Felipe Luciano (of The Last Poets) performs “Jibaro, My Pretty Ni**er” from Def Poetry, 2003.
Check out the video and lyrics below…
Jíbaro, mi negro lindo
De los bosques de caña
Caciques de luz
Tiempo es una cosa cómica.
Jíbaro, my pretty nigga.
Father of my yearning for the soil,
The land,
The earth of my people.
Father of the sweet smells of fruit in my mother’s womb,
the earth brown of my skin,
the thoughts of freedom that butterfly through my insides.
Jíbaro, my pretty nigga.
Sweating bullets of blood and bedbugs,
Swaying slowly to the softly strummed stains of a five string guitar
Remembering ancient empires
Of sun gods and black spirits and things that were once
So simple.
How times have changed Man.
how Man has changed time.
“Unnatural,” screams the wind.
“Unnatural.”
Jíbaro, my pretty nigga man.
Fish smells and cane smells and
Fish smells and cane smells and
Tobacco
And oppression makes even God smell foul.
As foul as the bowels of the ship
That vomited you up on the harbors of a cold metal city to die.
No sun, no sand, no palm trees
And you clung,
Yes, you clung to the slimy ribs of an animal
Called the Marine Tiger,
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost Amen.
Jíbaro, did you know you my nigga?
I love the curve of your brow,
The slant of your baby’s eyes
The calves of your woman dancing;
I dig you!
You can’t hide.
I ride with you on subways.
I touch shoulders with you in dances.
I make crazy love to your daughter.
yea, you my cold nigga man.
And I love you ’cause you’re mine.
And I’ll never let you go.
And I’ll never let you go.
(You mine, nigga!)
And I’ll never let you go.
Forget about self.
We’re together now.
And I’ll never let you go!
Uh’uh
Never, Nigga.
Linton Kwesi Johnson (aka LKJ) (born 24 August 1952, Chapelton, Jamaica) is a UK-based dub poet. He became the second living poet, and the only black poet, to be published in the Penguin Classics series. His poetry involves the recitation of his own verse in Jamaican Patois over dub-reggae, usually written in collaboration with renowned British reggae producer/artist Dennis Bovell.
Johnson studied for a degree in sociology at Goldsmiths College in New Cross, London (graduating in 1973), which currently holds his personal papers in its archives; in 2004 he became an Honorary Visiting Professor of Middlesex University in London. In 2005 he was awarded a silver Musgrave medal from the Institute of Jamaica for distinguished eminence in the field of poetry.
While still at school he joined the British Black Panther Movement, helped to organize a poetry workshop within the movement, and developed his work with Rasta Love, a group of poets and drummers.
…peace to our good friend Alwin for the heads up on this one.
After the jump, view the video that inspired this post…
Condolences to the family, friends and fans of the legendary Mr. Gil Scott-Heron who passed away last night at the age of 62.
Gil was luckier than most as he’s left behind a legacy that will outlive him and will resonate for years to come. The countless messages on Twitter and numerous stories populating the web in the event of his passing are testament to that.
See some of the highlights of the love being shown below and after the jump….
Gil Scott-Heron & Mos Def – Live @ Carnegie Hall, NYC 6-28-08 (…via)
Gil Scott-Heron & Mos Def – “New York City”
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Gil Scott-Heron & Mos Def – “A Song For Bobby Smith”
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Our people DJ Asho will be spinning later today as part of a great event benefiting the earthquake victims in Haiti. Check out the details below…
join us for…
Caribe Negro for Haiti 2!
A Fundraiser to Benefit Haiti’s Earthquake Survivors
Saturday March. 5, 2011
from 8pm-1am
The Bruckner Bar & Grill
1 Bruckner Blvd. Bronx, NY
#4/6 train to E. 138th Street
Suggested Donation: $15
Live Performances by:
ALMA MOYO Puerto Rican Bomba
KALUNGA NEG MAWON Haitian Dominican Roots Music
BODOMA GARIFUNA BAND from Honduras
809 LADIES playing Merengue, Bachata, Salsa
DJ ASHO representing Cuba & Hip Hop!
