTroopers. STS were not well known but were witness to early capers by many of Chicago’s famed crews and writers such as “Raven” and “Upski”. Using STS as a platform later fueled college-age activism with Amnesty International and the anti-Gulf War movement. Billy’s performance preferences at the time were not conducive to current HipHop aesthetics, but that would change over a few years on Chicago’s open mic poetry scene. Billy eventually known by a newer moniker, Karma, began to explore Chicago HipHop as it came of age in the late 90’s being a journalistic and poetic mouthpiece and promoter. Since 2003, Billy has been a principal performer in Chicago’s spoken word scene. That year he and his original work appeared in the local and independently produced film Urban Poet. That was surrounded by slam successes in Berkeley, San Francisco and Chicago invitational slams. He has qualified for the National Poetry Slam 5 times for Chicagoland teams. He is the 2008 Mental Graffiti Grand Slam Champion. He was also a 2006 NPS semifinalist and Rustbelt Midwest champion, with Mental Graff; Also notable was the 2007 Palatine, IL team for which he served as player-coach at the Dallas Invitational and NPS. Competing on the national slam circuit has allowed Billy to tour the continent’s most popular poetry slam areas and venues- Boston/Cambridge; San Francisco Bay; Seattle; Vancouver; Austin; the Twin Cities; New York- and most anywhere you can find a poetry reading. For 2 years he co-organized and co-hosted Mental Graffiti and is a “permanent guest host” for the Heartland Café’s In One Ear open mic. Simultaneous to his rise as a performance poet is Karma Threesixty establishing a voice and a venue for the HipHop aesthetics of self-creation in the urban shadows. Substance and style have earned him places on stage with the likes Collette, Mazi and D.J Motion in the live P.A. Deeper Than Blue; plus Pevin Everet, the Large Professor and DJ Spinna plus recordings and stages of Chicago’s premier independent HipHop artists: DJ Jesse De La Pena, O-Type Star, All Natural, Prime, champion MC J.U.I.C.E., and others. Billy has been a member of PolyRhythmic, the Chicago-based multimedia arts collective, since 2004. PolyRhythmic writes and produces events such as Dead Presidents and Letters to Robert for live presentation anywhere, from their heralded Safe Smiles open mic to arts festivals all over the city. The same year saw the publishing of Conscience Under Pressure, Billy’s first poetry collection, by Fractal Edge Press. Fractal Edge also produced the PolyRhythmic Anthology featuring all of the then-eight members of the group. In 2005 Billy Tuggle is Karma Threesixty released the live Flawed Glory e.p., independently produced. Simultaneously he became known as the only “slam poet” rocking mixtapes with the help of long-time collaborator D.J. Risky Bizness (800lb. Gorillas). Karma also maintains his affiliation with the Temple Of HipHop since it’s inception in 1996 by mentor KRS-ONE. Billy serves as an ambassador and interpreter of the culture at-large. In 2007 he gave a reading/lecture for the University of Connecticut’s Institute of African-American Studies and has read and performed at other collegiate institutions such as University of California- Santa Cruz; North Eastern Illinois University; and Chicago’s Columbia College. His mentoring skills have also lead him to be a regular volunteer with Young Chicago Authors, particularly YCA’s annual Louder Than A Bomb youth poetry festival. He wrote and performed an original poem for “Literature Launchers”, a series of Glencoe/McGraw Hill educational videos, a segment that also featured writing/performing partner Andi Kauth. Fusing performance poetry talent with other entertainment and educational media remains the device in Billy’s perpetual movement to preserve and forward HipHop culture. With the Temple, Trio De La Pena, DJ Risky Bizness, Andi Kauth and PolyRhythmic, Billy shows community and lifestyle building thru artistic pursuit.

ARTIST WEBSITE:  http://www.famecast.com/billytuggle

OTHER ARTIST WEBSITE:  www.billytuggle.net

HOME TOWN: 
Chicago

INFLUENCES: 
Bob Marley, Roger Bonair-Agard, Peter Tosh, Mike McGee, Stevie Wonder, Karen Ladson, Tracy Chapman, Buddy Wakefield, Prince, Scott Woods, Living Colour, Langston Hughes, Ben Harper, Pablo Neurda, Jamiroquai, Maya Angelou, Massive Attack, Gwendolynn Brooks, KRS-ONE, Tara Betts, Mos Def, Marty McConnell, Del the Funkee Homosapien, Corbet Dean, The Roots, Chaka Khan, Curtis Mayfield, Kevin Coval...

ON MY PLAYLIST:  N/A