It was this group that wrote and recorded the popular album, "The Last Poets" and subsequently four albums thereafter by different combinations of the poets. Some of the poetry from this second reign was: "Nigger's Are Scared of Revolution", "On The Subway", "Wake Up Nigger's", "New York, New York", "When The Revolution Comes" and "Surprises."
The other albums are: "This Is Madness", "Chastisement", "At Last, The Last Poets" and "Jazzoetry" (An Anthology) It is also important to note that a young man Sulieman El-Hadi, took Abiodun's place after he departed in the beginning of the Summer of 1969.
The only album Abiodun appears on, is the first one, "The Last Poets." It is this writer's understanding that a great deal of confusion has existed for many years now, over who are the real Last Poets. Another album, using the same name was put out by Woodie King Jr. Entitled: "The Original Last Poets."The poets involved were Kain, Felipe and David Nelson. This move helped compound the confusion and brought about a lawsuit (since the Last Poets were incorporated).
The fact is, all of the above mentiond poets were members of the popular group called "The Last Poets." The times have not changed for Blacks in America, since the inception of the group back on May 19, 1968. There is an ever present need for a unit such as the Poets to speak out again.
The group doesn't have to be called "The Last Poets, but it should recognise the content of The Poets and the purpose of such an ensemble in powerless times like these.
During the writing of this, Nilija Obabi (Raymond Hurrey) left this Earth plane. He suffered with a massive malignant brain turmor on March 29, 1981. He was the true voice of the group, and his contributions (as the original percussionist) will live forever.
(Written By Abiodun Oyewole for the New York Amsterdam News /October 24, 1981)
Note: The Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh reign of The Last Poets (1970-1995) was continued by the Grandfather (Jalal) who was elected as the leader of the group by Umar Bin Hassan and Nilija after Abiodun's departure in the fall of 1969.
From that point on, it became a process of elimination between those who dropped out of their own accord, and those who held out, and continued to struggle as a collective, until by 1975, both Umar Bin Hassan and Nilija had left, leaving Jalal and Sulieman, now re-enforced by Abu Mustapha (The Afro-Cuban) percussionist and Jamal (Sulieman's second cousin) on bass, to evolve the group in space and time, but only now it would be done exclusively in rhyme.
Previously, the Grandfather had been the only rhymster in the group, and his unique style,had astonished the other members of the poets, who had majored in prose, and revered the poetry of Amiri Baraka (formerly known as LeRoi Jones) as the acknowledged master of that style. Thus Jalal was considered to be in "a class by his self".
The Grandfather who had been a "Toast Master" prior to becoming a Last Poet, now for the first time, had found in Sulieman, his ideal rhyme partner, which was a clear break from the personality conflicts he had first encountered amoung the Last Poets themselves, which had already been in progress due to internal power struggles for domination.
It seemed to the Grandfather that everybody wanted to be "Last" whereas, the Grandfather just wanted to last, for he already knew that The Last Poets, were already first and foremost.
The two rhymsters, proceeded to record six albums, over a period of twenty-four years, until Sulieman El-Hadi passed away on October 3, 1995. (See the Grandfather's forthcoming book).