Time to Reflect

I went into Poetry class looking for a way to make up for the monstrosity of an english class that I took during fall term. I wanted something unique and a new look on literature.

I definitely found it.

Oh gosh my first poem "What Is Poetry?" is all over the place, no real direction just a bunch of words thrown together that I thought hopefully sounded good...

Poetry is like a wave
Beating to its own drum
A flowing free verse in the sun
Emotions rise and fall
Moving with meter and rhyme
Will yours stand the test of time?

With the help of Mrs.Lewis and my classmates my poetry was able to grow into something I am very proud of. I made sure to think out every line of the poem so it had a main direction and so that it all had the same feel. As I look back on the poems of the second half of the term it's hard to say which one is my favorite, but the one that shows the most improvement in my eyes is "I'm Going to the Drugstore" which goes like this...

I go to the drugstore daytime, nighttime, anytime.
Open 24/7.
Feeling low, feeling bad, to some this is a safe haven.
(But to most it just takes the money their sav'in.)

Enter, enter, enter, I take a step inside
I ask, Do you have any of..? The white haired clerk stops me before I say,
I know what you need, come with me please I know the way.
Past the aisles of nuts, boxers, and MnMs with wings
I see it all in the back and my heart starts to ping.

I'll get you everything you need the man said, some with this some with that,
I look at the bottle it says sodium benzoate, dextromethorphan, and oscillococcinum, what the hell is that!
Everything you need my dear is in these blue baby pills
Take some before lunch, then after lunch, and some during lunch and you should be okay,
But if that doesn't work I have some yellow, orange, green, and turquoise pills that you can have, take all that you need.

Advice in hand I leave the man with the hope of feeling better.
But what my man doesn't know is that I know better.
I mix my special cocktail to get the fix I need
I feel bigger then smaller and I look a few shades of green.

Then bottle in hand I saw what my man never told me to see,
I read the overdose warning.

As you can see very different.

In the beginning of the class I think I had a simple idea of poetry. I knew I liked it, I knew it could be funny or dark, and I knew that there was a difference between children's poems and serious adult poems. Now it's not like any of those ideas have changed, but it seems that I've gotten a chance to go deeper into those ideas and create new ones. The most important thing I think I learned was that poetry has no rules. That is just great because every other class at Sem has a lot of rules that cannot be changed or else the world will end. It was so nice to be in a class and not feel pressure all the time and know that it's okay to feel like shit for the day and kind of zone out cause you don't feel well. Wait I'm getting wayyy off track. Back to poetry. Lastly I'd have to say that I don't think that my perspective on poetry has changed but that now I have more perspectives to choose from.

Thanks for a great class Mrs. Lewis!!

Final Reflection

When I began this poetry class I had absolutely no idea whatsoever what poetry was about and what I could possibly contribute to it. I had no idea that there could be modern poets. It may seem kind of silly, but I though of poets as old english type of men with absolutely no sense of humor. However, throughout the course of this class I realized that poets can be interesting and not only boring.

The first poem I wrote was:

Meter, Tone, Rhyme, Beat
Poetry
Couplet, Haiku, Sonnet
Poetry
Expression, Emotion
Poetry
Free Verse
Poetry
4, 3, 2, 1
Poetry.

The Last Poem I wrote was:

Poetry is ruleless
Poetry is fearless
Unstoppable
It has no limits
There are many children of poetry and granchildren and great granchildren
Poetry is pretty busy
But always seems to have time on its hands
TIme to educate with its words and adopt another child.

I think that at the end of poetry, as corny as it sounds, I found myself. I really think that I started to portray myself more and put myself into my poems toward the end of the class way more then I had in the beginning. I loved my poem Baby Boy, which is on the ning, I really think that I showed a more deep side of myself then I had before. I also am really proud of my poem Mommy Deadly. It is kind of creepy, but in a really good way. Though because of Mrs. Lewis my final poem What is Poetry is my favorite. I think the two poems I put on this blog post really show my growth throughout this class. I am so proud to have had Mrs. Lewis as a teacher. She is the best teacher I have ever had.

