“I Will Wait For You” – V.O.W.

Being honest, usually when people post or send stuff to me on Facebook, I ignore it. I’m not a real big Facebook-head like I used to be. However, so many people were talking about this particular video that I had to watch.

Boy was I blown away.

I admit, a lot of the Christian poets that I’ve seen haven’t really hit the mark when it comes to spoken word. I mean the ability to braid God’s truth with metaphors and similes. I haven’t even come close to being able to do that. Maybe I’m just blind or ignorant to the good Christian poets out there (besides the ones that run in my own circle but this woman of God blew me away. She is an official poet of P4CM (Poets 4 Christ Movement) a church based in Los Angeles, CA. I don’t know much about the poet known as Janette, but I promise when I find more, you’ll know. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

“The Show Goes On…” – V.O.W.

The title is so appropriate for this post and my life. So much has happened in such a short period of time. I have been working like a Hebrew slave for the past five months.

But the show must go on. So I’m sure I’ve lost a few readers but I can make a promise to those that are still hanging on that this year is going to be a great one for diVERSEcity. So be on the lookout.

I’ll start the year off with a Video of the Week. As we embark on a glorious (I’m claiming it) year, we have the pleasure of experiencing Lupe Fiasco’s HIGHLY anticipated third album, “Lasers.” I don’t know about you but I’ll probably pre-order my copy just to make sure it doesn’t sell out on me. I think this is going to be some of Lupe’s best work and I can’t wait to hear what you all think. Until then, check out the video for his latest single “The Show Goes On.”

Pinnacle – Compare and Contrast (V.O.W.)

It’s really crazy the people you meet in life and how small the world really is. I started a new job and met this cool cat named Keenan. At first he was a real average dude from New York who was a bit quiet. Then, somehow we got to talking about hip hop. At some point he made it clear that he was an artist himself. So I asked him about some of the Brave New Voices cats. To my surprise, he was actually cool with some of them and had performed with some of them as well.

So, one day as we were making that long drive back from training, I asked him to spit something…and he did. And it was great! I wanted to hear some music too. He sent me a track and it took me forever to listen to it but when I did, I was thoroughly impressed. Dude is talented. Pinnacle “The Muse” is his pen name. Very well deserved. Check out this sample from his project entitled Can I Buy A Dream? Let me know what you think and definitely follow my man Pinnacle on twitter @PinnacleTheMuse

Wale – More About Everything

I’m a little late with this, but I think it’s still a much deserved review.

About a month ago Wale, a fellow Washingtonian, released his much-anticipated sequel to his 2008 mixtape The Mixtape About Nothing. More About Nothing delivers an array of artist featured–diverse is definitely the word. I think this is probably one of Wale’s best works lyrically. The production on this album definitely superseded that of The Mixtape About Nothing. I think that Wale started off with what he knew: go-go, then once people latched onto his talent he strayed away from that and began to discover better producers.

We see a different side of Wale on this mixtape. He talks about love – something that he never really talked about in abundance on any of his other stuff. The Trip (Downtown) is by far my favorite track on the album (quite possibly because I’m a girl *blushes*). Granted, it’s not about love, but sex…another subject taboo to Wale. Most of the time sex gets inserted into a club banger in a few bars or such but this entire song is dedicated to it. When I first heard it, I definitely gave kudos to Wale. Great job at a hip hop baby-maker. Oh and who can’t LOVE a SWV sample?

Followed up by Ambitious Girl. Now, here is something that is a touchy thing for me. You know I love spoken word. I think that when Wale does it, it’s a bit hit or miss. I’m not really a big fan of his spoken word most of the time but as you saw when I posted his video for Diary, there are a few times where I feel like he hits the nail on the head. Ambitious Girl was not one of those times. I first saw the hype back in July when he leaked the track. I was a little disappointed after reading all the hype. It was typical, “hey girl…I’m not into your body…i love your mind.” The only problem I have with that is “Pretty Girls.” Nuff said. Most women were all over him because of this one…I, on the other hand, really wanted to say “negro please.”

Now to the club banger. No Hands. Now, normally I would shun Wale for ever considering to collaborate with Waka Flocka and/or Roscoe Dash. However, this joint rocks. The track is great and of course Wale gives it substance cause otherwise I would NEVER have a reason to play it in my Jeep, lol.

The one thing that I give Wale the side-eye on sometimes is when he tries to make music that has some kind of message in it. It always seems weird coming from him. Don’t get me wrong, I love music with purpose (Lupe is my favorite artist) but something about the way Wale does it that just doesn’t seem right. I think it may be consistency. One minute he’s talking about throwing money while she does it with no hands, and then the next minute he’s writing a song about the whole Tiger Woods scandal. It just doesn’t seem consistent.

The Eyes of  the Tiger was an extremely well thought out piece. My first listen to this was with muted ears. I wasn’t really paying attention to what he was talking about. The whole time I was thinking “whose voice message is this at the beginning?” It wasn’t until a friend pointed out that it was the voice message that Tiger Woods left his mistress on her phone after finding out that his wife found her number. The song is thick.

And of course he wouldn’t be Wale if he didn’t have a weed song, right? The Cloud. Tiara Thomas, the young lady that’s featured on this song really makes it. I enjoyed listening to her more than I did Wale. She had a go-go band lead singer sound; real raw and uncut. I loved it.

