As a student of words, I’ve always been fascinated with their texture and sway, particularly how when a word is expressed in a different tone, it can convey many contrasts of the same shade. The vibration of language interosculates words together and shapes communication that culturally grounds a people into its fertile soil.
There are many biblical accounts of creation that have begun with the word, and from the word these accounts support the idea that everything in the Universe has come into being through the spoken word. People can explore this verity by simply examining their lives up until this point, and evaluating their use of words, language, and intent to see if their lives are in exact proportion to the words they have chosen to speak. Scientific studies have also shown us that words carry vibrations, and these vibrations release frequencies that can be measured for intensity and intent. I suppose this is because in order to speak a word, you must have sound, breath, and meaning, which ignites this phenomenon called the spoken word.
The use of language through the spoken word dates back to the beginning of existence itself. Words represent instruments of speech that are used to transmit one’s sentiments to another entity or being. Likewise, one can praise, curse, summon, or dismiss by exercising the employment of the spoken word.
In Afrakan culture, the griot, who is the village’s storyteller and historian, is responsible for passing down events, stories, and legacies via the spoken word. Griots are revered in this oral tradition, and are relied upon to educate the masses on their tribal history, religion, and also give the village a sense of purpose and identity.
Many of our ancestors who came to America in chains from Afraka during the widely documented slave trade brought with them sacred rituals from their Afrakan traditions that were practiced and clandestinely shared with the slave communities of the South. Although it was illegal for slaves to read and write at this time in America, many were able to memorize in great detail the rituals, songs, and poetry from our great Afrakan past.
The griot’s immeasurable practice survived the slave ships and plantations despite the white slave owners’ desecration of the Afrakan culture. There were many enslaved poets and wordsmiths at this time whose names have vanished due to their dignified and admirable gifts. In the mid 16th century, American society only kept records and archived those black poets and writers who were considered patriots of its white agenda. Furthermore, through these accounts we now know that in 1773, a Senegalese enslaved woman name Phillis Wheatley became the first black American poet to publish a book of poems. The book, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, brought Ms. Wheatley to national prominence, and she was also heralded for being the first black American poet to make a living from her writings. It is also of great importance to note that Jupiter Hammon, a black American writer who was born into slavery, is recognized for being the first black American writer to publish a poem. His poem, “An Evening Thought,” first appeared as a broadside in 1761. Mr. Hammon differs from Ms. Wheatley in regards to first-published poem and first-published manuscript. This is not to weaken Mr. Hammon’s feat; rather, it is to bring clarity to some of the misrepresented information that has not clearly defined both their roles in black American literature.
By the mid 19th century, abolitionism was at its pinnacle, and leading the poetry brigade was black writer/poet and activist Frances E. Harper, who published her first volume of work, entitled Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects, in 1854. Several prominent scholars have contended that Frances’s work ushered in the era of black American protest poetry. Frances is also regarded as the first black American to have a short story published in 1861; it was called “Two Offers.” This was a significant time in black American poetry, as the reconstruction era (1865-1877) was designed to bring “freedmen” into the society to work and vote as citizens after the Civil War.
In 1893, a young, prolific writer and poet, Paul Laurence Dunbar, published his first volume of poetry, Oak and Ivy, and was later celebrated as one of the first Afrakan-American writers to establish a national reputation. Dunbar was also well versed, educated, and a playwright, poet, novelist, and lyricist who occasionally wrote in “negro dialect,” associated with the Antebellum South, which fueled much of his early success as a writer and poet. Dunbar’s influence on black American poetry would steamroll into the 20th century, as a new generation of poets and artists would later convene in Harlem, New York.
One of these soon-to-be legends who had been influenced by Dunbar was the historian, educator, children’s book author, and poet extraordinaire, Arna Bontemps. Born in Alexandria, Louisiana, in 1902, he relocated with his parents to Watts, California, at age three to escape the overtly racial restrictions in the South. Watts had just become a city in 1906, and was rumored to be a great place to raise a family. Watts was certainly a sizzling, vibrant community at this time, and Bontemps would grow up and discover his love for poetry in this atmosphere. Arna Bontemps would later move to Harlem to join one of the first major black poetry movements in America, the Harlem Renaissance, which spanned from the end of World War I through the Great Depression of the 1930s. It is extremely noteworthy that during this time, a shift from individual victories in black American literature to group and collective progression was shaping through poetry.
