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In the very manner the blues is the forefather
of Rock and Roll, spoken word poetry with music and beats is the
forefather of the art form known as rap. Many "old school"
rappers site such musical orators like The
Last Poets, Gil
Scott Heron, and the west coast based Watts
Prophets, as the ones who paved their way lyrically and vocally-though,
ironically, they never called themselves rappers but poets.
Spoken word poetry took many musical avenues. Some
poets chose to recite over jazz improvisations, and urban rhythmic
beats, other poets like Maggie
Estep choose musical forms like punk and hard rock.
In the very manner in which Rock and Roll upstaged
the blues in popularity and album sales, and young kids growing
up wanting to be in rock bands not blues bands, Rap likewise did
the same to spoken word poetry. Still artists like Roni Walters,
Bob Holman,
Saul Williams,
Ursula
Rucker and others have kept the pioneering craft alive, despite
that it's been a hard uphill climb in a country that seems to not
value poetry of any kind. Bob Holman's Mouth Almighty Records, the
first spoken word poetry label with major label distribution went
out of business in 1998.
"I think my band Totem Maples, came around
just at the right time", Larry Handy notes. "There was
no Def Poetry Jam or Poetry Lounge-which are awesome venues for
poetry-but they still use hip hop and rap as base, and many of the
poets who perform at those places were at one time rappers and still
are. Even though hip hop has an unbeatable energy about it, a lot
of new poets getting into the spoken word scene now think that that's
what you have to be-hip hop. When we started doing our thing back
in 1997, we had no poetry, no spoken word environment to nurture
or influence us or hypnotize us into that musical direction. Me
and Matt just felt it out. I did the poetry, he did the guitar-it
wasn't about beats or hip hop or trying to sound rap, it was trying
to sound poetic, dreamy, and ethereal…but most importantly
evoking an honest mood of inspiration…and present a meaningful,
lasting message that wasn't the cliché I'm conscious about
society, separate from religion, activism and a politics. Had we
of come around a little later, who knows what our sound would be
like? But I know that whenever we get on stage, we give the audience
a truly different experience. A lot different from what's out there.
I don't even know what category to put us in-and as confusing as
that can get, I'm kind of proud of it."
With the growing popularity of poetry SLAMS,
with Def Poetry
Jam winning a Tony, and the Los Angeles/Hollywood based Da
Poetry Lounge drawing weekly crowds over 300-making it the largest
poetry gathering in the United States, these years appear to be
exciting years for the art that birthed rap. But whether or not
the art of spoken word will truly penetrate the mainstream or simply
remain an underground art composed of struggling artists, as long
as TM keeps performing they will always stay true to their mission
of inspiring those that choose to listen.
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