Lotticia Mack
Co-Editor in Chief

Avid Hip Hop connoisseur and educator, Lotticia M. Mack hails from Burlington, North Carolina. She is a 1997 graduate of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, and a current graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is Director of Communiversity Youth Programs, an organization designed to provide cultural literacy enrichment and academic assisistance to minority students in the Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools. Before accepting this position Lotticia was an English teacher in North Carolina and Northen Virginia that used hip hop as a means to reach students and steer them towards academic excellence.

Lotticia’s two loves, writing and hip hop, merged when she was the sole entertainment writer for The Proclamation newspaper, yet she still felt limited in her ability to expose others to the in depth realm of Hip Hop. With a need to write more, she created a e-newletter that focused solely on the dimensions of Hip Hop that exceeded what the mainstream was putting on the forefront. Lotticia continues her passion in various capacities. From grant writing to freelance writing, she continues to express and support her love for the one thing she holds dear- Hip Hop.

Todd Craig
Creative Director / Staff Writer

Todd Craig is a native of Queens, New York. A product of Ravenswood and Queensbridge Housing projects in his youth, he left Queens for New England in hopes of a better education and life. As an alumnus of the scholarship program A Better Chance, Inc., Todd attended Saint George’s School in Newport, Rhode Island. His love of hip-hop music and culture led him to become a deejay in his high school years. Upon graduation, he attended Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Todd graduated and was accepted into Harvard Graduate School of Education. While attending Harvard, Todd realized his career goal was to find a professional position that would allow him the time and freedom to engage in his love of writing, teaching and music. As Pre-Commencement Student Speaker, Todd graduated with a Masters in Education and continued to pursue his writing, which led to his acceptance at writing residencies at the Ucross Foundation, Writers Colony at Dairy Hollow, Jentel Foundation and an Associate Artist position at Atlantic Center for the Arts with Anne Waldman. After a year of cross-country travel to attend these residencies, Todd began working as a part-time member of faculty in the CUNY system to give back to his native community. As a writer, Todd straddles the realms of fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, and screenplay writing, The situations Todd discusses within his texts paint a vivid and graphic depiction of a specific Queens-based lifestyle, as this is what he saw in his community, listened to in hip-hop music and experienced in youth. It is, however, his formal academic training as well that allows him to express the hope and infinite possibilities that any person of color has in their daily lives. In addition to being a writer, Todd is also a deejay. It is, in fact, his love of music that opened the door to his writing. As an artist, Todd has done numerous readings and performances nationwide, including collaborations with other writers, poets and musicians such as Newspeak, Donnell Alexander, Dr. Jan Ramjerdi, Anne Waldman, Rich Medina, Geoffrey Canada, Dr. Bessie Blake, Lee Ann Brown and hip-hop artists Hypno (The Spooks), Mr. Len (Smacks Records) and Mobb Deep, in order to bring a musical element to his writing. An original verse of his can be heard on the accompanying soundtrack.
Todd currently teaches English Composition at Queensborough Community College (CUNY) while working on his Doctorate of Arts in English at St. John’s University. He keeps the borough of Queens close to his heart in all that he says, does and writes; it is his life and past experiences in Queens that have been most formative, even more influential than his academic studies, “Without Queens, I simply would not be…and there’s not a minute of it, good or bad, that I would trade, switch or swap.” He presently resides in St. Albans, New York.

Patrick “9th Wonder” Douhtit
Executive Editor

Danya Perry
Administrative Director

Stefanie Douglas
Co-Editor in Chief / Staff Writer

Lotticia Mack
Co-Editor in Chief / Staff Writer

Todd Craig
Creative Director / Staff Writer