Thought I'd share my latest rant I put up on my site. It pertains to this forum imo. Feel free to reply.
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January 10th, 2003 @ 2:15AM
State of the art

Earlier this week I stopped by my parents place to pick up some of my belongings and I caught "Def Poetry Jam", hosted by Mos Def, on HBO.
For all of you who don't know, it's a showcase of poets who do poetry slams, run by hip-hop mogul Russel Simmons, better known as the head
of Def Jam records and Phat Farm clothing. Initially it caught my interest, since I've heard about this show but never got a chance to watch it.
Now, I love the art. Poetry that is. I've been writing since high school (when I first got into writing thanks to my Creative writing teacher Mr.
Modlevesky) and have been recently poetry slammin' every so often in San Francisco and the rest of the Bay area. But after watching the show
(which is going to be in its' 3rd season) I have to say I was quiet dissapointed.

I was left wondering to myself. What is the current state of this art? The majority sounded to me like the pop-rap they play on MTV without
background music. Phrases and flows without a muse, just empty rhythm. Does anyone try to inspire and contribute anything rather than entertain
the ignorant ear? I really do enjoy the artful craft of linguistics, but the recent barrage of lyrical freestyle battles and poetry slams I've run into have
seriously withered away any interest I had in continuing my performances. Attempts at being original or creative have all been laced with the same
lines. Bland poetry about the poet. Praising themselves with no style, just utilizing the simplest of literary techniques, rhyming words. The line has
been blurred between poetry and rapping. Spoof poets just writing battle raps or songs and passing them off as poetry and trying to slam them as if
we're stupid. I lyrically. From the top of my head. Off the top of the dome. Sprinkle lightly with homophobic disses and you have bullshit I've been
listening to lately. I'm wondering when people started thinking that poetry slamming is just writing a rap and spitting it on the mic up stage.

Maybe I'm just being too harsh. But I just think things like HBO's Def Poetry Jam have the right idea, just run by the wrong people. There are
much better poets out there with real messages and skills that should be on that show. I'm not saying all the performers on DPJ were bad,
it's just that now it's becoming "commercial" and the masses are getting the wrong idea about poetry slamming, my assumptions confirmed
by the recent invasions of "rap-poets" I've encountered at my favorite poetry slam venues. It's cool now. It's hip now. Anyone can be a poet
and slam if they can correspond a word with another in terminal sound. But poetry slamming is more than that. It's about the audience. It's about
the performance. It's about the message. You are there to please the audience, not to boast in beats. You want the audience to hear a message.
Deliever a message. One that entangles them into your thoughts and your words through the play of words, which can be achieved in more ways than
just rhyming. Most important, you want them to understand why you wrote it. If you fail to do so, you leave them asking "Huh? What the fuck
was that about?" And any real lover of spoken word who asks themselves this question will know you are nothing more than a fake. As a method of
self-expression, you don't do the art or yourself any justice.

So please, be true to the art and don't be fooled by the media's chewed up, bubble-gumed definition of poetry slamming.

And most importantly, be true to yourself and your muse.


-Peter

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