Ryan Hamilton talks to Art Eddy about how he and his son are loving Super Mario Maker and the fact that this game will help Ryan with his upcoming speech at the 20th annual At Home Dads Convention in Raleigh, NC. Then the guys bring on Khari Toure, whose anti-bullying video "Love Yourself" recently went viral.
"Love Yourself" is an anti-bullying song that he wrote for his daughter, Nia, after she was bullied at school. He quickly resolved the issue, but he saw how the bullying had a negative effect on his daughter. As a result, he decided to create a song about the importance of self-love: an anthem with positive affirmations that children could recite daily, reminding themselves that they are beautiful, worthy, priceless, and brilliant.
He wanted to include special needs children in the video after speaking with his friend, Alicia Coleman, whose daughter "Ava," is autistic. He learned that special needs children are frequently targeted and bullied. So he invited children with various disabilities including Hearing Impairments, Autism, Down Syndrome, Dyslexia, PTSD and ADHD and to appear in the video along with their siblings.
Khari hopes this song and video empowers children who have been abused, bullied, and belittled, to build up their confidence, embrace who they are, and love themselves unconditionally.
It’s been said that the most brilliant writers have experienced the most tragedy, and from the pain of their past experiences they are transformed into poets who paint pictures with words. Khari is a living testimony to this truth! Born and raised in Oakland, California, he first began writing poetry as a young child while living in foster homes. Poetry was his therapy, an outlet that allowed him to purge his mind of the pain he endured as a youth.
His transition from literary poet to spoken word artist occurred during the summer of 2006, when he began performing at open mics and winning several poetry slams hosted by Hot Water Cornbread. His keen intellect, passionate flow and delivery, powerful voice and brazen lyrics quickly distinguished him from many other performance poets and spoken word artists. He exploded onto the Spoken word poetry scene during the summer of 2006 after performing at Mouth Off (a spoken word poetry venue held at Oakland’s Air Lounge every Wednesday). He also began participating in the local poetry slam scene in 2006. Now, three years later, he’s published a bestselling poetry book, releasing over 20,000 spoken word mixtapes and performed at some of the top spoken word venues in the country, including Spoken Soul Sessions in New Orleans during the Essence Music Festival, Nuyorican Poets Cafe in New York, Soul Cypher in Oakland and Cafe Nuba in Denver. Within a three year period, he’s performed at over 100 different venues and is currently in high demand to perform and feature at major spoken word events.
Khari‘s spoken word songs have achieved worldwide recognition. Best known for his socially conscious pieces, love and erotic and poems, and songs praising the beauty of plus sized women, Khari cannot be put in a box. He has a fan base that numbers in the thousands and few poets have been blessed with his success. In 2010, Khari released his album "VICTORY". Fusing Spoken Word, Neo-Soul, Jazz, Gospel and Hip Hop, Victory broke new grounds for spoken word! In 2014, Khari released his sophomore spoken word album, "Through Thick and Thin". He also released a book, "Curvy and Confident", a self-empowerment guide for women. Curvy and Confident is the first book ever written by a man to help women overcome low self-confidence, negative body image, and insecurities.
For more on Khari Toure, go to KhariToure.com
Follow him on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter @ Kharitoure.