One Mic

Lyrics on Lockdown (LOL) was a national movement launched by the Blackout Arts Collective in 2001. In 2004, Ella Turenne launched the the LOL course at New York University. The course entailed NYU students facilitating arts-based workshops for youth at Rikers Island Academy over the course of a semester. The course has also been taught at Occidental College.

The book, edited by former Lyrics on Lockdown students Lauren Billie, Danielle Laura, and Professor Ella Turenne, features the poetry of students from the Lyrics on Lockdown classes at Rikers Island, New York University, Columbia University, and Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts.

One Mic was published in 2009 as a collaboration of the Blackout Arts Collective, Rikers Island Academy, The Community Learning Initiative at New York University, The Institute for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University, and Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal arts.

The book contains original work from Lyrics on Lockdown students as well as lesson plans from workshops conceived and facilitated by NYU students.