the Last Poets

[Tukuler al~Takruri]

Spinoff of Afrikan Conscious Music thread.

Soon after my 'trauma' Egy ¬ in Africa elementary
classroom experience these artists expanded, no,
really, launched my consciousness so that by
secondary school I was ready to help found a
Black Cultural Club. Too bad our BCC couldn't
stop the school from morphing incipient Black
and African studies courses into Multi-ethnic
Society courses. Courses which basically taught
'everybody's suffered' (while Italians, 'yte'Jews, etc
and yte wimmenz were actively making sure we
continue that suffering while they reaped the
major benefits of the civil rights acts; nevermind
the fact is our history is much more than others
oppressing us. To this day movies are myopic
that way or else right out coon fare.

Now, 50 yrs later, they running the same game.
Only thing now is so many Rootless Tree blx
have totally bought into it and incessantly wave
that flag in lieu of a flag of their own.

[Tukuler al~Takruri]

Transcending Toxic Times bassist and producer Tacuma, known for his collaborations with Ornette Coleman, Marc Ribot and many other jazz luminaries, recalls enlightening early encounters with the Poets’ work while he was growing up in North Philadelphia.

“I was first introduced to the Last Poets … in a house that was filled with burning incense, black-light bulbs illuminating psychedelic and African-American black-light posters,” he writes in an e-mail. “There I was informed and listened to explanations and depictions of the current life of African-Americans in the United States. I was young at the time but something struck me because I knew something was going on in the community and the Last Poets brought positive consciousness and race reality to forefront of the community at large. … I was so completely inspired by the artistry, and the words of the Last Poets were the foundation of my awakening as a young black man in America”

[Tukuler al~Takruri]

Percussionist Babatunde tells a similar story. “When I was 12 years old, my brother and I got a copy of the [Last Poets] album 49 years ago which was at that time the start of the
1 - Black Arts Movement,
2 - Civil Rights and
3 - Black Power struggle,” he writes.

“The album was a call to pay attention and look at our self from self-destruction to empowerment. What made this message unique was the drum and beat that kept you listening to the word like in a hypnotic state. My fascination with the drums drove me to where I’m now. What a paradox that I find myself working with the Last Poets at their request.”

[Tukuler al~Takruri]

Set to drop May 10th, the new album

Transcending Toxic Times

Bin Hassan credits Babatunde, Tacuma and Abiodun for coming up with the new album’s title and core concept. “It’s about transcending toxic times with our poetry, to get our message to the people,” he writes, “to get out of this madness and to start to move forward as one people, as a united people, with
• human decency and
• understanding of others”

“Unfortunately, nothing much has changed when it comes to racism, which is a disease like cancer,” he writes. “I would love to live in a world where all people of all races live without class systems or racial discrimination, but that world has not been discovered yet. There are too many insecure and jealous people in America even now.”

A luta continua
The struggle continues
The struggle is continuous
The struggle is ongoing

[Tukuler al~Takruri]

Mar 16, 2019 22:49:51 GMT -5 ycoamigofull said:

More like 50 cents. How do you guys account for the fact that most of the best and brightest African-Americans are going into social work, psychology, government etc, and not STEM like the Atlanta techies? With all these people in social and community work how can you get big impact in tech or business? And isn't what y'all are doing with this Egypt thing like another symptom of that?

Night descends,
as the sun's light ends
And black
comes back,
to blend again

[staccato chant begins]
Wake up

Wake up
Niggers

Wake up

Wake up
Niggers
Wake up
Niggers
Wake up
Niggers
[continuing behind main vocal]

And with the death of the sun
Night and blackness become one
Blackness being you
Peeping through
the red, the white, and the blue
Dreaming of boss black civilizations
that once flourished and grew

HEY! -
WAKE UP, NIGGERS or you all through!

Drowning in a puddle of the
white man's spit
As you pause for some drawers in the
midst of shit
And ain't got nothing to save your
funky-ass with!

You Kool fool
sipping on a menthol cigarette 'round midnight
Rapping about how the Big Apple is outta sight,
when you ain't never had a bite
Who are you fooling?
Me?
You?

Wake up, niggers or ya ALL through!

TO MAKE IT PLAIN, BLACK PEOPLES INTO
AFRICANA AND OUT OF ACTIVISM ARE
MENTAL MASTURBATORS. CHECK THE
PHARAOH'S (Cheikh Anta Diop) BIOGRAPHY
AND YOU WILL SEE STUDYING OUR HISTORY
VIA TRANSDISCIPLINARY METHODOLOGIES IS
INSEPARABLY INTERTWINED WITH OUR EVER
ONGOING NEVER CEASING STRUGGLE FOR
FREEDOM AND CIVIL RIGHTS.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=YBYUET24K1c