Ice Cube

Ice Cube Now

Ice Cube then

O'She Jackson was born in 1969, although he is better known for his stage name Ice Cube. He is an actor, producer, screenwriter, and rapper who was born in South Central Los Angeles, California. When Ice Cube was sixteen years old he developed his interest in Hip-Hop and began writing raps while skipping class at his local high school. He later attended the Phoenix Institute of Technology in the fall of 1987 and studied ARchitectural design. Ice Cube is very well known for his career with N.W.A. 

Ice Cube dropped out of college in the winter of 1987 and joined N.W.A. Ice Cube and Dr. Dre released the EP My Posse, under the alias of CIA in 1987. Ice Cube wrote for Dr. Dre and Eazy-E' for the N.W.A groups landmark album, Straight Outta Compton, which was released in 1988. Once 1990 hit, Ice Cude found himself constantly arguing with the groups manager, Jerry Heller. Ice Cube and Heller had many financial disputes. Ice Cube explains about Heller, "Heller gave me this contract, and I said I wanted a lawyer to see it. He almost fell out of his chair. I guess he figured, how this young muthafucka turn down all this money? [$75,000] Everybody else signed. I told them I wanted to make sure my shit was right first."

In 2004 Ice Cube rapped his hit singles "Check Yo Self", "It Was a Good Day" and affiliated song "Guerrillas in tha Mist". Then in 2005 Ice Cube teamed up with and Emmy Award winning film maker R. J. Cutler, they created a six part documentary called "Black. White." Then in October of 2006 Ice Cube was honored by VH1 for his Hip-Hop career. However, I do not look up to Ice Cube as much as I do to other stars of the Black Arts Movement. However, I might just be bias because I hated his movie "Are We There Yet?". Which is his most recent movie and I feel that it shows that his career has just gone downhill since the Black Art's Movement.

Queen Latifah

Queen Latifah Now

Queen Latifah in the 1980's

Dana Elaine Owens born in March 18, 1970 is a singer, rapper, actress, and spokes model. Dana Elaine Owens, better known for her stage name as Queen Latifah, was born in Newark, New Jersey and almost immediatly became involved in beatboxing. Her stage name Latifah is an Arabic word meaning delicate and gentle. Her first stage debut was in high school during a school play called, "The Wiz." A very well known African American version of the Wizard of Oz. After many years of being an amature beat boxer she started a beat boxing womens group called Ladies Fresh.

Queen Latifah signed with Tommy Boy Records in 1988, they then helped her release her first break through album All Hail the Queen in 1989. At this point in time she was only ninteen years old which made her one of the youngest break out female artists during the black arts movement. Then in 1998 she realeased her next album Order in the Court after featuring in many other Black Arts Movement artists albums, such as The Hustlers and DJ Mark the 45 Kings

Queen Latifah is a model for what women during the Black Arts Movement were all about. After having a rocky upbringing in the wrong part of town she still prevailed and became the success that she is today. A huge impact on her career was her brother who died in a motorcycle accident in 1992. "It gave me more drive to do what I wanted to do and made me feel that I had a gardian angel watching over me always," said Queen Latifah.

Reflection of the class

At the beginning of poetry class I didn't really have an idea what poetry is. I thought I would have to know a lot about the different kinds and styles of poetry to be able to write my own one. Well, I was wrong.

Over the weeks I started to discover a new site of myself and poetry. I have to admit that on our first workshop day in class, when Mrs. Lewis said: "So, then just start writing." I was really stunned and thought: "What? They want me to write something? But I don't know how, I don't know any styles, Aahhhhh!!"

Well, and that was the thing I did wrong.I don't really need to know a lot of styles or rules or anything to write poetry. Poetry is all about myself and my feelings and not about any program I have to fit in. After I discovered that, it became much easier for me to write poetry and I even started to enjoy it. Also the class and the people there helped me a lot because no one laughed about the other and we always got a great feedback. Also the fact that everyone was writing poetry made it much easier because so I didn't think about it a lot and just did it.

But of course we didn't write the whole time. Learning about the single poets, their life and their style was also very interesting for me and helped me to see poetry and poems with different eyes.

The change of my poetry, is also very obvious.

