"This is the first anthology of poems by and for the hip-hop generation . . . It includes more than four decades of poets and covers the birth to the now of hip-hop culture and music and style"--page xv.
Like any collection, I enjoyed some poems more than others, but overall this was a great experience. I enjoyed reading the essays at the end, and the little bios, but I had hoped those would be better integrated into the collection rather than all together at the end. Additionally, I could have used more context around the individual poets and their poems - I often found myself wondering about references to streets in Chicago and could have used a footnote or two to really grok.
I'm a big fan of Hip-hop, some of my favourite artists are Salt 'n' Pepa, Vanilla Ice, MC Hammer and Sting. I'm also a fan of Poetry, some of my favourite artists are Raegan Butcher, Harry Whitewolf, MJ Black and JA Carter-Winward. I remember the first time I heard the sugar Hill gang's Rappers delight, it was the first time I realised that words could be a form of art, so when I saw this book I had to get myself a copy just to see what else was out there.
The Breakbeat Poets is a collection of poems by 70 different artists and they have been published in the order the poets were born 1961-1999. The layout is brilliant, you can really see how things have evolved, early poets wrote about music, the way it made them feel and they wrote about their heroes and the people they love. …
I'm a big fan of Hip-hop, some of my favourite artists are Salt 'n' Pepa, Vanilla Ice, MC Hammer and Sting. I'm also a fan of Poetry, some of my favourite artists are Raegan Butcher, Harry Whitewolf, MJ Black and JA Carter-Winward. I remember the first time I heard the sugar Hill gang's Rappers delight, it was the first time I realised that words could be a form of art, so when I saw this book I had to get myself a copy just to see what else was out there.
The Breakbeat Poets is a collection of poems by 70 different artists and they have been published in the order the poets were born 1961-1999. The layout is brilliant, you can really see how things have evolved, early poets wrote about music, the way it made them feel and they wrote about their heroes and the people they love. As we move into the work by poet's born in the 90's you can feel the mood change, there is more anger and outrage in their words. Another good thing with the layout, the editors have left the formatting and spelling as it is, no touch ups, it makes it feel more real.
I'm not going to admit I loved every poem, a lot was way about my head. Example, a few poets keep mentioning 'erasure' at first I thought "what is this obsession with the band?" At the end of the book it gets explained and it is a pretty cool form of poetry.
Here are a few highlights for you:
jessica Care moore. mic check, 1-2. the first poem in the book I loved, has a real feel of hip hop to it and it's easy to read, I read this one a number of times.
Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie. Global Warming Blues. Best line in the book. "seems like for Big Men's livin/little folks have got to die"
Douglas Kearney. all his poems are like little works of art, you gotta check them out. You could easily frame these to go on yer wall.
Tarfia Faizullah. 100 BELLS. the second poem I loved. Probably the scariest thing I've ever read.
Fatimah Asghar. PLUTO SHITS ON THE UNIVERSE. haha what a title. I laughed loads at this one, you could really imagine Pluto thinking this. Favourite in the book, tough to choose but this is the winner.
The cover is awesome, spent ages trying to figure out all the comic characters. The book is finished off with a collection of essays by the poets, made interesting reading to find out how they had got into hip-hop and the effect it has had on their life.
Loved this collection and glad I actually own a copy. Now all I need is for Mr. Kevin Coval to produce an audiobook version of each of the poets reading their work.
