By Cameron Lee
November 5, 2025
Photo: Daniel Coston
Charlotte’s Black history — still often overlooked — has been celebrated through murals, exhibits, and articles over the years, but never quite like it will be on November 19 at the Carolina Theatre. Black Charlotte: A Poetic Celebration of Place & Folk, an album created by 15 of the city’s top spoken-word artists and led by Charlotte’s first Poet Laureate Jay Ward alongside acclaimed wordsmith Jah Smalls, will be performed with a 25-piece Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, arranged by composer Leonard Mark Lewis.
“I think it’s going to be emotional. It’ll, for me, be reliving the project and what it means to the community,” Ward said. “It will also be reliving my connection with Luvleeh, just performing that song — and we’ll have her voice piped in — so the audience will be able to hear her voice, which is really important to us.”
Leandrea Juanita Hill, better known as “Luvleeh,” was one of the 15 poets to contribute to the album, but she passed away in February this year, a week after the album was released.
“We really miss her, man. And I know the LGBTQ community misses her. She was a major, major fixture in the community,” said Smalls, co-executive producer of Black Charlotte along with Ward.
The album itself is a stirring portrait of Black history in Charlotte, spanning topics from urban renewal and Dorothy Counts to the city’s hip-hop legacy, gentrification, Keith Lamont Scott, and the Hidden Valley Kings.
Luvleeh’s poem “Backbone,” co-written with Ward, reflects on the city’s infrastructure and buildings built on Black labor — her presence and voice will be deeply felt at the historic event.
How Black Charlotte Came Together
Ward conceived the project as a “living exhibit” to bring more light to Charlotte’s Black history, its neighborhoods, and the figures who make the community distinct. With a grant from the Arts & Science Council, he began putting the plan into motion.
The poets — including Bluz Rogers, A Poet Named Superman, Dionne Hunter, Kyla Alexis Jones, Sir Abstraxx, Jaycee Cowan, Lauren Morris, Leandrea “Luvleeh” Hill, Maurice Norman, Jordan Bailey, Mr. Witz, Lady V, Portia the Poet, Jah Smalls, and Jay Ward — were tasked with writing about aspects of Charlotte’s history drawn from their personal experiences. Spoken-word storyteller Hannah Hasan, who will narrate Black Charlotte: Live in Concert on November 19, conducted a workshop with the poets to guide them on “responsible storytelling.”
Ward then edited the works of all 15 poets into eight cohesive songs and a postlude track, with contributions from each poet.
“So the first part of that grant was to host this event at the Gantt Center. The second part of the grant was money to work with GrindHaus Studios and Jason Jet to produce original tracks to go along with the poems,” Ward said.
Tony “Tspoon” Witherspoon — multi-instrumentalist and bandleader who tours with Anthony Hamilton — produced the nine original songs to complement the poetry, with Jet recording and engineering the album at GrindHaus Studios. Witherspoon’s score is equally jazzy and cinematic, with peaks and valleys that sway with the rhythm of the poetry and subject matter.
Nas’ Live from the Kennedy Center Inspired the Symphony Collaboration
Smalls, a New York native living in Charlotte since 1997, and an accomplished poet and MC who ran the weekly event Say Word Tuesdays at Apostrophe Lounge for several years, was inspired by Nas’ Live from the Kennedy Center performance with the National Symphony Orchestra celebrating Illmatic.
Smalls reached out to the Charlotte Symphony, speaking with VP of Learning and Community Engagement Aram Kim Bryan.
“I called Aram once the album dropped and said, ‘Hey, I got something I want you to listen to.’ And the symphony loved it,” Smalls said.
Composer Leonard Mark Lewis recreated the album tracks produced by Witherspoon with new arrangements to accompany the poems for the special performance at the historic Carolina Theatre.
“Given the history of that theater, the history of the people here in the city, you can’t ask for a bigger moment,” Smalls said.
While the group has performed the album at The Gantt, Davis Theatre, and Carolina Theatre earlier this year, nothing compares to pairing the poems with a 25-piece Charlotte Symphony Orchestra and powerful visuals by Kendrick James of Pixel Play.
“Live music, no matter what kind of music it is, feels dramatically different,” Ward said. “It feels transformational, reaffirming, and empowering.”
A Poetic History Capsule
The album is more than a collection of performances; it is an essential piece of art that teaches Charlotte’s Black heritage and culture, from the early 1900s to the present — a must-listen for both new and longtime residents.
“It’s our wish that everybody get to know Charlotte more intimately, whether that is folks that are born and raised here… maybe they can testify, they can find some synchronicity with the stories that we’re telling,” said Ward. “But for those that are moving here and insist on saying that Charlotte doesn’t have culture… it’s eye-opening for them.
During a time when arts funding is dwindling nationwide, Ward and Smalls see it as their duty to share these stories and inspire the next generation.
“I think it is the poet’s obligation to mirror and reflect what’s happening in society,” Ward said. “I think poets forever have been on the leading edge of societal revolution and change.”
For Smalls, poetry has the power to unite communities and break down invisible barriers.
“A poet may entertain you, but our job is to give you some education on some things that you may not have known, or say in a way that you may have not thought of, and to cross some of those bridges that we may not have crossed,” Smalls said.
The live performance with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra will be both historic and symbolic, not only as the first of its kind in the city but also because it will take place in the theater where the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra first performed in 1932 and desegregated in 1963. It promises to be a grandiose and moving composition — a tapestry of the city’s Black roots that can inspire and educate people of all walks of life and multiple generations.
Listen to Black Charlotte: A Poetic Celebration of Place & Folk and get tickets for the concert experience with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra on November 19 at Carolina Theatre.
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