In the beginning of the class I tried really hard to make everything rhyme. Of course that is not always bad, but it made it very difficult for me to express myself and stopped my flow. My poem "With twenty fife" is a very good example for that:

With twenty fife, so far away,
I want to go and not just stay.
Will go to see, explore the world,
to be were no one's been before.
Will learn and laugh to find my way,
that's all I just can say, today.

At the and of class, however, I got to understand that it doesn't always have to rhyme but that the rhyme just comes along by itself waiting for us to pick it up. In the last poems I wrote, it is easy to see that they are more myself. I was able to enjoy writing them more and to express myself better. My poem "Still there" is a good example for he development of my poetry writing:

A people picture, picture people,
up and down and to the sides.
Full of color, full of black.
Lots of figures, long and short,
lips and eyes and hair and hand.
The same we are.
The same after all.

So, I think now I have said everything. All in all, I really enjoyed that class and it helped me to see and express myself better. It also taught me a lot about different people in different times and how they experienced poetry. It was like a little window to the head of someone else.

Malcolm X

Even though Malcolm X did not really live during the Black Arts Movement, I think it is still very important to mention him, since he was the one that actually started it. With his speeches and teachings he inspired people and gave them strength to move forward in achieving their rights.

Malcolm X (born: Malcolm Little) was born in 1925 as the son of Earl and Louise Little. His father was the leader of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) and spoke out loudly for the rights of blacks. So Malcolm had already been in contact with anti-white movements from his early years on. It also was his father, that taught him the values of black pride and self-reliance. The rest of his childhood was not very pleasant because his father was murdered by the Black Legion, a white supremacist group, and his mother had a nervous breakdown and was brought to a mental hospital.

During his early adult years, Malcolm went to High school and was one of it’s best students. But when one of his white teachers told him that his wish to become a layer was “no realistic goal for a nigger” everything changed for Malcolm and he dropped out of school. He did not see the sense in going to school and learn if the world would not accept a black man no matter how intelligent he is.

Malcolm then moved to New York where he started some illegal activities, like gambling and robbery that later brought him to jail. There he started to educate himself and found new interest in books and education. He also became a muslim and a member of the “Nation of Islam” that, like the UNIA, preached black self-reliance. After he came out of prison, Malcolm spend the next twelve years of his life working for the Nation and became one of it’s most popular members.

In 1964, however, he left the organization because of conflicts that had risen between him and the Nation’s leader Elijah Muhammad. He then founded “Muslim Mosque, Inc.”, a religious organization and the “Organization of Afro-American Unity”, a secular group that advocated black nationalism. After that, Malcolm X spent some time traveling. He visited Africa, France and the United Kingdom but also Mecca, where he made his pilgrimage to Mecca.

Back in the US he started to speak and preach again and became even more popular than before. He spoke at regular meetings of his newly founded communities but also before some political groups. People also say that he enjoyed speaking to college students and that he never missed such an opportunity.

With the growth of his popularity and the aggression of his speeches, also conflicts with the Nation of Islam became more serious. Malcolm started to receive dead threats against him and even assassinations against him and his family took place.

Finally, on February 21, 1965, one year after he had left the Nation of Islam, he was assassinate during one of his speeches in Manhattan’s Audubon Ballroom. Three men from the crowd shot him in the chest 16 times. Malcolm then died on the way to the hospital. The three men, all members of the Nation of Islam were later caught and convicted. However, Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation, always denied in later interviews that his organization had anything to do with Malcolm’s assassination. His only command was that “We know such ignorant, foolish teachings would bring him to his own end.”

At the following funeral on February 27, 1965, thousands of mourners came to show their grief. Malcolm X was then buried at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York.

Malcolm X’s assassination led to a great wave of fury among the black population. A lot of people arose in anger and started to found communities of their own to advance the movement for their right. Also many very popular and important people during the Black Arts Movement, found their inspiration and incentive in Malcolm X’s person and speeches.

So, even though Malcolm X did not really participate in what we today call the Black Arts Movement, he still was one of the most influential and inspiring people during this time and the foundation stone of the movement.

