NBT Media
Mar 1, 20192 min
Stephen aka “Ugly Stephen” is a 24 year old writer from Pennsauken, NJ. Stephen was just in the 5th grade when he started writing. He would create and write stories, print them out, and then sell his stories to his friends at lunch for a quarter. This hustle and love for creating fiction would soon become something that molded his lifestyle. As he grew older he started needing ways to find himself, this is how poetry became a more important part of his life. He calls it “a more intimate and immediate release.”
Once he found poetry he was more hesitant in how many people actually got to view his work. The Internet held him back a little bit because he wanted to be careful about how he was portrayed online. This obstacle took time to overcome, but it naturally happened. His first break through happened after opening up for his cousin’s band at Saige Café. A one-time gig turned into an opportunity for him to perform every week at the café. He realized that he could not produce poetry at that rate, so he created the concept of the “Waiting Room”. He explained the concept of the waiting room by stating, “The idea of the Waiting Room is that we all go through things. Times of sickness, times of need, times of lack…The Waiting Room, as I call it, is an atmosphere of healing via art, via energy.”
The “Waiting Room” has become something in his area that attracts some of the most gifted and talented people out there. From talented artist who are getting their first opportunity to be seen, all the way to the likes of emerging artist Franky Hill have performed at his event. Along with creating this platform Ugly Stephen has performed many times and continues to produce his own work. Social media has allowed him to broadcast himself, which allowed us to come across his unique talent. With his, “The only person that can stop you is you”, mentality it won’t be long before his talents surface all across social media, and elevate him into becoming the next big thing.
#NextBigThing #FacesOfTheFuture