The Harlem Renaissance originated out of the great migrations of blacks to the North, Midwest, and West Coast in search of better opportunities after World War I. This cultural, social, literary, and artistic explosion drew black writers, artists, musicians, photographers, and poets from all over the world. After moving to Harlem, Arna Bontemps became very good friends with Langston Hughes, who was one of the first Afrakan-American writers to support himself through his writings.
Concurrently, the Black Nationalist movement was thriving in Harlem, New York, as well, led by the seminal political leader, publisher, and Jamaican-born poet Marcus Mosiah Garvey, who on all accounts had spearheaded the UNIA (Universal Negro Improvement Association) into one of the most prolific Black Nationalist movements in the history of the United States of America. At its peak in 1920, the UNIA reported having over four million members. During the next couple of years, Garvey’s movement was able to magnetize a gargantuan amount of followers, due in large part from the Cultural Revolution of the Harlem Renaissance and the West Indies immigrants arriving. Garvey’s slogan: “One Aim, One God, One Destiny,” was appealing to black veterans settling in Harlem after World War I. Marcus Garvey’s movement was also the channel for Malcolm X’s mother, Louise, and father, Earl Little to meet at a UNIA convention in Montreal. Earl was the president of the UNIA division in Omaha, Nebraska, and sold the Negro World newspaper, for which Louise covered UNIA activities.
During the next forty years (1925-1965), America tightened its grip on blacks across the country. In turn, revolts erupted, cities went up in flames, and a young Malcolm went from street hustler Detroit Red to inmate #22843 to the Nation of Islam’s key spokesman, then morphing into the beloved prophet El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. When Minister Malcolm was assassinated on February 21st, 1965, coupled with centuries of oppression through global white supremacy, black art and protest poetry would soar to new heights, as the country braced itself for what was to be candid sentiments intended to hold the power structure accountable.
West Coast Poetry Thread
The assassination of Malcolm X grew what I like to identify as my present-day poetry thread. Out of this horrific tragedy, rebellions erupted all over the country; and from this black alliances and writing workshops began to form. The Black Panther Party and US Organization were both shaped from this monumental bang that was heard all around the world.
The Watts Revolt popped off on August 11th, 1965, and shortly after the smoke cleared, Budd Schulberg, an Academy Award-winning screenwriter, came to Watts and started what one attendee said was “the single best writing success story in American history,” the 1965 Watts Writers’ Workshop. This creative-writing workshop birthed such writers as Raspoet Ojenke, Jayne Cortez, Harry Dolan, Jimi Sherman, Odie Hawkins, Wanda Coleman, the Watts Prophets (Father Amde, Richard Dedeaux, Dee Dee McNeil, and Otis O’Solomon), Johnie Scott, Eric Priestly, the word musician Kamau Daaood, Emory Evans, Curtis Lyle and Quincy Troupe, to name some of the greats.
The Watts Writers’ Workshop was generating national buzz and major funding during this time, so much so that the FBI planted informants in the workshop in order to monitor the group’s activities. One of these informants, Darthard Perry (aka Ed Riggs), later confessed to burning down the building that housed the workshop, after the group had welcomed him into the sessions with open arms. Although the Watts Writers’ Workshop physically lasted for under a decade, members of this acclaimed collective went on to produce film, television, albums, plays, manuscripts, and a large host of other intellectual properties that revolutionized writing, poetry, and protest through the arts.
In 1989, twenty-four years after the Watts Writers’ Workshop, this West Coast thread continued to weave as poet Kamau Daaood and master drummer Billy Higgins co-founded The World Stage Performance Gallery in Leimert Park, Los Angeles.
The World Stage offered a drumming and a writing workshop, The Anansi Writers’ Workshop. The World Stage has initiated the professions of many great writers as well: Ruth Forman, D Knowledge, V. Kali, Pam Ward, Dee Black, Michael Datcher, Jaha Zainabu, El Rivera, and Conney Williams, to name some. The Anansi Writers’ Workshop has been going strong for over 25 years and counting. It has been said to be the child of the Watts Writers’ Workshop. This is a direct testament to the gravity and influence of Minister Malcolm’s transition and the country’s temperature at the time.
East Coast Poetry Thread
Poet and activist LeRoi Jones, largely known as the literary icon Amiri Baraka, would move to New York shortly after Malcolm’s death and start the Black Arts Repertory Theater (BARTS), which gave birth to the Black Arts Movement.
