Bennie Herron

Bennie Herron (aka Eklipse Heru) is an African poet born in the United States. He began his adventure in San Diego, California where he currently resides. His artistic nature is rooted in a search for truth and understanding and with every word written, he attempts to get closer and closer to what truth is. This artist's literary and musical activism began with Hip Hop and grew into poetry. This growth has led to the birth of his first CD entitled CHURCHES and LIQUOR STORES, which will be released by the independent label ON-1 Entertainment.

Bennie is currently one of seven passionate souls that comprise the poetry collective Taco Shop Poets, a group dedicated to community empowerment through the arts. The Taco Shop Poets seek to bring poetry to the people of San Diego, California who often gather in taco shops, not cafes. In addition to dedicating his words and time to this poetry collective, Bennie has performed in numerous venues and universities throughout the nation including San Diego Mesa College, University of San Diego; African Cultures Presentation, University of Southern California, California State University at Northridge, Floricanto Conference; "Poetry and Performance in the Future" panelist, DePaul University (Indiana), and New York University. In his own community of San Diego, Bennie has organizedan participated in workshops and cultural events at the African-American Pride Club at Ray Krock Middle School, the San Diego Urban League, the Bay View Baptist Church Freedom School, Black Infant Health and the Langston Hughes centennial celebration. Bennie also served as curator of the "Oracle" reading series at Malcolm X Library, it is written Bookstore and the Tubman Chavez Center. He is the founder of "The Messenger" (1997), which is dedicated to reinforcing education and self-awareness through the arts (poetry, music, dance, and visual art), creator and coordinator of "From A Boy To A Man", an emotional and academic awareness program for African American males between the ages of 12-17, the co-founder and teacher of "JOKOS/MESSAGE"(Arts for Culture and Life) a collective that strives to link its students with the resources, people, and community based organizations that can support them in achieving their short and long term goals, and serves as a collaborator with Voz Alta, an organization that promotes cultural and social empowerment and awareness in Chicano and African American communities.

In addition to performing, Bennie also has several literary works to his credit including serving as editor and writer for the Kuumba Journal at SDSU and Poetry Anthology, and his first book of poems, the soon to be released "BLACK CHALK, WHITE BOARD". Bennie is one for progression and innovation, "I am a work in progress, so every poem is a work in progress."

Bennie holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and is currently a Master of Social Work candidate at San Diego State University

Releases Bennie Herron is set to release a series of mixtapes focusing on the Golden Age of hip hop. He is also releasing a Chapbook titled Lineage with a forward written by American Book Award winner Matthew Shenoda.
Actual work by Bennie is elusive and difficult to come across. Particularly due to the nature of this affiliations. Namely, Mastas of the Universe. Mastas of the Universe employ an extremely DIY tactic that offend lends to home recordings and individual duplications per request. The only sure releases available from Bennie are two albums, "Seed-N-Soil" and "Churches and Liquor Stores."

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