Morgan State alum brings 'Pens of Power' to Baltimore
Music industry expert Kel Spencer empowers inner city youth
After a 14-year hiatus from college, a recent Morgan State alum is taking what he learned during his break and his rich experience with the music industry to empower and enlighten those he encounters around the country, especially youth, with his Pens of Power program.
Education is the foundation of Kel Spencer's success. Following in his father's footsteps, Spencer skipped grades, going from seventh to ninth grade. He started college at 16. Although he was intelligent, school did not come without its challenges.
"Growing up around peers who were older than me allowed me to adjust socially when it came to college, but what I had in social maturity I lacked in personal discipline. Being the 'smart kid,' the school work is easy most of the time, but when you get to college, it requires a great deal of discipline that I struggled with," Spencer admits.
But then life happened to Spencer, and in a way only some of us could dream of.
"I was part of a group on Morgan's Campus called Black Diamonds. We did shows and recorded songs, and as time went on, some of us started to do solo projects. In that process, I was approached by a classmate whose cousin is Will Smith's executive producer/A&R," Spencer said.
Spencer was "educated, but way cool," because when opportunity came knocking, he answered the door.
"My deal with Overbrook/Interscope was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity so I jumped on it, but there was really no way that I could be in school and do music at the same time. Because of technology and online classes, I could have done it, if it was a few years later. But at that time, those luxuries weren't available," Spencer said.
He was initially slated to graduate in 2000. The Brooklyn native made that dream a reality when he graduated from Morgan State University in 2014.
Check out Spencer's Morgan Minute video
In those 14 years, Spencer has become an all-around creative -- a writer, producer, actor, emcee, and entrepreneur. As an award-winning, multi-platinum songwriter, he’s worked with the likes of Will Smith, Wyclef Jean, Mary J. Blige, Nick Cannon, Teddy Riley, Rodney Jerkins and more.
"Most of my work has been behind the scenes," Spencer said. "I've done some soundtrack work, jingles and theme songs for brands like Pepsi, ESPN, and the NFL."
But Spencer humbly said his work alongside some of music’s most notable acts pales in comparison to some more recent achievements, like earning his degree at Morgan.
"I was fortunate enough to win some pretty fly awards and accolades along the way, including an American Music Award, but as cheesy as this sounds, my business degree from Morgan and soon-coming marriage license/certificate probably trumps them all," he said.
That kind of humility is also an apparent cornerstone of Spencer's philanthropic endeavors.
Enter Pens of Power -- a literary program Spencer created to help inner city youth flex their creative talents through writing and performance arts.
"Pens of Power actually started as a charge by one of my friends to go into a school and just 'talk to a group of kids' about the music industry and life and education," Spencer said. "Instead of just talking to them, I decided to take a writing workshop that would help them since so many of them want to rap and sing and write poetry, etc. I figured the writing would be the hook to then speak into their lives. Fast forward: Four to five years later, and we're in about four cities now, and growing."
Baltimore is one of those cities – a city Spencer calls his second home.
"As different as Baltimore is from Brooklyn, there are indeed some similarities, and Baltimore is where I became a man. I will always love Baltimore. I took losses in Baltimore. I've experienced success in Baltimore. I've made life-long friends and lasting memories in Baltimore," Spencer adds.
This week, Spencer is hosting a week-long workshop for kids at City Springs Elementary/Middle School. The group writes for three days, records on the fourth day and shoots a music video at the end of the week.
The project is meant to empower the youth and help them find their own unique attributes, just as Spencer did as a writer.
"I was told that your gift(s) is the thing that you never learned how to do, it just comes natural; the thing that you can't remember ever learning how to do; the thing that draws people to you; the thing that brings you joy when you watch people's reaction to it," Spencer adds.
And he’s hoping to tap into what inspires the youth in Baltimore and beyond.
So what’s in the future for this Morgan State alum?
"I would really like to work with Lauryn Hill at some point," Spencer adds. "The growth of the (Pens of Power) program attracted an opportunity for me to teach hip hop on a college level, as a professor. Yeah, an actual hip-hop professor, but in order to take advantage of that opportunity, I had to come back and finish my degree. It was looming over my head for years anyway, so this was the perfect opportunity to handle unfinished business -- no pun intended."
Between completing his degree at Morgan, working in the music industry and merging the two together to teach, it seems Spencer is making some beautiful music -- pun intended. And he's showing the rest of us, when life hits the pause button on one dream so you can jump to pursue another dream, your story isn't complete. It's still being written.
For more information on Kel Spencer, check out his blog www.WarriorPoetBK.com where you can find his inner most thoughts and all his social media information.
Learn more about the Pens of Power program here.