D'bi Young

d’bi young anitafrika was born on December 23, 1977, in Kingston, Jamaica to dub poet, Anita Stewart, and community organizer, Winston Young. Young spent much of their childhood in Jamaica watching their mother perform dub poetry. In 1993, they moved to Toronto, Canada, to join their parents where they completed high school.Young's early career included the role of “Crystal” on the Frances-Anne Solomon produced sitcom Lord Have Mercy! (2003), theatre work with Black Theatre Workshop and Theatre Passe Muraille, and artist residencies with Soulpepper Theatre, CanadianStage, Obsidian Theatre, and Banff Centre for the Arts. In 2001, their breakout role as “Stacyanne” came through Da Kink in My Hair, by Jamaican-Canadian writer Trey Anthony, for which they were nominated for a Dora Award. Badilisha Poetry X-Change has ranked d'bi young anitafrika in the top ten poets.

Young's early poetry, including their first dub poem entitled "once dere was a mxn" written in 1988, followed the foundational aesthetic of dub poetry's form, style, and content. In 2013, Young was one of the headline names for the 2013 Human Rights Concert in Harare, Zimbabwe. There, they collaborated with Zimbabwean musician Victor Kunonga on a song called Ruvengo (Hate) off Kunonga's album Kwedu.