He bridged hip-hop and poetry, became Def Jam's first signed poet, and mentored a new generation. Inside Black Ice's legacy ...

Black Ice, the legendary Philadelphia poet whose unforgettable performances on Def Poetry Jam helped elevate spoken word into the mainstream, has died, leaving behind a powerful artistic legacy.

Lamar Manson, better known by his stage name Black Ice, is widely recognized as the first poet signed to Def Jam Records and as a star of the Def Poetry Jam TV and Broadway shows. He was 54.

Philadelphia's spoken-word community is mourning one of its fiercest voices. Lamar Manson, the Philadelphia-born poet known ...

Back in 2004, Kanye West had already made an indelible mark on the hip-hop world by producing the best tracks on Jay-Z’s watershed 2001 album The Blueprint. But Def Poetry Jam provided a two-pronged ...