Essence Magazine selected Acey to feature at the 2001 and 2002 Essence Music Festivals in New Orleans. He has also lectured on performance poetry at the University of California at Berkeley. His first video, "When the Smoke Clearz" was shown in film festivals in Los Angeles, New York, Amsterdam, and Rotterdam and was one of only 22 films nominated for a 2002 Sundance Film Festival On-line Award. "Crack the CIA," a film narrated by Acey, won the Audience Award at Sundance that year. His poetry has been featured in several publications including Essence Magazine. Taalam was the 2000 and 2002 Grand Slam Champion of London's Paddington Int'l Poetry Festival and the 2002 Slam Champion of the Austin International Poetry Festival. He was also the 2000-2001 NJ Slam master and the Washington DC Black Words Grand Slam Champion. He's won multiple slams in both the Nuyorican and the Green Mill Café in Chicago (both considered to be the int'l Meccas of slam poetry). Acey was also a member of the 1999 New York City slam team representing the world famous Nuyorican Café. BBC Radio One-London featured Taalam in their documentary on slam poetry. Bleeding edge spoken word has brought this Newark, NJ native everywhere from Los Angeles to Amsterdam. He has toured extensively throughout the continental United States, Canada, Germany, Holland and the U.K. Prior to becoming a full time performance poet, he earned a BS in Accounting and an MBA in Finance. He was also a full time lecturer in senior level accounting at Rutgers University, and a principal partner in a small business consulting firm.