Christon “Christylez” Bacon
By Susan Davidson
Washington’s own hip-hop artist Christon “Christylez” Bacon celebrates his 22nd birthday March 5 with what he admits is “a very eclectic band” put together for the occasion: trumpet, sax, upright bass, vibraphone, grand piano, didgeridoo (an Australian Aboriginal wind instrument), tabla (an Indian percussion instrument), djembe (an African drum), and the human beatbox—“meaning imitating drum sounds with your voice,” he says. “That’s gonna be a diff thrill.”
Asked to write a brief autobiography in rap, Bacon came up with this: “My art was the broom that swept me from the streets / and guided me like the moon / guided along a path from elementary to middle school / through sculpture and painting at Ellington Senior High School. / Destined to sculpt minds with words and paint words on chalkboards / I now teach from the chapters that are left out of textbooks.”