The Surrealist Blues Poet aja monet's Jazzy New Album

"Since the seventies, the famed Nuyorican Poets Café has blossomed on the Lower East Side as an essential hothouse for arts movements of many stripes, perhaps most crucially as a launching pad for an emergent literati straddling the realms of soul and hip-hop. The venue's performances and readings-from artists including Paul Beatty and Reg E. Gaines, the artist formerly known as Mos Def and Erykah Badu-became a means to tap into the slam continuum."

"The same scene nurtured the evolution of the Brooklyn-born poet and activist aja monet, who became the café's youngest-ever Grand Slam champion in 2007, and who has spent her career navigating the many creative forms of a blues people-collaborating on Saul Williams's book " Chorus: A Literary Mixtape," performing as a part of the Smoke Signals collective, and releasing the poetry collection " My Mother Was a Freedom Fighter.""

"After years of dazzling spoken-word circuits with her intense and poignant wordplay, monet has seamlessly transitioned into the role of bandleader and music artist. The spirits of blues and rap have always haunted her work, but her début album, "when the poems do what they do," from 2023, made the relationship palpable, introducing her poetry to a jazzy new context when performed alongside such artists as Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah, Samora Pinderhughes, and Marcus Gilmore."

"Monet, who has referred to herself as a surrealist blues poet, has a new LP, "the color of rain," out May 22, which truly commands the distinction with its dreamlike tangle of genre-blurring ideas. Performing with the keyboardist Brian Hargrove, the bassist Micah Collier, and the drummer Myles Martin, monet commemorates the album's release at Carnegie Hall on May 20."

Since the 1970s, Nuyorican Poets Cafe on the Lower East Side has supported arts movements and helped launch a literati connecting soul and hip-hop through performances and readings. Artists including Paul Beatty and Reg E. Gaines, along with performers formerly known as Mos Def and Erykah Badu, have used the venue to tap into the slam continuum. The scene also shaped Brooklyn-born poet and activist aja monet, who became the cafe’s youngest-ever Grand Slam champion in 2007. Her career spans blues-inflected collaborations, participation in the Smoke Signals collective, and publication of My Mother Was a Freedom Fighter. After years in spoken word, she transitioned into bandleader and music artist, releasing a 2023 debut album and a new LP, the color of rain, with performances featuring jazz musicians and a Carnegie Hall release event.

Read at The New Yorker