"Fifty-seven years ago, on what would have been Malcolm X's 43rd birthday, Oyewole cliqued up with two young poets at a writers' workshop in East Harlem's Mount Morris Park (now Marcus Garvey Park) to form what would become the Last Poets, a collective of bard revolutionaries. They outfitted themselves in African prints, performed over the beat of a congo drum and advocated for populism in their verses."
"Notably, Oyewole could not contribute to that album because he had been incarcerated for an attempted robbery of a Ku Klux Klan headquarters, serving 2 1/2 years of a three-year sentence. (He was trying to raise bail for activists who had been arrested for striking back at the klan.) Though dubbed jazz poetry at the time, the Last Poets' tight rhythms, insurgent message and prevailing emphasis on Black consciousness would lay the foundation (along with fellow beatniks Gary Byrd and Gil Scott-Heron) for hip-hop music."
For the first time in 35 years, Billboard's Hot 100 top 40 contains no rap songs. Some attribute this to homogenous beats, manufactured artists, and unintelligible lyrics, but Abiodun Oyewole attributes it to the genre's embrace of 'party and bullshit.' Fifty-seven years ago on Malcolm X's 43rd birthday, Oyewole and two poets formed the Last Poets in East Harlem's Mount Morris Park. The group wore African prints, performed over congo drum rhythms, and promoted populism. Their 1970 debut reached No. 29 on the Billboard 200. Subsequent work drew FBI Cointelpro attention. The Last Poets' rhythms and Black-conscious message influenced hip-hop pioneers.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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