Photo by Wes Davis Photography // @wesdavisphotography
Andru Defeye
Sacramento Poet Laureate and freelance art/communications consultant
Whether sharing stages with legendary beat poets or your favorite Hip Hop emcees, Andru Defeye’s unorthodox writing and performance style has made him a fixture behind microphones around the country. 2020 saw the release of his critically acclaimed Frequency album followed shortly after by his crowning as the youngest Poet Laureate in California capitol history. In 2021, Defeye was listed by Sacramento Magazine as one of the city’s 100 business leaders and nominated to receive an honorary doctorate from CSUS. In 2022 he joined the ranks of some of the most celebrated poets in the country as an Academy of American Poets fellow and brought Sacramento Poetry Day (October 26th) to life creating a locally sourced curriculum, collection, and contest and bringing it to over 250,000 youth in the Sacramento area. In 2023 these efforts earned him a key to the city making him one of the city’s youngest and only artist recipients of such an honor.
From Sacramento to Staten Island and SXSW, Andru Defeye served as the Director of Communications for Sol Collective from 2009-2020. In 2014 Defeye founded Zero Forbidden Goals, a support system for creatives dedicated to innovating arts equity, experiences, and education. ZFG’s guerrilla art activations including National Guerrilla Poetry Month, Chainlink Poetry, The Intersection, and The First Church of Poetry have been covered and recreated around the globe.
“You Are the Wailers of your generation.”
—Devon I. Evans, founding member of The Wailers
“You are carrying on the outlaw tradition.”
—Alan Kaufman, The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry
“as the month winds down @zfgpromotions reminds us why poetry matters.”
— The U.S. Embassy in Ghana
“Brava! Guerrilla poets are the new bastions of truth and light.”
-William Devault, Creator, AOL Poetry Place
“A masterful storyteller”
— Submerge Magazine
“He took his open mic to the streets and started a movement.”
-Sacramento News and Review
“ZFG looks exactly how the Hip Hop community was intended by its founders to look.”
-Domeland
“There is no denying that Andru defeye spills nothing but 100% facts.”
— UndergroundHipHop.com
Awards
2023 Key to the City - Sacramento, CA
2022 American Academy of Poets Fellowship
2021 Sacramento Magazine’s “Sacramento 100” Business Leaders
2021 Nominated for Honorary Doctorate from CSUS
2020-2025 Sacramento Poet Laureate
2020 Best Hip Hop Nominee - Sacramento News and Review
2020 Best Emcee Nominee - Sacramento News and Review
2018 Emerging Arts Leader - Sacramento Arts and Business Council
2016 Block by Block Grant Recipient - James Irvine Foundation and the Crocker Art Museum