spoetry of the Last Poets
The written and
spoken poetry of the group achieved it's level of spontanaity, and originality
through its fusion with the african tradition, as is traditionally embodied
in the african story teller's known as the griots.
This fusion of the voice and drum, led to the core of a wish for unity
within the hearts and minds of the african peoples who were descendants
of slaves captured in Africa and taken to America. The drum had reminded
them of africa, while the voice was the then. But as the sayings of
the elders goes: "The more things change, the more they remain the same.
"The realities of the legacy of the past had to be defined, and the
causes and effects of it had to be understood, but not only by the learned,
but also the youth in the hood. With no way out, and no way in, the
poets voices spoke from without to within, and made proverbial poetry
to understand themselves again.
Those who spoke in prose, recited the images that arose from out of
their words and metaphors and they identified with the mentalities that
had been affected by those realities, and clarified the cause. Those
who spoke in rhyme, described the crimes against their bodies, souls,
and minds, in picture time. Today these might be called "e-pics" and
they were a combination of epics and odes.
Rap as an indictment, came about as a result of the effects of racism against the african-american people, over a period of four centuries, and is included as responsible, as well as those unable to respond, due to the accumulated effects over the course of time. Thus, everyone who listened was able to get the picture, and as the old saying goes: "A picture is worth a thousand words."