Bomani Armah (previously known as Darel Hancock), also known as D'mite, or Not a Rapper, is an American vocalist best known for the 2007 single "Read a Book."

Biography

Armah grew up in

Mitchellville, Maryland Mitchellville is a majority African-American unincorporated area and census-designated place (CDP) in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 11,136. History Mitchellville was named for John Mit ...

. He dropped out of the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD i ...

to become a musician. He is divorced and is the father of twins. He is also a member of

Iota Phi Theta Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc. () is a historically African American fraternity. It was founded on September 19, 1963, at Morgan State University (then Morgan State College) in Baltimore, Maryland, and is the fifth largest Black Greek Lettered ...

fraternity. In 2005, Bomani was introduced to the world with the debut of the Mello-D and the Rados music video "Cool Witchu" on

BET Black Entertainment Television (BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting Black American audiences. It is the flagship channel of the BET Media Group, a subsidiary of Paramount Global's CBS Entertainment Group. Originally launched ...

. By October 2006, ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' regarded him as "one of the more entertaining voices in a local

spoken word Spoken word is an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a 20th-century continuation of an oral tradition, ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetic ...

scene that's overflowing with talent." They also noted that he was "grabb nghearts and minds" with "Read a Book", a spoof of

crunk Crunk is a subgenre of Southern hip-hop that emerged in the early 1990s and gained mainstream success during the early to mid 2000s. Crunk is often up-tempo and one of Southern hip hop's more nightclub-oriented subgenres. Distinguishing itself w ...

songs that was "scary because it's a bit difficult to tell that it's

satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of exposin ...

". In January 2007, Armah took part in

Martin Luther King Day Martin Luther King Jr. Day (officially Birthday of Martin Luther King Jr., and often referred to shorthand as MLK Day) is a federal holiday in the United States observed on the third Monday of January each year. King was the chief spokesper ...

observances at the

Washington National Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the City and Episcopal Diocese of Washington, commonly known as Washington National Cathedral or National Cathedral, is a cathedral of the Episcopal Church. The cathedral is located in Wa ...

, with Sister

Helen Prejean Helen Prejean ( ; born April 21, 1939) is a Catholic religious sister and a leading American advocate for the abolition of the death penalty. She is known for her best-selling book '' Dead Man Walking'' (1993) based on her experiences with two ...

and the Urban Nation H.I.P.-H.O.P. Choir. Armah became famous with the

MySpace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

-released 2007 single "Read A Book." The song admonishes listeners to "read a muh'fuckin book", "raise yo kids", wear deodorant, buy some land, and brush their "God damned teeth", among other things, including advising "your body needs water, so drink that shit", in a satire of crunk-style songs which advocate a more " gangsta" lifestyle, set to a loop of an excerpt from

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

's Symphony No.5. A clean version also exists, where the profanity is edited out. Success of the single grew when it was used as the topic of a short animated film which aired on

Black Entertainment Television Black Entertainment Television (BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting Black American audiences. It is the flagship channel of the BET Media Group, a subsidiary of Paramount Global's CBS Entertainment Group. Originally launched ...

's ''

The 5ive ''The 5ive'' is a television show that aired on BET. The show premiered on June 4, 2007, replacing '' Hotwyred''. The show is hosted by Alesha Reneé, a winner in the "New Faces" contest. It is a half-hour show that counted down the five hottest p ...

''. Animated by Six Point Harness Studios, the video features stylized cartoon stereotypes who are directed (often by force) to carry out the advice presented in the lyrics of "Read a Book" by a crunk rapper. In June 2007 the song was included on Dan Greenpeace and

DJ Yoda Duncan Beiny (born 1977 in London, England), better known as DJ Yoda, is a hip hop DJ who uses samples to create an animated musical style. He is known for several awards and media industry achievements. Early life and career After attend ...

's ''Unthugged Vol. 2'' with an introduction from Armah introducing himself as D'Mite. In the fall of 2007, Armah released a song about the

Jena Six The Jena Six were six African Americans, black teenagers in Jena, Louisiana, convicted in the 2006 beating of Justin Barker, a White Americans, white student at the local Jena High School, which they also attended. Barker was injured on December ...

case in

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

. He also performed at the

CMJ Music Marathon CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events, online media company and a distributor of up and coming music CDs, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music ...

, where a ''

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Ma ...

'' blogger panned him as a "technically strong rapper with zero stage presence and only slightly more personality." Armah returned to the National Cathedral in January 2008, to lead its Martin Luther King Day event. In March 2008, ''

'' published his commentary calling on

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

to show his "white side."

References

External links

Bomani Armah's official websiteBomani Armah at MyspacePark Triangle Productions
Armah's multimedia studio
Six Point Harness Studios
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Armah, Bomani 1978 births Living people African-American poets American male poets People from Mitchellville, Maryland Poets from Maryland University of Maryland, College Park alumni 21st-century American poets 21st-century American male writers 21st-century African-American writers 20th-century African-American musicians African-American male writers