Sources:

- wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_X

-the official website of Malcolm X: http://www.malcolmx.com/

- Malcolm X: A Profile: http://www.koranselskab.dk/profiler/malcolmx.htm

Block Party

Even though the hip-hop culture can have it's serious side dealing with racism and oppression, it still makes music that can't help but make you want to dance and jump all around. Thankfully the DJ's in the 1970's knew this (of course they did) and created a fabulous little thing called a Block Party.

The first Block Party was deejayed by DJ Kool Herc (video "Let Me Clear My Throat") for his sister's birthday on 1520 Sedgwick Ave in 1973. What is usually needed for these parties is a DJ to spin those beats (duh), a space to hold the party, and of course people. There usually is not a specific reason to have a block party besides just celebrating and having a good time including eating, dancing, singing, and rapping. Usually streets and whole blocks within a city are marked off or closed to accommodated all of the people attending these parties.

The block party has transformed over the past 40 years into movies and family time. For example in 2005 Dave Chappelle made a documentary called Dave Chappelle's Block Party. He held the party in Brooklyn and brought together numerous artists together to perform such as Kayne West, Mos Def, and the Fugees. He did this to bring together the citizens of Brooklyn to enjoy a once in a lifetime free block party with music, comedy, history, and community.

Lastly, I have been to a block party on my own block. The annual James Street Block Party is quite a sight. We block off the whole street and fill it with food, music, and yes bouncy jumpy things. It's a great way to bring together all of families of James St. to have some fun.

Poetry Has NO Rules

From a beginner in it all,

To a blogging star.

I've learned a lot in this class,

I've learned that most importantly, Walgreens has a special aisle for when you're getting some ass. (Thank you Mia)

I've learned that poetry can be quirky and fun like the Language of a Tomato

And that poetry can make me proud to be an American like America.

I've learned that you can use similes and metaphors (see I just used two),

I've learned that I can make you feel sorry for a washed up pop princess like Lost Louisiana Lady.

But one thing I've learned that trumps it all is that poetry has no rules.

I can be funny, sadly, melancholy, or really really really super ridiculously happy :-)

I can make up words tat sem no no any make logic, know what I mean?

I can be honest, or lie, or do a little of both (PEANUT BUTTER!- no I promise I never lied)

Poetry was once 1 dimensional to me

But now has more than 360 angles to be viewed from.

I thought it had to have a meter and some rhyme but that's just a lie.

I thought poetry was only for little kids but I don't Amiri Barak is a little kid.

I know that poetry can mean everything or nothing, can be 3 words or 300 pages.

And so now we leave the class with a little more class than before,

Some knowledge acquired and possibly some pounds (mhhmm those cookies).

Mocktail parties here we come!

My third blog will be a comparison between the poetry written during the Black Arts Movement and the hip-hop/rap lyrics written during the Hip-Hop Revolution. I am comparing Amiri Barak's Ka'ba with the lyrics of Straight Outta Compton by N.W.A.

Ka'Ba

"A closed window looks down
on a dirty courtyard, and Black people
call across or scream across or walk across
defying physics in the stream of their will.

Our world is full of sound
Our world is more lovely than anyone's
tho we suffer, and kill each other
and sometimes fail to walk the air.

We are beautiful people
With African imaginations
full of masks and dances and swelling chants
with African eyes, and noses, and arms
tho we sprawl in gray chains in a place
full of winters, when what we want is sun.

We have been captured,
and we labor to make our getaway, into
the ancient image; into a new

Correspondence with ourselves
and our Black family. We need magic
now we need the spells, to raise up
return, destroy,and create. What will be

the sacred word?