TIME magazine described the Black Arts Movement as the “single most controversial movement in the history of African American literature—possibly in American literature as a whole.” From this Eastern thread came the likes of poets such as Maya Angelou, Sonia Sanchez, Marvin X, Lucille Clifton, Askia M. Tourè, Etheridge Night, Gwendolyn Brooks, Keorapetse “Willie” Kgositsile, and Nikki Giovanni. The Black Arts Movement was also known as the artistic branch of the Black Power Movement. Many of the writers and poets from this thread would go on to produce a massive amount of acclaimed, incomparable literary works.
In 1968, three years after BAM was taking the literary world by storm, The Harlem Writing Workshop, East Wind, would give birth to the legendary poetry group called The Last Poets, on May 19th, 1968 (the anniversary of Malcolm X’s birthday), in Mount Morris Park in Harlem, New York. The Last Poets quickly spiraled from three poets and a drummer to seven young black and Hispanic artists: Gylan Kain, Jalal Nuruddin, Suliaman El-Hadi, Umar Bin Hassan, Abiodun Oyewole, David Nelson, and Felipe Luciano. Out of this assemblage came over 17 albums and countless masterpieces in other formats.
In 1969, this East-Coast quilt continued to expand when poet Gil Scott-Heron heard The Last Poets perform at his school, Lincoln University, in Pennsylvania. After that performance, Abiodun of The Last Poets said Gil Scott-Heron asked him, “Listen, can I start a group like you guys?” From 1970-2011, Gil Scott-Heron went on to record over 25 albums and is heralded as the Godfather of Rap by nearly all that know his legend.
Sewing the Threads Together
One of the biggest bangs that came forth out of these strands that wove into the present day of the hip-hop and rap culture was the Watts Prophets of the West Coast, and The Last Poets and Gil Scott-Heron of the East Coast. This poetry crochet is broadly distinguished as the pioneers of rap, for their hard-hitting, fiery, rhythmic poetry styles that reflected the early stages of what rap would become. This is where the fiber began to weave into the fabric of my generation.
Rolling Stone magazine named the Watts Prophets’ 1969 album The Black Voices: On the Streets in Watts one of the 40 most groundbreaking albums of all time: “A path-finding moment in the pre-history of hip-hop … full of minimalist beats and brilliant wordplay nearly a decade before the first recorded rap song.”
The 70s would begin with four mammoth, pre-hip-hop albums that gave birth to what rap would eventually avalanche into. Poet Gil Scott-Heron’s 1970 debut album release Small Talk at 125th and Lenox featured the opening track “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.” This track was able to run through the veins of every inner-city ghetto in the country, tapping into the souls of the people.
One year later, the Watts Prophets’ 1971 album release Rappin’ Black in a White World, and The Last Poets’ 1971 album release This Is Madness hit the world by blizzard, shaping into the epitome of what it meant to speak truth to power through spoken word.
This brewing volcano further erupted in 1973, with Jalal Nuruddin, aka “Lightnin’ Rod,” of The Last Poets, and his debut album release Hustler’s Convention. On this epic, masterful album, Jalal took rhyming to another level and was later credited with being the “Grandfather of Rap.”
This is where spoken word, music, and poetry began to interosculate, cultivating into a colossal tree that has weaved branches to every corner of the globe. These branches would later influence soon-to-be hip-hop and rap icons of the 70s, 80s, 90s, and ultimately the new millennium of today.
There is no way to list the infinite number of artists that were influenced directly by the Watts Prophets and The Last Poets and Gil Scott-Heron; however, I’m sure that listing a few will be of great value to many artists that are not familiar with this iconic thread.
Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, DJ Quik, Ice Cube, Ice-T, Tupac Shakur, the L.A. Dream Team, Suga Free, Lupe Fiasco, and O.F.T.B. (Operation From The Bottom) all give the Watts Prophets credit for pioneering the rap thread on the West Coast. The Sugarhill Gang, Melle Mel, KRS-One, Public Enemy, A Tribe Called Quest, Nas, Dead Prez, X-Clan, and the Wu-Tang Clan all acknowledge The Last Poets for pioneering the art form on the East Coast. Talib Kweli, Common, Mos Def, Grand Puba, Native Tongues, Kanye West, and RBX all regard Gil Scott-Heron with the furtherance of the hip-hop art form through musicianship and poetry.
To date, countless artists have sampled the work of these giants. These elder griots still notice music being released with their unmistakably rapid-fire impression nearly forty-three years after their 1971 releases. The Watts Prophets and The Last Poets have both been an incredible impact on me. Father Amde was one of the first of these giants to take me under his wing and guide me through these tumultuous waters. Father Amde and Jalal Nuruddin have been instrumental catalysts in my later development as an artist.
