BLUE

Brad Bathgate, aka BLUE, was born in Harlem and raised as a military brat between New York, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Germany. Returning to the U.S. from Germany as a teenager, he experienced a deep culture shock that sharpened his perspective and continues to shape his writing.

Growing up during the early days of Hip Hop, he developed a lifelong fascination with words. But it wasn’t until 1998—after attending a poetry reading at Harlem’s Sugar Shack—that he found his true calling. Witnessing other poets manipulate language with power and freedom, BLUE realized that writing gave him limitless expression, as long as it was creative.