Straight Outta Compton

You are now about to witness the strength of street knowledge

Verse One: Ice Cube

Straight outta Compton crazy motherfucker named Ice Cube
From the gang called N****z With Attitudes
When I'm called off I got a sawed off
Squeeze the trigger and bodies are hauled off
You too boy if ya fuck with me
The police are gonna hafta come and get me
Off yo ass that's how I'm goin out
For the punk motherfuckers that's showin out
N****z start to mumble, they wanna rumble
Mix em and cook em in a pot like gumbo
Goin off on a motherfucker like that
with a gat that's pointed at yo ass
So give it up smooth
Ain't no tellin when I'm down for a jack move
Here's a murder rap to keep yo dancin
with a crime record like Charles Manson
AK-47 is the tool
Don't make me act the motherfuckin fool
Me you can go toe to toe, no maybe
I'm knockin n****z out tha box, daily
yo weekly, monthly and yearly
until them dumb motherfuckers see clearly
that I'm down with the capital C-P-T
Boy you can't fuck with me
So when I'm in your neighborhood, you better duck
Coz Ice Cube is crazy as fuck
As I leave, believe I'm stompin
but when I come back, boy, I'm comin straight outta Compton

Chorus:

[City of Compton, City of Compton]

[Eazy E] Yo Ren
[MC Ren] Whassup?
[Eazy E] Tell em where you from!

Verse Two: MC Ren

Straight outta Compton, another crazy ass n***a
More punks I smoke, yo, my rep gets bigger
I'm a bad motherfucker and you know this
But the pussy ass n****z don't show this
But I don't give a fuck, I'ma make my snaps
If not from the records, from jackin the crops
Just like burglary, the definition is 'jackin'
And when illegally armed it's called 'packin'
Shoot a motherfucker in a minute
I find a good piece o' pussy, I go up in it
So if you're at a show in the front row
I'm a call you a bitch or dirty-ass ho
You'll probably get mad like a bitch is supposed to
But that shows me, slut, you're composed to
a crazy muthafucker from tha street
Attitude legit cause I'm tearin up shit
MC Ren controls the automatic
For any dumb muthafucker that starts static
Not the right hand cause I'm the hand itself
every time I pull a AK off the shelf
The security is maximum and that's a law
R-E-N spells Ren but I'm raw
See, coz I'm the motherfuckin villain
The definition is clear, you're the witness of a killin
that's takin place without a clue
And once you're on the scope, your ass is through
Look, you might take it as a trip
but a n***a like Ren is on a gangsta tip
Straight outta Compton...

Chorus:

[City of Compton, City of Compton]

[Dr. Dre] Eazy is his name and the boy is comin...

Verse Three: Eazy-E

...straight outta Compton
is a brotha that'll smother yo' mother
and make ya sister think I love her
Dangerous motherfucker raises hell
And if I ever get caught I make bail
See, I don't give a fuck, that's the problem
I see a motherfuckin cop I don't dodge him
But I'm smart, lay low, creep a while
And when I see a punk pass, I smile
To me it's kinda funny, the attitude showin a n***a drivin
but don't know where the fuck he's going, just rollin
lookin for the one they call Eazy
But here's a flash, they never seize me
Ruthless! Never seen like a shadow in the dark
except when I unload, see I'll get over the hesitation
and hear the scream of the one who got the last penetration
Give a little gust of wind and I'm jettin
But leave a memory no one'll be forgettin
So what about the bitch who got shot? Fuck her!
You think I give a damn about a bitch? I ain't a sucker!
This is the autobiography of the E, and if you ever fuck with me
You'll get taken by a stupid dope brotha who will smother
word to the motherfucker, straight outta Compton

Chorus:

[City of Compton, City of Compton]

[Damn that shit was dope!]

On the surface these two works seem very different but I feel the meaning in each has similarities and also shows different opinions on the idea of African-Americans in the USA dealing with racism. Baraka, a known advocater for the rights of African-Americans, describes a very haunting visual in the first stanza of Ka'ba of black people screaming but no one hearing and trying so hard to cross the courtyard that they are defying science. The rest of Barak's poem focuses on the beautiful things about the African race, like their imaginations, but how they have been oppressed and captured. The N.W.A. describe numerous violent actions that will happen if they are crossed by anyone and what could happen to cops trying to arrest them. All of which involve either physical violence or guns.

I feel that Straight Outta Compton is a poem in response to the lack of progression of racism in America, from the time of Baraka to the N.W.A. I could be going in the complete wrong direction but it seems that people living in Compton during the eighties were not taught to change the situation they were given, but to simply survive. I see the biggest reason for this lack of progression being that the tools weren't available and no one knew how and also the police in the area were not exactly helpful in trying to change anything.

