The Land is thrilled that Kevin Chill Heard will join our team in July 2023. Kevin is a corps member for Report for America who will cover social equity stories for The Land in Cleveland neighborhoods. He will cover topics like health, the environment, voter and civic engagement, and arts and culture. Kevin will play a key role in helping The Land meet its goal to cover every neighborhood, get residents engaged in The Land’s community journalism, and amplify the perspectives of people in neighborhoods that may have been underrepresented in the media for too long.
Kevin is an experienced journalist who is completing his second term as president of the Greater Cleveland Association of Black Journalists. He is executive director of the nonprofit My Cool Solutions Inc. and previously worked at the Call & Post as an award-winning entertainment editor, managing editor and general manager. Kevin has appeared on news stations WKYC, WEWS, FOX 8, WVIZ, and WOIO and PBS radio station WNPR. During the summers he is an adjunct instructor at Case Western Reserve University. Known as Cleveland’s pioneering rap artist M.C. Chill, he attended Cleveland’s John F. Kennedy High School (and was inducted into its Hall of Fame) and Kent State University. A member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity, he has served as assistant editor of its international publication, the Kappa Journal. Heard is also co-founder of the Los Angeles-based African American Film Critics Association (AAFCA).
Welcome, Kevin. We are so excited you are joining The Land! Thanks for taking some time to speak with us.
Give us a few highlights from your lifelong career as a journalist. What stands out for you?
In all of my years as a journalist, there have been many, many highlights. Here are a few that immediately come to mind!
The time I was almost cussed out by actor Samuel L. Jackson
I was in NYC on one of the coldest days I can remember. I was with a group of 10 reporters on set at the filming of the movie “Shaft”, starring Samuel L. Jackson, who, by the way, is renowned for his use of expletives. The scene was in Harlem at the legendary Lennox Lounge. The director (the late John Singleton) yells, “quiet on the set” and they begin shooting the scene. My cell phone goes off somewhere unreachably deep inside my very warm coat and Samuel L. Jackson goes ballistic! He bolts over to us with an impressive string of very colorful words, and demands to know whose phone was responsible? If you recall, this is titled almost cussed out. Self-preservation kicked in, and I instinctively pointed to an adjacent area of writers and said, “I think it was one of them.” Later, after things calmed down, I confessed to the future Jedi/Avenger, and we laughed about it.
The Anthony Sowell murders
I arrived at the 123rd and Imperial Avenue crime scene, where Anthony Sowell was convicted of killing 11 women. It was disturbing, to say the least. As police removed the bodies of the victims who had been buried or disposed of on his property, the sight, smell, and dread of that day is something that will remain with me forever. I later interviewed some of the victims’ families, and I also attended some of the trial.
With Halle Berry making history!
Most people that know me are aware of my friendship with iconic Cleveland native Halle Berry. I was with Halle the weekend of her historic win at the 2002 Academy Awards. I also rode with her to receive her star on the “Walk of Fame.”
Man shot outside the Call & Post
Early one morning we heard gunfire just outside the Call & Post parking lot. A man had been shot! A few of us helped him out of the street and called 911. Just as EMS workers were tending to him, propped against the back of the Call & Post building, I pulled out my Blackberry and popped a quick picture of him bleeding up against the building. The photo made the front page. The man was hospitalized and later released. Sometimes you have to go and get the story, and sometimes the story comes to you.
What do you love most about Cleveland?
I love my city! I was born and raised here, and I’ve raised a family of my own here! Cleveland is a city of hard workers. It’s a city that has so much to offer and so much potential. What I love most about Cleveland is my community of journalists. I share their hopes and dreams. I also love my hip-hop community, a community that I helped give birth to. Like a concerned parent, I’ve seen their struggles and their triumphs. I wish them the best, and I’ll always be there to counsel and advise them whenever they need me.
Give us a few fun facts about yourself. Many folks know you as a rapper!
Yes, I have long accepted the fact that I will forever be connected to my hip-hop roots as Cleveland’s first national rap recording artist M.C. Chill. As a founder of Cleveland’s hip-hop culture, I actually owe my career as a journalist to my beginnings in hip-hop. What some people might not know is that I’m a 6th-degree black belt in karate (master rank). I was a 3-time National AAU Champion and was inducted last month into the Cleveland Martial Arts Hall of Fame (Class of 2023).
What are some of your favorite things to do in Cleveland?
I love going to the Cleveland Museum of Art! It is a jewel in Cleveland that more people of color need to visit. Art is for everybody! I am a Museum member and an Affinity Member of the Museum’s Friends of African and African American Art. I have long held a great respect for the history of ancient Egypt and have studied its culture since my days at Kent State University. I have given independent tours of the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Egyptian Gallery since 2016 to over 15,000 people. I traveled to Egypt in October of 2022 and will be hosting two groups going back in October and December of this year (2023).
Why The Land?
First of all, it’s called “The Land,” lol, how cool is that, right? I was initially able to follow contributing stories by outstanding journalists like Rhonda Crowder and Nate Paige. I also have had a few opportunities to speak with The Land founder, Lee Chilcote. The whole idea of combining civic engagement with local journalism appealed to my sensibilities as a community advocate and journalist. The Land completely showed up on my radar when approached by an eager young journalist, Michael Indriolo. When he introduced himself as a reporter with The Land at an event I was participating in about vaccine awareness, his energy was contagious. The notion that young and committed journalists like him still existed was refreshing. Let’s say I had a “Road to Damascus” moment of non-jaded rededication. An opportunity presented itself with The Land, not only to get my hands back on the keyboard but to mentor journalists while doing it. My “three-year coffee break” is over. Time to get back to work!
How would you like people to get in touch with you to share story tips and let you know what’s happening?
People can reach me by email: kheard@thelandcle.org or on Instagram @kevinchillheard. I won’t be hard to find. I like to say, “I’m back outside!”
What didn’t we ask you that you’d like to share?
I have a few new projects, efforts, collaborations and events coming soon. Stay tuned for the latest “Chillnouncements.”
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