MESSIAH

“You hear his name is Messiah, so you’ve got to listen. And then you
see him, so you’ve got to listen. And then you hear his voice, and it
touches and it connects.” –The Floacist (of the hit group Floetry)

Some might say Messiah Ramkissoon's success started in his place of birth,
Trinidad. Or perhaps it began in the US, in Brooklyn and Annapolis, where Messiah was
raised from the age of 11. Maybe Messiah owes his success to The Boys &
Girls Club of Greater Washington, where he was named youth of the year in
1999-2000, a recognition that got news correspondent, Tim Russert’s
attention and made Messiah the feature of one of Russert’s NBC news
retrospectives. Or was it when Oprah took notice and awarded Messiah a
$25,000 college scholarship, which he used to attend Howard University?

All of these moments were epic, but without a doubt, young, urban America
met Messiah on Harlem’s famous Apollo stage in 2005. Only 20-years-old at
the time, Messiah performed his poem “Sharika Was a Champ”, a metaphorical
fable about the importance self-respect and safe sex. With “Sherika Was a
Champ”, Messiah blended Hip Hop and spoken word in a way that had not been
done before in mainstream Hip Hop. The Apollo audience recognized that
something fresh and unique was before them, and responded. He won 3
consecutive shows.

Messiah was not done with television. Following his win at The Apollo,
Messiah went on a 5-city tour with Grammy-nominated singer Kelly Price.
Their final performance for Price’s “This is who I am” album release
celebration was aired on BET Jazz.

In 2008, Messiah won a BET rap contest and opened the Pre-event for the BET
awards in LA that year. Following his performance at the BET awards, Messiah
and director, Ron Brodie filmed “In the AM”. It was Messiah’s first music
video and was recorded in his Crown Heights, Brooklyn neighborhood.

2010 has been an impressive year for Messiah. In January, Haiti experienced
a massive earthquake and Messiah made it a priority to join the platform to
assist after the tragedy. Performing at several benefit concerts, he helped
raise more than $15,000 for the survivors of the earthquake. When Sudan had
their first democratic election in 24 years, Messiah lent his voice to the
cause, recording the song and video, “*BeSokta*”, (meaning ‘with your vote’)
with Sudanese rappers in an effort to encourage Sudanese citizens to vote.

Messiah featured Shyheim, a New York rapper, on his record “Over Time”, and
the two also worked together on a song that will be featured on Shyheim’s
album. Messiah also featured The Floacist from the hit group Floetry on one of his newest songs, “Tell
me What you Want”, and the pair recorded a video for the song, which was
directed by Opiyo Okeyo. His new video, “Come Back To Me”, also directed by
Opiyo Okeyo, was featured on Vh1 Centric TV site, as well WKYS for Radio One. The song was also recently featured on Soundtrack for
"Milk and Honey" web series starring Lance Gross, Ms. Debbie Allen
and directed by Idris Elba.
Most recently in 2011 Messiah has shared stages with Ledisi, Patti Labelle and also performed at the National Martin Luther King Memorial Dedication ceremony where President Obama, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin and many others were present.

For his fans in the DC area, Messiah began organizing a monthly live
performance called Messiah & Friends. The event began at the Lamont Bishop Gallery and is now held at Bar, featuring live canvas painting, live body painting,
vocal performances, a live band and gallery exhibitions.

Besides his love for his art and performing, Messiah has taught poetry at
The Duke Ellington School, conducts regular workshops at Luke Moore Alternative High School, and mentors young men incarcerated at the New Beginnings juvenile detention center twice a week.