So Baraka exposed the problem (racism) in the 1960's explaining that negative attitudes that needed to change, the N.W.A. exposed the problem(racism within the police and other areas) in the 1980's but instead of exploring possible solutions, they exposed what they had to do to survive with this problem.

Let us hope that one day that all of these problems will be a thing of the past.

The Fashion of Hip-Hop

The definition of hip-hop from dictionary.com states that hip-hop is a the popular subculture of big-city teenagers, which includes rap music, break dancing, and graffiti art. So according to the dictionary hip-hop is more than just music, it is a way of life (major cliche). To the people who live/lived in the hip-hop world, they related everything back to hip-hop; especially their clothing. What a lovely segway into what my second post will be about, the fashion of hip-hop.

After searching images for hip-hop fashion, I am bombarded with pictures of bling bling (also known as "ice"), which are big pieces of jewelry covered in rhinestones, even though most would say their necklaces was covered in diamonds. Even today ice and bling are used as tools to represent how much money he/she or they have. (Run DMC) Can you spot the bling?

Another big trend was really vibrant colors, sometimes used to represent a specific group or gang, but for women were used more for a fashion purpose then to mark their territory. Salt-N-Pepa took full advantage of the McDonalds' theme.

They also show another trend of the time and one that is in style today, leggings or very very tight pants, usually paired with a baggy top or jacket. I do believe they are also sporting the same bling that the members of Run DMC are wearing on the picture above, a trend that crossed gender barriers.

To top it off the last picture of the post will be Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five modeling for us of the major trends of the 1980's all in one, it's quite a sight.

Black Poetry

During the Black Arts Movement, black people also started to write and publish. Since this has never been possible for them before, totally new points of view were opened to people. Racial and ethnic minorities were suddenly able to express themselves and so literacy became much more multifarious. Black people dealt with music, dance and theatre, but the most popular and efficient way for them to teach others about their lives and culture was poetry reading. The three poets Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones), Larry Neal, and Askia Muhammad Touré (Rolland Snellings), inspired through Malcom X, saw the Black Arts Movement as a revolutionary force to create an art and literature that would fight for black people’s liberation. Together, the trio later founded the Black Arts Repertory Theater School in Harlem. They were not just poets but also teachers, community activists and essayists.

Poets during this time in general were inspired by social change brought by the civil rights movement. Also non violent strategies like boycotts, marches and freedom rides, used by Blacks to gain freedom and equality, sparked a fire in many. Heroes during this time like Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks and Emmet Till also brought a lot of inspiration to the people and helped them to believe in the possibility of equality amongst Whites and Blacks. The styles used for poetry writing during this time were free verse, typographical stylistic and linguistic experimentation. Other famous poets besides Baraka, Neal and Touré were Nikki Giovanni, Sam Allen, Mari Evans and Quincy Troupe.

Sources:

- wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Arts_Movement

- poets.org: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5647

Development of black musik

During the Black Arts movement music played a very important role. Since blacks were now able to express themselves, they also started to create and publish their own music. The most popular kinds of music during this time were Soul music in the 1960’s and later in the 1970’s Hip Hop. Famous singers of soul music were for example James Brown and Jimi Hendrix. Hip Hop started in the the South Bronx in the 70’s and was at first known as rapping, a half sung and half spoken kind of music that only later developed into Hip Hop. Most of the people that performed Hip Hop were men such as Ice-T, N.W.A. and Public Enemy. But later in the 80’s also female groups and singers like Salt-N-Pepa (see block entry: Salt-N-Pepa) and Queen Latifah started to enter the scene.

Songs during this time were almost always very political and addressed social issues like police brutality and poverty amongst the black society. To release their opinion and their anger about injustice against them and their suppression by whites, blacks used their music. Therefore the lyrics of songs during this time included harsh language and were almost always against whites and how they tried to keep black people down.

