CHIIMEH & FAMILY


Stream of Consciousness Writing
“My first conscious introduction to hip-hop was 2Pac and Warren G, and ever since then I’ve continued to remain a student in deep appreciation of not just the music but the entire overarching culture. I remember playing certain songs on repeat and writing down the lyrics to rap with them, which now I realize how much that actually had me practicing proficient reading, speaking and memorization skills in my elementary school days. I owe a lot of the validity that I feel in my identity, my core values, my fellowships, and practical traditions to hip-hop culture. I mean these are all the things that make a ‘culture’ a culture anyways.
There are of course issues within the culture, no different from any other culture. Some issues that may have not been as prevalent in the genesis of the culture. Issues that may stem from its monetization, commercialization and eventual globalization. Issues that may have existed within collectives of our society that hip-hop would go on to put a magnifying glass to and maybe even sometimes enable. Despite all this though, the celebration of education and skill-building, the impacts of collaboration, the way testimonies are weaponized for liberation (even if its individual), the re-usage of common resources and waste, and finally the consideration for what may be unconventional still makes up the foundation of hip-hop. It’s these same necessities that I’ve made the backbone of AMMP while additionally being a testament to the way the culture of hip-hop influences my approaches to social justice. The further along I was in writing A Flower that is Killed in the Spring […], the more much of it seemed to mold into what I would consider to be a blueprint or something of an abstract for the organization, embodying the concepts behind all of my work that is ecological and socially-driven. I cannot help but to pour my craft and identity into my writing.
In fall of 2014, I self-published my first book by the name of Assata the Untitled New Vision Ministry, filled with several collections of letters and poems that I had written to political prisoners. All these pieces were inspired by of course the project’s namesake, Assata Shakur. Shortly after its completion, I discovered my passion for sustainable plant science at Ohio State University and studied the ways in which my field could be applied to empowering disenfranchised communities against systemic injustices. Injustices that I found to be very much racial and environmental. For the following 9 years, I would continue my writing alongside both my studies and my eventual practice. Throughout the past years, I’ve done a lot of growing, a lot of learning, a lot of healing and struggling, as did the environment and community around me. I set out when beginning to create this self-described piece of hip-hop literature, with the mindset that this would be the last one that I would write and reallocate my creativity elsewhere. Years later now, that still hasn’t changed. But what has changed is the level of myself, my changes, and my experiences that have shaped the book hundreds of times more than I had initially intended.
In turn, this project in its finality has equally if not more so changed me. In hip-hop literary form, A Flower that is Killed in the Spring […] is a story of self, an environmental racism analysis, and social commentary told by a brotha from the midwest of the Midwest.” – Clayton-Michael-Dowdell Chiimeh
10 Episodic Chapters










Collaboration Credits
Primary Writing | CMD Chiimeh |
Primary Illustrator | Mars Keflom |
Photography | Obinna Onyeka CMD Chiimeh |
Additional Writing | Alesia Sivels |
Additional Illustration | Alesia Sivels Dr. Lisa English-Dowdell Robert Miller |
Publisher | A Midwest Movement Project |
Date of Release | May 1st, 2023 |
*Standard Edition prices range from $40.48 – $70.63 (Available in magazine, softcover, and hardcover)*
*Special Edition priced at $250 (Signed 12×12 Hardcover + Personal Flower Package + Flower Shrine)*