J. Ivy

J. Ivy, born James Ivy Richardson II on March 3, 1976, is a Chicago-rooted American performance poet, spoken word artist, songwriter, and author whose work sits at the meeting point of verse, hip-hop, and memoir. He is a three-time HBO Def Poet, carrying the oral tradition into rooms where a microphone and a beat can share the same breath. That crossover is part of why his name registers so quickly for rap listeners: he appeared on Kanye West’s debut album The College Dropout (2004), performing on “Never Let Me Down” alongside Jay-Z. It remains a defining early document of his voice in hip-hop.

Beyond the stage, Ivy has built a body of writing across albums and documentary work. He received an NAACP Image Award for his writing and on-camera narration of the BET documentary Muhammad Ali: The People’s Champ. In 2023, he won his first Grammy Award with The Poet Who Sat by the Door, an album that confirmed what spoken-word audiences already knew: his poems are not interludes. They are the main event.

Discography

• My Daddy’s Records (2017)
• Catching Dreams (2020)
• Catching Dreams: Live at Fort Knox Chicago (2021)
• The Poet Who Sat By The Door (2022)
• The Light Inside (2023)