MACHETE MOVEMENT with Hip Hop Poetry & Bomba
CARMEN MOJICA Dominican Poet
Visual Artists/Vendors donating part of their proceeds to Haiti:
Sally Hyppolite
All proceeds benefit Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees. This year, The Legacy Circle will support the work of a women’s theater group in Port Au Prince who are fighting rapes and violence by providing with flashlights and whistles they can blow if they are in danger. Immediately the neighboring women run to provide aid. We are also purchasing school materials for children in Cite de Soleil such as backpacks, books, and pens so they can continue their studies after the earthquake.
Since we’ve spoken on Mr. Scott-Heron’s new albummore than once, it’s only right that I give this one a drop.
The fact that mybrethen are behind it doesn’t hurt either. Check out the audio below…
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Just wanted to give folks the heads up that the legendary Gil Scott-Heron will be bring his live show to New York’s fabled Blue Note Jazz Club next week.
Gil will play a two-night engagement as celebration of the release of his new album I’m New Here , which Dom detailed a couple of weeks back.
After 16 long years Gil Scott Heron will release his come back album today “I’m New Here”. For those that don’t know about the legendary poet and artist, here is what has been said about him.
There are a great number of African American orators that have made their impact on many generations of people, both black and white; people like Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Dick Gregory, Dr. Cornel West, James Brown, Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Jimi Hendrix, and the list goes on forever. Gil Scott-Heron was and still is one of those people. This spoken word artist and poet was a massive influence on the development of hip-hop. His socially and politically conscious work in the late ‘60s and ‘70s as well as his performance style strongly anticipated the more brainy types of rap and even less obvious genres such as acid jazz. He’s been called ”the Black Bob Dylan” and the “Godfather of Rap”…terms he finds rather amusing.
– Examiner
You can listen to the full album stream here. I also included more goodies after the jump.
Half Puerto Rican. Half Norwegian. Two-time felon. One hell of a show.
Featured earlier this year as part of The Public Theater’s Under The Radar Festival, Lemon Andersen’s County of Kings gives a tough, yet poignant biographical account of a good kid growing up in an unforgiving environment. Lemon, whose parents met at a methadone clinic and passed away from AIDS, served two prison sentences before he was 21 and won a Tony before he turned 30. His on-stage memoir touches on young love, the birth of hip hop, slinging crack, ballet, stealing car parts, prison, and poetry as he takes the audience on an astonishing and surprising one-man journey toward self-discovery. Weaving hard-edged drama with urban poetry, the Brooklyn born and bred performer tells his coming-of-age story with profound honesty, compassion and humor. A true story of finding passion in the arts and finding one’s way, Lemon paints a vivid portrait of his own life and the lives of countless other Brooklynites during the 1980s and 1990s.
Riverside Theatre, The Living Word Project, MAPP International, Mighty4 and Samurai Graphix present:
Cultural Animators Series EARTH (H)OURS presents Life is Living
A public outdoor installation to catalyze deeper thought and community action around the value of life and our relationship to our planet.
Featuring:
The Estria Invitational Living Word Graffiti Battle
The Mighty 4 B Boy Battle hosted by Paulskeee
When I was coming up, one of the artists my father always tried to hip me to was Linton Kwesi Johnson. That being the case, I know he’d be happy to know now that college courses in South Africa feature LKJ’s work. Check the details below…
Ask the academia and ask the man in the streets. His pen cuts deeper than the sword. To legions of world music and dub poetry fans worldwide he is LKJ. These three letters say it all. Linton ‘Kwesi’ Johnson. One of the pioneers of the revolutionary dub poetry movement and a living testament to ‘word, sound and power.’
For well beyond thirty years, he has reigned as international dub grand-master. His works have resonated with all who have taken a keen listen. His recently concluded April 25 show at Rhodes University located in the city of Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape Province, saw many reeling out the R100 per ticket, even despite financial woes of many in that city. His monumental visit to South Africa held a series of other LKJ performances from April 24 to May 2, which saw him taking the stage in Johannesbourg, Cape Town and Durban to similarly enthusiastic patrons.
This is a genius of a man, with an extraordinary lyrical acumen . He holds the distinction of being only the second living poet – and the first black poet – to be published in the highly regarded Penguin Modern Classics series. LKJ’s critically acclaimed work forms part of a post-colonial literature course at Rhodes University….