More About Nothing gets four and half stars from me. It makes me proud to see Wale doing some great stuff and getting the respect that he deserves in the industry. I don’t think there has ever been anyone from the DC Metro area to get as far as he’s gotten. Big ups to you Mr. Folarin.

To download the mixtape Click Here.

My apologies…V.O.W.

Whoa.

It really has been two weeks since I last posted something. My deepest, sincerest apologies to my readers! Irecently got a new job and I’ve been working my butt off! I’m also in the process of moving which is taking up alot of my time as well. BUT, that Wale mixtape review is coming REAL soon.

Until then…

I’m on my period…period!

Check out MaineDrama Productions. Awesomeness at best!

So every now and again I come across some poets that shock the crap out of me because either I didn’t know they were poets or they are much greater than I expected them to be. For this artist, it was both. I knew that my sister-friend Tramaine was a writer; she has her own production company, MaineDrama, in which she produces plays and whatnot (that’s another post for another day). So I should have known that she was a poet at heart; most writers are.

Anyways, I was chillin with another sister-friend of mine one day and she just so happened to read me this email from Tramaine. It was about being on your period. Now, honestly, I don’t even know if it was supposed to be a poem…but I listened to it as if I was in the audience and a sister with a huge fro and bangles screamed it from behind the mic. Let’s just say it’s a wake-up call for all you suckas that got something smart to say for our attitudes and moods. It’s a short read, but great! Ladies, enjoy…fellas beware.

Period!
by Tramaine Brathwaite

Am I on my period?
Let’s see…
We women bleed.
And guess what?
We bleed every month.
And every month we bleed for 4-7 days of that month!
And for about 4-7 days prior to that we cramp, bloat, are moody, and crave.
And then for the week prior to that, we’re extremely horny for no apparent
reason!
So that leaves 7 days of each month that we are ‘normal’ human beings.

1 week of each month.
Translates to 12 weeks in a year.
3 months that we are normal!
That leaves 9 months that we are cramping, bloated, moody, and horny.
All so that we can procreate you ignorant bastards.
Period!

“Brave New Voices. Courages Old Souls.”

Queen GodIs is responsible for the title in this post. It is fitting.

I watched a video from the BNV 2010 DC team. It is the only one from our city but I am proud. This woman, though whispering most of the piece, has a voice so loud that it will be heard in the hearts of everyone that hears it. I was paralyzed by her passion and pierced by her transparency. This piece is the voice of many. My prayers go out to those whose voices have been muted by fear.

I’d love to hear your reactions.

iWrite.

V.O.W. – iWrite “P.U.N.C.”

This piece is older. I wrote it in 2007 after I logged onto Facebook and noticed that one of my friends who claimed to be a Christian was cursing and doing the most on his profile. Now, my problem wasn’t only with what he was doing, but with the things that he represented as a member of the body of Christ. So this poem is dedicated to homeboy and all of the other Puny Unaffected Nonchalant Christians.

Check me out at peaceofme2.wordpress.com. Shout out to my homie Mike for the track on this piece! Thanks dude!

iWrite.

V.O.W. – Saul Williams @ Brave New Voices

I’m here because I’m alive, and I have a voice, and I use it. It’s a very simple reason. It’s important for myself to be here in the name of people like Paul Robeson, artists who realized their responsibility to connect their talent to the people.

-Saul Williams, interview with Davey D, www.daveyd.com

This week’s video is two part. Saul Williams is an incredible man. I first saw him on an episode of Def Poetry Jam and was fascinated not only by his words but by his presence. I said on twitter yesterday that I feel like everytime I see him I’m looking at a different person. He always has a different outward appearance but his presence on stage is the exact same every single time: powerful. In this week’s videos, he stands on the Brave New Voices 2009 stage and spits this never-ending poem. I would have loved to had been there to hear this live.

Poetry & Theater

As I watched this piece for the umpteenth time, something in me that I had been dying to talk about for a while now was resurrected. Spoken Word poets are thespians. They step into characters that their words have personified. It’s almost as if they step on stage and become a completely different person. Brook Yung is great at this.

Watch as he silently prays before he transforms from B. Yung to Bianca, the blind young woman he brings alive in his poem. He spits the entire poem with his eyes rolled into his head. That is acting…at it’s best. Giving life to the script that his heart wrote. I never thought that I could do that. I never thought that I could captivate an audience with a presence that made them feel as if I was a completely different person when I stepped on stage.

Alexis Marie and Jasmine Manns are two incredibly talented young women who bring to life the characters in the poem entitled “Abortion Poem.” They go back and forth like the mother and the child that they speak of. They breath like them, talk like them, act like them. Jasmine has so much power in her voice that it becomes raspy and its as if she screams. These poets are amazing. I want to have that power behind my words. I want to walk away with a ghost of my poem still standing on stage, haunting the mic.

My dear sister friend, Farah Lawal, put an entire one-man show together last year with just her poetry. We watched her transform into different women as she quietly traced the edges of the stage with her footsteps. She was amazing. She is also an actress. I’m sure that her experience as an actress contributed a lot to her performance as a poet.

For my spoken word poets, do you consider yourself an actor when you step on stage? No longer yourself but transformed into a character depicted in your poem?