The Last Poets

A wake-up message for would-be social and political change agents.

the last poets started out great and ended their career strong

Considered along with Gil Scott-Heron (whose spoken word classic, "Small Talk on 125th & Lenox" was released around the same time) to be the godfathers of rap, the Last Poets consisted of three spoken word artists (Abiodun Oyewole, Alafia Pudim, and Omar Ben Hassen) who delivered their poetry in an aggressive and unique style, backed by each other chanting, grunting and mumbling and by percussionist Nilaja. The words are largely politically and socially fueled, attempting to lay down an understanding of the lack of social consciousness and perhaps more imporatntly social responsibility of the people around them.The three poets each have different styles-- Oyewole is the most aggressive of the three, expousing angry words, largely of disgust, in an angry fashion. Pudim is a bit more nasally in his delivery, with his work more focused on urban experiences. Hassen assumes a stance of anger-- anger largely about laziness.In the end, the material sounds like it came from 1970-- its primitive, it can be somewhat difficult to listen to because the style was so underdeveloped-- its also the only LP these guys did together-- Oyewole ended up gettnig arrested and sentenced to 14 years for robbery. From my perspective, his work is the best of the Poets-- he manages to capture the belief of revolution and social activism that I find so easy to place close to my heart. But overall, the record is somewhat inconsistent. Still, there's enough good material here and its of enough historical importance to make it worth seeking out. This release features cleanly remastered sound and a great mini-LP sleeve. Its just a shame that such historically important music can't stay in print.

Received the alum I wanted, in the condition I expected, and on the Day I was told. Couldn't ask for more.