When I Read: We Real Cool

A while back I mentioned that I actually read when I was little. Mother's an English teacher so I had no real choice. And while I prized books- especially series about babysitters in Connecticut- I also loved a good poem. Unsurprisingly, most poems I read, memorized and spoke out loud dealt with the African American experience.

Well one Christmas, like any teachers child, I opened up my wrapped books to find a thin paperback copy of black poems. I excitedly read it, and then my sister and I did our first Last Poets-esque piece around the Christmas tree. I don't think the recording ever worked, but I'll always always love this piece.

This You Tube piece also had Digable Planets "Rebirth of Slick (Cool like that)" as the background piece...and I mentioned my admiration of them in this OSF piece.

Happy Wednesday!!!

We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks
THE POOL PLAYERS.
SEVEN AT THE GOLDEN SHOVEL.



We real cool. We
Left school. We

Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We

Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We

Jazz June. We
Die soon.

Women's History Month: Your Revolution

I've had this post sitting her for a few days, so I figured I may as well publish it.

Undoubtedly entangled in Women's History Month are discussions of feminism, women's rights, and the cultural revolution of the 1960s. In the last 15 years, gender issues within the black community and hip hop culture have become extremely publicized from letters to boycotts to books, more books, and town hall discussions. In the midst of all this, while listening to the radio late one night in high school, I heard what I thought was a new rap song and got caught up in the story of one woman's quest to get a message across.

Sarah Jones's "Your Revolution" uses lines from radio-approved rap (and a few reggae/r&b) songs to showcase the portrayal of women in music. After getting her spoken word piece on to the radio, the FCC deemed it too raunchy and it could only be played late at night...despite the fact that each song she used a line from got played during the day. Sarah Jones got FedUp but continued performing the piece, eventually moving on to do greater work and getting her own Broadway show "Bridge and Tunnel." I had the opportunity to see her perform at the Brooklyn Museum of Art once and she was really good. Find the text for "Your Revolution" below as well as a video of her performance.

Yeah yeah, yeah this goes out to all the women and men from New York to
London to LA to Tokyo struggling to keep their self-respect in this climate
of misogyny, money worship and mass production of hip-hop's illegitimate child,
Hip-Pop.And this especially goes out to Gil Scott-Heron, friend, living legend
and proto-rapper who wrote "The Revolution will not be Televised." Much Respect.


Your revolution will not happen between these thighs
Your revolution will not happen between these thighs
Your revolution will not happen between these thighs
Not happen between these thighs
Not happen between these thighs
The real revolution ain't about booty size
The Versaces you buys, or the Lexus you drives
And though we've lost Biggie Smalls
Baby your notorious revolution
Will never allow you to lace no lyrical douche, in my bush
Your revolution will not be killing me softly, with Fugees
Your revolution ain't gonna knock me up without no ring
And produce little future emcees
Because that revolution will not happen between these thighs
Your revolution will not find me in the backseat of a jeep
With LL, hard as hell, you know doin it and doin it and doin it well
doin it and doin it and doin it well, nah come on now
Your revolution will not be you smacking it up, flipping it, or rubbing it down
Nor will it take you downtown or humpin around
Because that revolution will not happen between these thighs
Your revolution will not have me singing, ain't no nigga like the one I got
And your revolution will not be sending me for no drip, drip VD shot
And your revolution will not involve me, feelin your nature rise
Or helping you fantasize
Because that revolution will not happen between these thighs
No no, not between these thighs
Oh, my Jamican brother, your revolution will not make you feel bombastic
And really fantastic
And have you groping in the dark for that rubber wrapped in plastic
You will not be touching your lips to my triple dip of french vanilla,
butter pecan, chocolate delux
Or having Akinyele's dream, m-hmm a 6-foot blowjob machine m-hmm
You want to subjugate your queen? uh-huh
Think I'm a put it in my mouth, just cuz you made a few bucks?
Please brother please
Your revolution will not be me tossing my weave
And making me believe I'm some caviar-eating ghetto mafia clown
Or me giving up my behind, just so I can get signed
And maybe having somebody else write my rhymes
I'm Sarah Jones, not Foxy Brown
You know I'm Sarah Jones, not Foxy Brown
Your revolution makes me wonder, where could we go
If we could drop the empty pursuit of props and ego
We'd revolt back to our Roots, use a little Common Sense
On a quest to make love De La Soul, no pretense
But your revolution will not be you flexing your little sex and status
To express what you feel
Your revolution will not happen between these thighs
Will not happen between these thighs
Will not be you shaking and me *yawn* faking
Between these thighs
Because the real revolution, that's right I said the real revolution
You know I'm talking about the revolution
When it comes, it's gonna be real
It's gonna be real
It's gonna be real
When it finally comes
When it finally comes
It's gonna be real, yeah yeah

Another day I'll bring my theory on revolution in African American poetry from the Black Arts Movement through the hip hop era, but really I have twenty pages on that..so I have to distill my thoughts. (Or I could do a series, but I haven't reached that level of blogging yet).

My Favorite Scenes: Poems

One of my favorite essays is one that I wrote on revolutionary poems during the Black Arts Movement. (Noted one of the worse essays I've ever written was my high school senior thesis on the evolution of slam poetry.) Obviously I wasn't expecting a "poem that kills"* during the inauguration. Honestly, I wasn't expecting much. For someone who loves poetry, competed in prose and poetry, and was forced to memorize more poems that I can remember as a child, I have never enjoyed watching poets reading their own poems. With the exception of slam poetry, I usually find it to be a little lacking.

It's not really her fault, David Alan Grier had us all waiting to go "Hosanna Obama" and he set us up to be disappointed.

Chocolate NewsWednesdays 10:30pm / 9:30c

Maya Angelou's Benediction

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So great poem, Elizabeth Alexander.(http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/us/politics/20text-poem.html) But here's a little something to help you with your delivery (and I really needed an excuse to share the following).

The Fresh Prince: Rafael de la Ghetto "Charge of the Light Brigade"




Another one of my favorite poetry on television scenes comes from A Different World, the Mammy episode. There they performed "We Wear the Mask" by Paul Laurence Dunbar and "Ego Trippin" by Nikki Giovanni making me forever in love with the latter. I can't find an embeddable version, but you can catch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3cGgr-Rz-w.

Do you have a favorite poem or poetry moment?

* Get up on your Amiri Baraka "Black Art" here: http://www.nathanielturner.com/blackart.htm
I didn't say you have to like the man.

Check out more of My Favorite Scenes here: http://vanitydark.blogspot.com/search/label/MY%20FAVORITE%20SCENES

HAUL,
KIM

Yellow Rage

This is an old clip by a female duo poetry group, Yellow Rage. They've received a lot of criticism, and for due reason...but they do give reason to pause.

Check out their performance: I'm a woman, not a flava.




Also check out their blog here: http://www.yellowrage.com/blog/.