Expanding the Quilt
As the producer of the spoken-word production The Still Waters Experience, which I founded in 2007, I have been afforded the opportunity to get up close and personal with many of the legends from this historic poetry thread. A defining moment for me came when Richard Dedeaux of the Watts Prophets gave the seal of approval for the work we have been producing with The Still Waters Experience and The Still Waters Writers’ Workshop. Richard also personally passed down a flaming torch of the Watts Prophets’ Talk Up Not Down workshop handbook so I could carry it forward into our group’s journey. With this instructional book, we were able to facilitate our collective from a blueprint of the West Coast’s mighty thread.
The Still Waters Writers’ Workshop has been in operation since 2010. It has had a steady influx of writers and poets from all disciplines, with the chief aim to grow individually and collectively, while respecting the thread that has parted the sea of poetry, which has given way for our group to assemble. We reverence, honor, and celebrate this momentous thread. In many ways, the yarn of Los Angeles’s spoken-word fabric has a direct link to this thread.
The World Stage, one of Los Angeles’s premier poetry venues, was the first workshop to dissect my work. Furthermore, every poet that I later taught, facilitated, or guided in any way has become a direct link to this storied thread, knowingly or not, which is in all respects connected to the ’65 Watts Writers’ Workshop. This thread is my poetry bloodline and the reason The Still Waters Experience has consistently shown an appetite to honor poets and artists from this thread in particular.
To date, The Still Waters Experience has honored Raspoet Ojenke, Dr. Earl (5X) Grant, the ’65 Watts Writers’ Workshop, the Watts Prophets, The Last Poets, Amiri Baraka, Sonia Sanchez, Dee Dee McNeil, Jane Walker, Charles Bibbs, Kamau Daaood, and Riua Akinshegun. We were elated to give them all handcrafted, one-of-a-kind award trophy plaques for their infinite contributions to past, present, and future artists.
We also made it our mission to feature poets that were hosting their own venues at the time. This was to encourage our audience to visit and support other poetry venues in Los Angeles, CA. The list of features and venues included, but were not limited to: Conney Williams (The World Stage), Besskep (A Mic and Dim Lights), Shihan Van Clief (Da Poetry Lounge), Yawo Watts (Oralgasm), Alice The Poet (Spreading Love-N-Spoken Words), Jaha Zainabu (Red Stories), C-Bone Jones (Wordplay), DeanaVerse (Eargasm), Spencer Allen (Poet’s Jazz House), and Judah 1 (LionLike MindState). Each of these hosts/poets practiced Umoja (Unity) with me on this spoken-word journey that I have embraced through the years.
The Toast
I would like to now propose a toast—a toast to spoken word! To every ancestor, poet, writer, and spoken-word artist that’s in this strand, or has been affected in any way by this strand, I raise my glass to you. To all of the poets and writers that have ever felt the urge to express their ugly, beautiful, and/or indifference with the world, I raise my glass to you. To the women and men that have inspired my journey: my grandmother, grandfather, mother, dad, aunties, uncles, wife, sisters, brothers, elders, homeboys, and friends, I raise my glass to you. To the community of Watts, CA, that has raised me from the Concrete Jungle, taught me, and groomed me for this moment, I raise my glass to you. To all the winos, scholars, drunks, teachers, drug addicts, professors, gang-bangers, and activists from the curbs to the suburbs, I raise my glass to you. This is my poetry thread, a piece of my creative puzzle that I am most honored to have you all be part of.
Last, but not least, I raise two glasses to the reader, the audience, and the supporters of this ancient art form. Thank you for encouraging me, sharing how much my work has changed lives, saved relationships, and helped you on your journey in some small or large way. I will never forget your heartfelt sentiments. I can only hope that this work will inspire you to write, tell your story, and come out the closet with your gifts.
And to all of you secret poets, performing in the mirrors of your bathrooms, those of you who have never been told you can do it, know that you are worthy, validated, and more than enough. You do not need anyone’s permission to be great, wonderful, and awesome. Greatness is our birthright! Always remember: I am because you are, and you are because I am. It is so because the Universe says so, and I shall continue to reverence in the energy of this sacred oath, this day, and all the days to come. I accept the charge to share life’s beauty, both appalling and apathetic, without reservation, because I am an artist, and we are all artists: Awesome Revealers Transcribers Igniting Splendor Through Synergy. I will never forget who I am; I will never forget who you are; and I will never forget what we are.
Here’s to us… Cheers!!!
