Casey Bailey is a writer, poet, spoken word performer, rapper and secondary school senior leader, born and raised in Nechells, Birmingham. He provides social commentary and analysis through his poetry, lyrics and articles.
In the last year Casey has been commissioned nationally, by the Local Government Association and locally, by the Birmingham Civic Society. Casey’s work as a writer has been recognised by Writing West Midlands who have offered him a place on the prestigious ‘Room 204’ project. Casey’s contribution as a writer, as an educator and dedicated member of his community have been recognised by the Birmingham Mail’s ‘Birmingham Live’, leading to him being named as one of Birmingham’s ’30 under 30’ of 2018.
Casey released the short poetry collection Waiting At Bloomsbury Park with Big White Shed in 2017.
Did you know? Casey recently had two videos of his work filmed and broadcast by BBC3, each amassing over 200,000 views on Facebook.
About Adjusted: It seems like Casey has been adjusting all his life. Adapting to the harsh realities of his Nechells upbringing – the drugs, the weapons, the lost friends, the lost hope. Finding ways to assimilate and swallow injustices and ways of being treated that no-one should have to tolerate. Finding a way to make meaning of his life – a way to contribute. And to some extent, he succeeded. He made the moves he needed to make and began to find his place. And then 2017 happened – when within a year he lost his mother and became a father and was forced to deal with extreme loss and joy, pride and pain, as life-sized as they get and all at the same time.
Adjusted is about Casey’s journey, and is an attempt to tell the story of this last tumultuous year, when sky-high highs and lows as low as ocean beds combined to form something else entirely; when a whole new raft of adjustments, bigger than any he’d made before, were asking to happen.
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You can find lots of Casey’s videos on YouTube and at his website. Here is one of our favourites, filmed as part of the Black Country Broadsheet project being organised by Poets, Prattlers and Pandemonialists.
SAMPLE POEM: QUESTIONS
It’s June 13th 2017
tomorrow is my Dad’s birthday
today you are 4 weeks old.
I reflect on the lessons
he taught me,
consider how I’ll share them,
do I need to share them?
Will you need to hear
about oppression and inequality?
Will it help you?
I am fighting to build
you a future that rises above
the issues of my childhood.
I don’t know if you’ll need
to appreciate the struggles
that I have seen. Why show
you then? Why protect you
from suffering just to introduce
you to it anyway? Do you need
to know? Do I need to tell you?
Is it possible to eradicate
the inequalities of society?
Is it possible to make them
irrelevant?
In 12 hours a fire will start
at Grenfell tower.
In 12 hours a flame
and combustible cladding
will answer my questions.
WEBSITE: www.baileysrapandpoetry.com
TWITTER: @MrCaseyBailey
FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/baileysrapandpoetry
SOUNDCLOUD: www.soundcloud.com/baileys-rap-and-poetry