Remember Why You Wrote It! POETRY vs. HIP-HOP,LLC: The Slutty Vegan of Spoken Word
Let’s just get into it — Pinky Cole lost Slutty Vegan. Then she bought it back.
And in that 43-day turnaround, she earned something that’s even harder to build than a million-dollar business: perspective.
Now, don’t worry — Poetry vs. Hip-Hop® didn’t lose the brand to anybody. But if you’ve ever tried to feed a touring crew of 17 to 25 creatives, sell merch, pay artists what they’re worth, and fly across the country with the kind of excellence people have come to expect from us… you might understand the pressure.
I’ve built this thing from the ground up, from the first battle in a tiny club with 20 people to sold-out venues across the country and standing ovations in multiple cities. We made history. But just like Pinky, I hit that wall.
Not because the passion was gone — but because the overhead was wild.
So here’s the big pivot:
Poetry vs. Hip-Hop, LLC is officially bringing in a third-party business firm to handle all logistics.
That means contracts, flights, hotel confirmations, artist payments, email follow-ups, vendor wrangling, sound check protocols, battle ballots, last-minute logo placements… all of that?
No longer on my plate.
I’m not disappearing. I’m not stepping down. I’m stepping in — as the artist.
As the brand. As the visionary.
The same way Pinky reclaimed Slutty Vegan with a vengeance, I’m reclaiming the part of myself that built Poetry vs. Hip-Hop in the first place.
Because art needs air. And I need mine back.
What does this mean for the future?
It means Poetry vs. Hip-Hop will remain rooted in Atlanta — our home, our stomping ground, our proving ground. And unless a city or organization decides to foot the full production bill, we’re pressing pause on the national tour leg of PvHH.
Let’s be clear: I’ll still be curating shows in other cities.
Smaller showcases. Feature sets. Smart, intentional pop-ups.
Shout out to City Winery for continuing to be a champion of culture and creativity — they’re the blueprint.
But the 20+ person productions? The battles? The chaos? The genius?
That lives in Atlanta now. And it always has.
So if you’ve been meaning to see the show…
You might want to book that plane ticket.
And if you’ve been meaning to pour into yourself, restructure, refocus, and remember why you started in the first place —
Welcome to the era. We’re all in it.
Queen Sheba
Founder, Poetry vs. Hip-Hop®, LLC
2025 & 2024 Grammy-Nominated Spoken Word-Poet
Professor. Artist. Human- still figuring it out.
www.thequeensheba.live/bio