Malachi Byrd

Proud Washington D.C. native Malachi Byrd is a twenty-four year-old graduate of Princeton University. The captain and co-founder of ContraVerse, his high school slam team, Malachi led the team to the 2014 Louder Than a Bomb – DMV title. He also is a 2-time member of the DC Youth Poetry Slam Team, including the 2014 winners of the Brave New Voices International Poetry Festival. A rapper, poet, scholar, and activist, Malachi has won numerous awards and scholarships, and has performed on television (including two episodes of Lexus Verses and Flow and CW’s All-American), radio, at protests on the national mall, the Kennedy Center, the White House, and many more venues around the world. He is the self-proclaimed first Senator of Washington D.C., (Vote Byrd 2032) and will use his education to help tackle problems of inequality and inequity in urban environments. An African-American Studies major and Gender & Sexualities certificate, Malachi uses his poetry as introspection, self-discovery, self-critique, and activism. He never shies away from his Blackness and makes that evident in his second release of poems, Which Picture Would They Use? (2015). His first fully published book and mixtape, dually named Crowning Too Early (C.T.E.), is currently available. Currently located in Los Angeles, Malachi is currently working on a transcendent multimedia project called Say Less (2022), which combines science fiction, Black displacement, and the many complexities of transitioning from coast to coast. Follow along to continue to be blown away by this persistent and passionate creative young man!