It's hard to imagine that hip-hop existed in a time before there was the drum machine or sampler. To be honest, I wouldn't believe it to be true if I had never heard the Last Poets. The Last Poets are hip-hop's dawn; its rising sun. They are from a time when the beats came from various bongos and tribal drums of sorts. Their melodic vocal sample is actual people saying the same thing over and over like "tick, tock, tick, tock" during "Run, Nigger," or "rotten to the core" in "New York, New York." Their style is heavily rooted in spoken-word poetry and holds as much political angst as the Million Man March. It's not without cause though, as the Last Poets were formed while serving jail time for robbery. They were speaking out against oppression of their own people. For instance, the third track closes with the line "...but there is one thing that I do not love about niggers. Niggers are scared of revolution." And it’s at this point that the inner desire of Omar Ben Hassen shows through. He is looking at his people, seeing them repeatedly beaten down by the proverbial Man, and essentially saying "come on guys! What the fuck are you doing?!"
The first time I heard The Last Poets, it made me nervous. They use the N word a lot, and not coincidentally, I was very apprehensive, as a white boy, to play it. Though I've come to realize, through successive listenings, that while The Last Poets are literally speaking to their black brethren, they are also metaphorically speaking to most sane Americans today (see: the ones who aren't exactly thrilled with what's going on in the White House). Most people are scared of revolution, and live within their daily routine never breaking free. They are comfortable and don't want to disrupt their comfort for possible future gain. Most people aren't willing to invest that kind of energy. The Last Poets remind us that we need to get off of our asses and face the fire if we want change. And while I will never know the hardships they went through, they have, through their music, conveyed a feeling of urgency and painted a mental picture that won't be leaving my mind anytime soon.
So as I sit here re-reading what I've written while listening to "Two Little Boys" (you know, the song that Quasimoto samples on The Unseen), I am thinking about what hip-hop is today. The good MC's spin webs with their words and paint mental pictures throughout verses over beats and boundary pushing sounds. The Last Poets took their spoken word poetry and put it over drums and percussive instruments in a fashion unlike anyone before them, and did it in a way that blatantly shows they were pioneers of that wonderful genre affectionately known as Hip-Hop.
1. Run, Nigger
2. On the Subway
3. Niggers Are Scared of Revolution
4. Black Thighs
5. Gashman
6. Wake Up, Niggers
7. New York, New York
8. Jones Comin' Down
9. Just Because
10. Black Wish
11. When the Revolution Comes
12. Two Little Boys
13. Surprises
More about: The Last Poets
