You are at an event where you expect to see the most prominent stars perform. Your expectations are high, and understandably so because you paid handsomely to get the ticket to see the best stars on stage. As you patiently wait for that moment when you'll be made to jump up and down with blasting sounds and rhythmic lyrics, a young man steps on stage with a beaming smile and walks towards the microphone.
In the next three minutes that follow, he switches from rhymes to alliteration, brings on irony, and mixes it with wordplay that makes you unconsciously put your hand over your head as you snap those fingers in disbelief. Your mind wandering, your thoughts lost. You wonder in amazement; who is this boy? What has he just done?
That boy is a poet, and he just blew your mind with spoken word.
WHAT IS SPOKEN WORD:
Spoken word is an art of performance poetry where a speaker/artist delivers a poem either on stage to an audience or through recorded devices using powerful self-expressions, gestures, and performative body language to express emotions, pass a message, and entertain. In some cases, spoken word performances contain elements of music such as rap, hip-hop, jazz, rock, blues, and rhythmic expressions.
Rhythm, rhyme, and flow: those three words are pillars of both spoken word and hip hop. The similarity between both could be seen by many as a result of a synergy of both arts, but it's far from it. It's more of origin than marriage. Let me take you back in time to the moment where it all began for both spoken word and hip hop; the 1960s. Going back in history will enable us to trace not just the history of Spoken word but also understand how Spoken word is rooted in black history and how it influenced Hip-Hop starting in the late 60s up until the late 80s.
SPOKEN WORD IN THE 60s:
Spoken word was used in the 60s to give a voice to the disenfranchised people of that time. Poems like 'When the Revolution Comes' by The Last Poets spoke about the white supremacy ideology that Africans in America were forced to imbibe. An excerpt of the poem says;
"When the revolution comes
Jesus Christ is gonna be standing on the corner of Lennox Ave and 125th Street trying to catch the first gypsy cab out of Harlem….''
This line in the spoken word speaks deeply to the white supremacy ideology that had been embedded even into Christianity. With black people made to believe in and serve a white Jesus, the poets opine that when there's a revolution, the blacks in America will adopt an ideology of Pan-Africanism and abandon the white Jesus. So in a sense, the white Jesus that blacks were forced to worship will stand on the corner of Lennox Ave and 125th Street in Harlem, looking for a gypsy cab to run away from the heat of the revolution. That is just how powerful spoken word was in the 60s, and it all began on May 19, 1968.
THE ORIGIN:
The day is May 19, 1968. Mount Morris Park (now Marcus Garvey Park) is the venue. The mission commemorated what would have been the 43rd birthday of Malcolm X, who was assassinated three years earlier. Also fresh in mind was another famous assassination, that of Martin Luther King, which happened barely two months before the event. On that day and moment, an 18-year-old college boy, Abiodun Oyewole, and his friends, David Nelson and Gylan Park identified themselves as The Last Poets. Their name was inspired by a line from a poem by Willie Kgositsile; a South African poet who preached the need to put aside poetry and face the impending revolution. In his word, the South African said;
''When the moment hatches in time's womb, there will be no art talk.
The only poem you will hear will be the spearpoint pivoted in the punctured marrow of the villain…therefore, we are the last poets of the world….''
The 1968-borne group picked not just their name from the poem of Kgositsile but also their message; a looming revolution. In their debut album of spoken word poems titled 'The Last Poets; the poets introduced to the world a unique style of poetry as they spoke powerful words over the beat of a conga drum. The message was centered on the rising cases of slaughters, assaults, and police brutality, especially among blacks in America. The style and message were deeply incorporated into their next spoken word album, released two years later. The second album was more advanced than the first as they used reggae orchestration, drums, horns, and flute as beat to accompany the powerful poems. Their spoken word poems were powerful enough to overshadow the projects of popular rap groups like Public Enemy.
HOW THEY INFLUENCED HIP-HOP:
You could call them the grandfathers of Hip-hop; you wouldn't be wrong, because for a spoken word group to have their debut album reach the US Top 10 Chart, even the British Music Magazine (NME) couldn't help but make this comment about them;
''The last poets, and later Gary Byrd, paved the way for the many socially committed Black emcees a decade later''.
1968-1970 saw The LastPoets play a significant role in the growth of Hip-Hop. Their first album introduced the fusion of music and poetry through the recording of spoken word lines on a conga beat. Their second album, ''This is Madness'', introduced a unique sound they called ''Jazzoetry''which was a fusion of jazz, funk instrumentals, and poetry. In 1973, the style was further developed to what they referred to as free-jazz-poetry. All of these creative innovations surely didn't go unnoticed.
The 1980s saw a rise of many Hip-Hop groups and a gradual decline in the popularity of The Last Poets in America. However, that notwithstanding, their impacts still spoke for them as the new generation often mentioned them as the inspiration behind their Hip-Hop sounds. For example, a band called Quest in the 1990s sampled words and lines of the Last Poets in their raps.
Another group, Public Enemy, used some lines from the poem ''White Man's Got a God Complex'' in a song in their 1994 album titled ''God Complex''. The Last Poets are still seen and referred to as the founders and grandfathers of Hip-Hop, and in 2005, several Hip-Hop artists like Common, Jill Scott, Chuck D, Doug E. Fresh, and Bilal came together to record and release a tribute album to the Last Poets. Notable also to mention is that The Last Poets were featured with Hip-Hop artist Common on a song produced by Kanye West in 2005 titled, ''The Corner''. The group is also featured in the 2008 Nas album called Untitled.
BEYOND 1970:
The years beyond 1970 saw a lot of great poets join and exit the Last Poets group, with many eventually forming their own movements. David Nelson left in 1969 and was replaced by Felipe Luciano. Felipe eventually left too and established his group known as the Young Lions. Kain also began pursuing other endeavors, and Abiodun Oyewole, the one left of the three that founded the movement, recruited more talents that he would eventually work with to create a path for Hip Hop. The likes of Jalaluddin Mansur and Umar Bin Hassan joined Oyewole. However, the founding members who had left (Nelson and Kain) teamed up with Felipe Luciano, who left afterward to form the Young Lions to record an album titled Right On.
HOW POLITICAL THE LAST POETS SPOKEN WORD WAS:
The messages of The Last Poets were always very politically rooted, which sparked the conscience of Hip-Hop rap back then. But, it didn't also go unnoticed by the authorities. For example, their album titled ''This is Madness'' featured many poems that were so politically charged, and this led to the group having their name listed under the Counter-intelligence program of Richard Nixon's administration called COINTELPRO. But that didn't deter them. Other poems like ''Nighas Are Scared of Revolution'', and ''White Man's Got a God Complex'' were further politically charged wake-up calls issued to Blacks by the Last Poets.
Looking at the growth of Spoken Word today, the similarities with Hip-Hop and the fusion many Spoken Word Artists have tried to form between both aspects and seeing the impact The Last Poets have had on the world even decades after their reign is beautiful. Their messages of Pan-Africanism and politically charged lyrics have become a standard style among the younger generation. Looking at their poems, albums, messages, and ideology, I wouldn't be wrong to say that if time was to be reversed. The Last Poets were to be in their prime today; they would have been at the forefront of the Black Lives Matter movement, as what they fought for, spoke against, and agitated for is all we see in today's world. Their messages are evergreen, but above all, their impact on Spoken Word and Hip-Hop is ever cherished and never to be forgotten.