I'm Amani

Raptivist, grower, and radical educator, Amani O+ combines artistic expression and project-based learning to build curriculum, curate events, and facilitate workshops and dialogue. 

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In 2016, Amani O+ co-founded the raptivist duo KATANI with their best friend & music partner Kat SoPoetic. KATANI makes misogyNAH (anti-misogynoir) music that educates, uplifts and unites, with a specific focus on those of us invisibilized by systems of oppression. KATANI was named Best Hip-Hip Artists in the NY Capital Region at the Thomas Edison Capital Region Music Awards.

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In 2017 Amani founded B.L.A.C.K. Label and the B.L.A.C.K. Party (Black Lives A Creative Kaleidoscope) is a collective of artists committed to curating safe events that honor and celebrate people of color's stories and bring forth the world they wish to live, love, and create within. B.L.A.C.K. Label is home to Amani O+, KATANI, donfons, and a handful of NY creatives who believe in hip hop music as a beacon to shift our shared culture towards collective healing and radical self-care. 

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As Co-SlamMaster of CapCity Slam, (previously the Nitty Gritty Slam) the NY Capital District’s award-winning slam poetry team, Amani has collectively and individually won several competitions, including the Empire State Slam, Queen Elizabeth’s Way Slam and the Toronto International Poetry Slam. Since their theatrical debut in the 2014 suicide awareness UnspokenWord, Amani O+ has written, designed, and appeared at hundreds of events including Lady Fest, the BeatShot Music Festival, and SHE.O.M. sharing the stage with “art-ivist” inspirations: Oshun, Bell’s Roar, Daniel B. Summerhill, D. Colin, Tef Poe, The Peace Poets, Taina Asili, Monica McIntyre and more. 

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Amani O+ has starred in and co-directed music videos, stage plays, and documentaries and frequently participates in events that encourage community building and intentionally fight against the isolation of discrimination and systemic slavery. In 2015, with the help of the Yoni Coven Press, Amani O+ self-published Here We Are At The Gate, the first of the four-part REBELUTIONARY series. Amani curates custom workshops and forums for all audiences that celebrate creativity and the value of vulnerability, communication, and collaboration.

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Off-stage, Amani has spent many of their recent 4 years working to ending racism and injustice in the food system. Originally from Brooklyn, NY, Amani moved upstate for trees and college and was drawn to food justice in 2014 through a string of community based efforts towards freedom from oppression. Amani’s work includes curating educational experiences on and off the land that blend art, history and food to illuminate pathways to sovereignty and equity in our local and global food system. This can take the form of spoken word, workshops, keynote speeches and more.

 

Amani has presented and collaborated with organizations, students and neighbors across the country including Bard College, Middlebury College, the Chicago Food Policy Summit, the Harvard Ed Portal, the Northeast Organic Farming Association and the People's Music Network. In 2020 Amani co-founded Rested Root a worker owned cooperative helping groups root out how interpersonal and systemic oppression is manifesting within their teams or projects and transform those dynamics into generative opportunities for growth and transformation.

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Raptivist, spoken word artist, and abolitionist, Amani is driven to uplift love, art & service as necessary expressions of rebellion, against a sense of disconnection and hopelessness that threatens our collective peace and wellness. Amani aims to inspire all those they come into contact with to remember their magic, trust their vision and share their unique gifts with the world.