Anderson, aka Droopy the Broke Baller, is the co-host of Spit Dat, a spoken word open mic held at the Emergence Community Arts Collective every Thursday. The venue is celebrating its 10th year of serving as a hub for the District’s poetry community. Anderson, who works as an eighth-grade science teacher at Cesar Chavez College Preparatory School, has been hosting the event since its inception.
Does D.C. have a strong poetry community?
I think it’s a hugely popular form of self expression. I know people who go nearly manic if they miss out on a Thursday night. It’s church for them. … It’s a relief. Even if you don’t perform, someone else may say something that relates to what you need to hear. … We have the laid-back vibe, and we are going to make you feel good. So it’s just a spiritual relief.
Would you call it an underground community?
It’s funny because it’s underground for you if you’ve never heard it. It’s underground in the sense that not everybody knows about it. It’s not like spoken word is on the radio. … We would feel strange calling it underground because we’ve been doing it for so long, with so many, and so many poets come and go.
What is a typical performance like?
Usually it’s just straight-up a cappella. You get mostly poetry, a few rappers, a few singers, every now and then someone will do an interpretive dance. We get some comics. But it’s mostly known for poetry — it has been for 10 years.
Is there any experience required?
You get people who maybe have never featured before, and they get their first opportunity at Spit Dat. … [One regular] compared featuring at Spit Dat to serving Sunday dinner to your family. So you get ‘armatures,’ but they’re giving you professional-quality stuff because of how invested they are in the opinions of that space.