Sources:

- wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-American_music

- aalbc.com: http://aalbc.com/authors/blackartsmovement.htm

Salt-N-Pepa

Salt-N-Pepa was the very first all-female rap crew that opened doors for women in hip hop, that until then had been dominated by men. Cheryl “Salt” James Wray and Sandy “Pepa” Denton sarted rapping when Salt’s boyfriend asked them to rap a song he had to produce for school. The three then started to write a song called “The Show Stopper” as an answer to “The Show” by Doug E. Fresh and “Slick Rick”. After this song had become a success Cheryl and Sandy founded the group Salt-N-Pepa, which name was based on a line of their song “The Show Stopper”. They were later joined by DJ/rapper Spinderella (born Deidre “Dee Dee” Roper).

Famous for their songs “Push it”, “Shake Your Thang” and “Let’s talk about Sex”, they climbed the charts in the late 80’s and early 90’s and several of their singles won gold and platinum. Salt-N-Pepa also was one of the first groups that was more pop-oriented than others. This was one of the reasons for their great success in the early 90’s in which this kind of music became more and more popular. The group wrote vaguely pro-feminist lyrics that gained their power through being sung by the sexy trio. Although the group is not active anymore since 1993 they had changed the hip hop scene forever and had opened the world of men to women.

Sources:

- wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt-n-Pepa

- all music: http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:fifoxq95ld6e

- Salt-N.Pepa official fan website: http://salt-n-pepa.org/

Hip-Hop

When someone hears "The Black Arts Movement" they initially think of african american litterature and poetry. However, they are overlooking the fact that The Black Arts Movement ultimatly created hip-hop. The reason why hip-hop became so beloved by african americans is because they could relate to the verses and rhymes that the rappers were rapping. Hip-hop wasn't focused on anything glamorous hip-hop of The Black Arts Movement was focused on everyday kinds of african americans and everyday problems that they faced. Whether the songs be about families, police, drugs, etc. there was always something for everyone. Hip-hop songs of the Black Arts Movement had been based off of anger felt, exclusively by African Americans. They used music as a way to let out their anger and to express themselves in a nonviolent way. However, what most people fail to realize is that hip-hop songs are in fact a form of poetry. Amiri Baraka was part of the begining of hip-hop, except he had no idea all he was doing was rhyming words and beating the African Drums. When he would perform the crowd felt as if he was speaking for them and that is the true meaning of hip-hop.

Amiri Baraka was a major influence in The Black Arts Movement, he was a political activist and an icon for aspiring poets during The Black Arts Movement. Amriri Baraka has published over 40 poems, dramas, and books throughout his lifetime, however the most were published during his years of contributing to the black arts movement. He was such an influential person during the black arts movement that multiple documentary's have been made about him. He also starred in numerous old films, the last film being M.K. Asante, Jr's award-winning documentary The Black Candle". . . . We want "poems that kill." Assassin poems, Poems that shoot guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys and take their weapons leaving them dead with tongues pulled out and sent to Ireland. . . . Let there be no love poems written until love can exist freely and cleanly."(213-14) This statement by Amiri Baraka is essentially the essence of hip-hop and the underlying anger that helped build it.

Hip-hops official birthday is November 12, 1974 although when I say hip-hop I also mean rap because both are used and created synonymously. "Rap" is derived from a 60's slang term meaning conversation. The definition of rap music is speaking up rhythmically in rhymes with style and is generally along with beats. A type of music making that goes hand in hand with rap and hi-hop is scratching. Scratching is used by pretty much all disc jockeys (DJ's) to create his music and to perform.Old School hip-hop which began in '74 and ended in '84 set the basis for all other forms of hip-hop to come. Old school hip-hop consisted of simple ryhythms, also during the era of old school rap battle rap and freestyle rap were born. Battle rapping is done between two or more rappers. The way it works is one rapper challenges another raper and whoever is better at spitting out their rhymes and beats wins. Freestyle was used during Battle rap Kool Moe Dee says "There are two types of freestyle. There’s an old-school freestyle that’s basically rhymes that you’ve written that may not have anything to do with any subject or that goes all over the place. Then there’s freestyle where you come off the top of the head." Old school hip-hop artists would sample disco and use the samples to freestyle rap with on a very regular basis.

