Tim'm T. West

Timothy Terrell West (born in July 6, 1972), better known as Tim’m T. West, is an educator and multi-discipline performance artist, author, hip hop recording artist, poet, activist and youth advocate.

Humboldt State University notes West as a Renaissance man who has achieved success as a performer, activist, author, teacher, and poet. He has been featured in many documentaries about hip hop culture, in addition to his books, he is widely anthologized, and has produced nine hip hop albums including with Deep Dickollective. West has been interviewed by an array of media outlets from Newsweek to the New York Times. He was awarded a “2013 Esteem Award” in July 2013 in Chicago and in 2015 was selected at one of 31 LGBT Icons by LGBT History Month.

West was born with a speech impediment that caused him to stutter and repeat the ‘M’ on his first name. His family began calling him “Tim’m” which has remained his moniker. He is the second son of nine children, born into a musical family in Cincinnati, Ohio to Charles Edward, a minister, and his mother, Irma Pearl Stinson, who served at various times as an administrative assistant and nurse. He counts his mother as one of the biggest influences on his life, showing him how to be thankful, loving, forgiving, and gracious. His early influences besides his family were reggae, rap and house music. He says his dad was more of a storefront preacher with mixed success, but it did offer the first times West recalls being a poet, and performing. West grew up primarily in Little Rock, Arkansas and later Taylor, Arkansas in extreme poverty, where he attended Taylor High School. He served as captain of his high school basketball team and president of his school’s chapter of Future Farmers of America.

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