Mannie was born into turmoil….
Born in December of 1973 screaming out of the womb into the belly of the beast known as Brooklyn, NY, to parents who where committed in a holy war right in the living room of their 2 bedroom apartment in the projects. His mother a native of Berlin, Germany a Christian, his father hailed from Ponce, Puerto Rico a Muslim, needless to say Mannie was born into turmoil.
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At an early age he knew that he needed a stress reliever, but growing up in the projects left for empty thoughts that could only be released when harmony and agony collide, not proud of his past of being a troubled youth he began to write his thoughts to paper still denying his passion for poetry rap became his outlet.
But after a few short years, Mannie felt that there had to be more to those words in his notebook. It wasn’t until he entered the military, to get away from the streets that swallow so many youth, that he really realized that he had a talent.
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This became a turning point for him. Now with a vision Mannie performs his poetry, however that came to a stand still in 2005 when turmoil again struck. This time it was cancer. Now being cancer free he has become an advocate for the cancer treatments. This also is the day when harmony collided with agony. With no one really around helping him, Mannie finally realized that poetry is all he has to turn to.
Now he performs on stages all across the United States on stages such as the world famous Nuyorican Poets Café in New York City to the Roxy Theater in Denver to the Green Mill in Chicago to Neo Soul in Austin. With 4 CD released to date and 3 published books he continues to venture into this world of spoken word. Not allowing anything to stand in his way.
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Hear More of Mannie at the VertiKal Cafe
Celeste Duckworth
