Verbswish

Richard Nelson Smartt Jr. (born February 24 1982) better known by his stage name [verb]swish, is a British lyricist and writer from South London. In 2004 Cherie Blair, then first lady of Downing Street, described his live performance as “deeply spiritual”; Since emerging from London's spoken word scene, his style has since continued to retrace the links between Hip hop, accessible English Literature and Theatre.

Early life

The son of a seamstress and an oil engineer, [verb]swish was born, the middle of five children in Peckham, London where he attended school in Camberwell SE5, an area made famous by English neo-soul duo, Floetry. It was here that he was classmates with actor Ashley Walters, and came into contact with teachers who encouraged poetry recital and the arts.

Soon after, while at Sacred Heart Secondary School, he appeared at the National Theatre, where he met Richard Wilson (One Foot in the Grave) and Norman Beaton (Desmonds), veteran actors who he had long impersonated. The experience made a lasting impression, but it would not be until after graduating at City University in 2004, that [verb]swish eschewed the graduate milkround to teach and seriously pursue his craft.

While President of the African-Caribbean Society at City University, he began to take more seriously the ideas of self-actualization, that had pervaded the alternative hip-hop he had grown up on. In particular, it sparked an interest in the person of Jesus Christ, the idea of transformation and a desire to understand true spirituality, topics that permeated his early work, most notably in The J-Word.

Early career

Despite encouragement from others to rap to beats, and his own fascination with alternative hip-hop, [verb]swish opted for his own approach, writing all the words first and then drafting in producer, Gavin Holligan to score the album. The result was the Arts Council-sponsored scored.words.in.spoken.harmony demo EP which was launched at the Roundhouse. Recitals from the EP later helped to win a place at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 2009.

Influences

The EP gives a glimpse of 2009's forthcoming album, a self-titled debut (due in October 2009) with [verb]swish casting emerging singers and musicians in the style of DJ Jazzy Jeff and BBE compilations that had influenced him. Other influences included the dialogue/deliveries of Spike Lee, Robin Williams, Ossie Davis, Jerry Seinfeld, Mos Def and Gil Scott Heron.

Invitations

• He has continued to appear at a number of Arts Council-sponsored events and as a visiting tutor of creative writing at the National Youth Theatre.
• Having compered the historic re-opening of the Roundhouse Studios, he was invited to write and recite a poem at the retirement of Roundhouse chairman and philanthropist, Sir Torquil Norman to an audience that included the Minister for Culture Media and Sport, Tessa Jowell

Blogging

As a response to frequent questions about what his name means, [verb]swish started swishism.com, a blog that chronicles an online anthology of swishisms, 5-word sayings that use the last 5 letters of his name. Proceeds from a forthcoming hardcopy version will be donated to literacy development charity, Room To read.

Touring

In 2009, his volume of poetry, Selected Swishes was released on TRANSTATIC publishing. At the time of its intial release he also featured as the spoken word artist for Pause, a nationwide university tour.