Bennett has recited his original work as a performance artist at events such as the Sundance Film Festival, the NAACP Image Awards,[11] and President Obama's Evening of Poetry and Music at The White House.

Christopher Kempf at Colorado State University describes Bennett's poetry as being able to capture the many different facets of an African-American life, "a diverse body of experiences cut through with conflicting class and cultural investments."

"[16] In Dissent Magazine, Jesse McCarthy suggests that Bennett's voice is a portion of a literary movement where politics and poetry are coming together in an unanticipated way.

"[21] The New Yorker's review of Owed details how "Themes of praise and debt pervade this rhapsodic, rigorous poetry collection, which pays homage to everyday Black experience in the U.S. .

Bennett conjures a spirit of kinship that, illuminated by redolent imagery, borders on mythic, and boldly stakes claim to ‘some living, future / English, & everyone in it / is immortal.

"[22] Salon writes that "Bennett captures the beauty of what really matters in life—the memories, youth sports, family traditions and little moments that many of us take for granted" in addition to saying that the book couldn't have come out at a better time.

[23] Ron Charles at Washington Post describes Bennett's literary criticism as "An intense and illuminating reevaluation of black literature and Western thought.