ABOUT DEF
Def Sound (pronouns they/them) is an Afro-Caribbean conceptual word artist born and based in South Central LA. Def is a postbinary contemporary hip-hop artist, producer, poet, and award-winning academic. Def is Grammy nominiated for their work as a producer on aja monet’s debut album ‘when the poems do what they do’.
Def’s work as a poet has been included in Saul Williams' Anthology CHORUS, while their music has been featured in Season 4 of ABC’s Grownish, LA WEEKLY, LA Record, The L.A. Times, The Frieze Art Fair, LACMA’s Poetry series POETRY In Color, the art exhibition The Black Index curated by Bridget Cooks, the Emmy Nominated Television series Music Diaries, and the Emmy winning Artbound on KCET. In 2018 Grammy-considered track, “Propane,” was lauded by Miguel and Raphael Saadiq. Def’s single “(A)Gain” earned a spot on BBC Radio’s Year-End list. Def’s song I BEEN made KCRW’s list for Best Songs of 2022. Def is also a UC Irvine Alumni and a recipient of the Lindon W. Barrett award from the school of humanities.
Def is a RE•memberer and word worker whose favorite medium is memory. When speaking about their practice Def spoke, “Every truth is a dare. Let's dare to tell it.” Def is an oil and water combination of ambition, care, criticality, and effort.
Def synthesizes Hip Hop, poetry, Black critical theory and storytelling into healing mechanisms decorating time and space. Def is currently a professor teaching Sonic Collage, Hip Hop Lab Practicum, and Black Critical Theory at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). Def’s latest album FROM SOUTH CENTRAL 2 THE WORLD is currently up for Grammy consideration for Best Rap Album of 2024 and is out on vinyl and all streaming platforms.
For Booking: Maceobooksdef@gmail.com