By: Mia Medico

Salt-N-Pepa

As a first time blogger (Gia), I'm looking at this whole experience as a big experiment, like finding the right ingredients for a blog recipe. With that said I'd like to start off with a pinch of Salt-N-Pepa.

Cheryl "Salt" James and Sandy "Pepa" Denton are the sweet rhyming, back talking female duo that is Salt-N-Pepa. In the late 80's they broke down the walls of a heavily male dominated hip-hop nation and became the first all female rap crew to enter the scene, even insisting that their DJ's were female. Salt and Pepa were working at a Sears in Queens, New York when Salt's boyfriend, Hurby "Luv Bug" Azor asked them to rap on a song that he was working on for his audio production class at New York City's Center for Media Arts. Their first song "The Show Stopper" was released in the summer of 1985 and became a huge underground success, peaking at #46 on the national R&B charts. They slowly climbed up the ladder towards mega-hits but did not reach their full potential until a DJ in San Francisco remixed "Push It", the B-side of their single "Tramp", both from their debut album, Hot, Cool, and Vicious. "Push It" climbed to the number 9 spot on the pop charts and was one of the first rap songs to be nominated for a Grammy Award. This also leads into how the Salt-N-Pepa were pioneers in bridging the gap between rap/hip-hop and pop music (think what Taylor Swift did for country, but with more chutzpah).

Salt-N-Pepa took on two very heavy roles as artists, working towards women receiving more respect in a world controlled by men and linking two very different cultures through music. They expressed how women should feel comfortable talking about sex and expressing their opinions on sex with their biggest pop hit to date, "Let's Talk About Sex", which peaked at number 13 on the charts. The song's lyrics talk about the different ideas of sex that exist, what sex should mean, and how sex ends up being a disappointment. This song was an anthem to women everywhere who felt they couldn't speak out about sex and it lightened up a subject that was in the spotlight in the 80's because of the rise of AIDs epidemic.

After the eighties Salt-N-Pepa began to fizzle out but have never been forgotten. They brought two major music worlds together and spoke out for women who felt they didn't have a voice. I know they have influenced me to speak out about all kinds of topics and I have learned to never be ashamed of my own opinion.

If there's one thing to learn from Salt-N-Pepa it is to speak out, up, against, and for and all while looking supafly.

The Black Arts Movement : An Overview

The Black Arts movement was the only American literary movement to advance "social engagement" . The Black Arts Movement, although hard to put a date on, began around 1965. The event that pretty much triggered this was the assassination of Malcolm X. African Americans looked up to him much like Martin Luther King; however, he didn't receive as much recognition as King. In his eulogy he was described as "our shining black prince" and at the funeral, friends took the shovels from the gravediggers and began burying him themselves. They did not realize the floodgate his death was about to open. Following his death, large amounts of black activist groups began making powerful strides and declarations. LeRoi Jones, a poet, activist, and teacher began working with other black activists and artists, and founded the Black Arts Repertory Theatre/School (BART/S) in March, 1965. After the Voting Rights Bill and the Civil Rights Movement were effectively ended, "Black Power" began. It became an official social movement in 1966. Black Power was much like the Black Arts Movement in that it was set into motion long before it officially had begun.

The Black Arts movement was an inspiration. It gave African Americans the courage to write what they wanted, buy what they wanted, and read what they wanted - whenever they pleased. Many great writers are associated with this time period, including Steve Cannon, Tom Dent, Nikki Giovanni, Ishmael Reed, Larry Neal, Adrienne Kenney and John Alfred Williams. The Black Arts Movement was such a great influence because it gave writing its own kind of diversity, which it was so lacking before the movement. The Black Arts Movement also gave poetry a completely new meaning. Poetry was now "real" and "deep". When reading poetry from the Black Arts Movement, you pick up on the realism and sense of self that had developed.

Between 1975 and 1976, the historical Black Arts Movement ended. The source that I referred to for much of this blog entry states that the Black Arts movement ended in 1976 due to the hiatus of the Broadside Press. Also, the Journal of Black Poetry ceased publication, and in April of 1976 Black World was shut down by its publisher, John Johnson. After 1976 the Black Arts Movement was still present, but not nearly as much of a social focal point as it had been previously.

By: Mia