225BatonRouge.com

DeAndre Hill will admit he was a weird kid. At 15, he used his first performance at Big Buddy’s All-City poetry slam showdown to rhyme about peanut butter and jelly. Deftly, he related the all-American sandwich to eating dinner with the commander-in-chief. “Bush was president then, so it was pretty satirical,” Hill says, somehow outspoken and soft-spoken simultaneously. “It felt natural being up there on stage. And when I was done, everyone started clapping. That is a great feeling.”

Soon, his itinerant home life, with Hill and his siblings shuffling back and forth under a dozen different roofs among their mother, stepfathers and any other relatives who had a little space to spare—and with rent-seeking landlords changing locks and commandeering every move—became the heart-dredged resource for the creative writing that quickly bent a lot of ears to Hill’s beat. At 18, Hill graduated from Broadmoor High School and became the youngest member of Baton Rouge’s all-adult slam poetry team.

Working out his feelings on paper then on stage was more than a thrill—it was empowering.

“The landlord who took our stuff had the power to do that, but I found I had the power to write about it,” Hill says.

Now, Hill works with young boys and girls in situations as challenging as those he faced just a few years ago. As a member of the Louisiana Delta Service Corps, Hill teaches a creative writing and hip-hop class at Capitol Middle School and conducts workshops throughout the city with Big Buddy veteran Chancelier “Xero” Skidmore. “It’s kind of like the kids have headlights on, but I have to help them focus it to a laser point,” Hill says. When they get it, and they emerge from their defensive shells to offer their unique views on this community we share, Hill feels like a proud papa bear. It makes him appreciate his own mentors even more now that he is one himself.

“It’s strange being called a ‘success story,’” Hill muses.

Good thing living up to that tag is so much fun.