Spoken Word: Jay Martinez at TEDxDayton

A spoken word artist, host and youth advocate, Jay Martinez is a native of Newark, N.J., where he engaged in constant rap freestyle cyphers. When he attended Wilberforce University, he witnessed his first open mic poetry set and fell in love with spoken word. Now, he takes his struggles and eloquently recites them with a gritty, intelligent flow. The development of his fast-paced, didactic style stems from his hip hop influences. Jay also self-published a book entitled An Orator's Declamation of the Ghetto and a CD titled Universal Language. When he is not performing throughout the country, he hosts two shows in Dayton: Lyrical Lounge open mic at De'Lish Café and the Metaphorically Speaking slam poetry competition at Therapy Cafe

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