The Story

 “Tr1umph@nt!” (Michael Duane Jenkins, Jr.) was born in Detroit, MI on March 6th, 1980. He suffered from jaundice as a newborn and was considered to be underweight. This resulted in the infant having an extended stay in the hospital, as he was not cleared by the physicians to be taken home to live with his parents for several months. During that time, he was subject to medical supervision. Very early on, the medical staff noted how different he was in comparison to other infants. He’d barely interact with the world around him. In the coming weeks, doctors determined that there was a need for testing his sight and hearing, as well as his cognitive development. The interpreted results were shocking. The doctors subjectively determined that, though his hearing and sight were normal, his brain functionality wasn’t. By age 2, he was diagnosed as a non-verbal child within the autism spectrum. It was that moment that became the genesis of his and his mother’s fight for his life. They sought out to prove them wrong…

...and they did.

Through years of choosing heart-wrenching dedication over prescription medication, Michael’s mother managed to not only get him up to speed but have him run laps around the race inside his mind. By age 5, he was fervently verbal and articulate to boot. By age 9, Michael was reading at the ninth-grade level. The secret? Songs. 

In order to keep her son’s attention, she began turning every cognitive concept into a song. From his name to his home address, from phonetics to metaphysics, he and she would sing everything. It would be with this lens that Michael would forever see the world--songs upon songs in the uni”verse.” But there was something big happening during the ’80s. The sounds were drastically changing. It was evolving into a new sound--one that would change his life forever. That sound...was hip-hop. 

It was poetry in motion, spoken in rhythm to the beat of a culture’s heart. This, between Michael’s mom and dad, begat a grand idea--submerge him into this culture...and see where it takes him. For the first time in his life, what he was learning in school and what he was loving at home matched--perfectly.

Michael was learning poetry in class and hip-hop at home. The synergy propelled him to even higher heights scholastically. The embodiment of the many dimensions of spoken word developed more than good grades and confidence, however. It actually gave him his first stage. Due to his high achievements and his parents stating his unique way of learning as his claim to fame, Michael Duane Jenkins, Jr. performed Langston Hughes famous poem, “Mother to Son,” as part of his grade school graduation ceremony. It was the first poem he ever internalized, his first performance, and his first...standing ovation. From that moment, he was hooked. From that moment, all he wanted was the stage. Michael took every creative writing and theatre elective he could throughout the rest of his adolescent education.  

But it didn’t stop there.

Michael’s father, Michael Duane Jenkins, Sr., began to purchase various musical instruments for the sole purpose of anticipating what he would create. By age 14, Michael self-taught himself how to play songs off the radio by ear on his keyboard. Age 15? Violin. Age 16? Electric guitar. His creativity was widening a spectrum all its own, but nothing could overtake his fervor for words. It would lead in dynamic walks of faith through many states and multiple schools of thought in his adult years. 

From Michigan to Alabama, to Florida, to California, to New York, to Maryland, to Texas and, now, in the state of North Carolina, this nomad soul’s “heARTwork” finally finds a home in the uni”verse”--right here. 

All the stories you’ll read here actually happened.

All the lyrics you’ll hear him sing are true.

All his heart--the sappy and haphazard

All this art in blood ink drawn for you.

I am, and you are
-Tr1umph@nt!