Our ability to use language is one of our defining characteristics as a species. From sounds that become morphemes, morphemes that become words and words that combine to form complex narratives and dialogues, we convey our innermost thoughts and intellectual workings through language. Verbal expression runs the gamut from forgettable small-talk to compelling narratives, from inconsequential chatter to high art. Spoken word poetry is an artistic movement that recognizes the power of language and the spoken word, as its practitioners craft their art from the same medium of everyday communication that we take for granted.
This Saturday the Georgetown Black House, in conjunction with the Center for Minority Educational Affairs, presents “Slammanomics: The Ultimate Coffee House,” an event featuring live music and spoken-word “slam” poetry. Coordinated by the group Urban Ave. 31 and its manager, Derrick Chase, Slammanomics also includes music by Marcel and the Truth, as well as spoken-word performances by Tonya “Jahipster” Matthews, Femi “The Dri-Fish,” Olu “Butterfly” Woods and D. Chase, the Urban Blues Man
Urban Ave. 31, a hip-hop/soul fusion group whose style gives one the impression of spoken-word style poetry set to music, will headline the event. Founded in 2000 by Raheem DeVaughn (who also wrote, produced and performed on their debut album The Healing), Urban Ave. 31 aims to engage the audience through lyrics that deal with “the politics of living,” touching on such contemporary issues as homelessness, urban violence and poverty. The group’s ultimate goal is to enlighten and create an awareness that will lead to a change for the better?the “healing” referred to in the album’s title and several of its tracks.
Spoken-word and slam poetry have roots in such African verbal traditions as storytelling and the oral transmission of history and information, although it draws on a broader cultural background and perspective. The modern incarnation of this ever-evolving artistic genre is one that transcends time and culture, since it is a form of art rooted in language, in the spoken word with which we are all familiar. With the emergence of slam poetry contests (in which the poets follow certain guidelines in terms of delivery and are judged by the audience) in the 1980s, the genre has begun to gain momentum, quickly moving beyond the Chicago coffeehouses in which it was born to become a nationwide phenomenon. This poularity, in turn, brought new attention to and interest in its predecessor?spoken-word poetry?which has experienced a subsequent growth of its own due in large part to its offshoot, slam.
Many see spoken-word performances and programs like Slammanomics as a response to and, in some respects, a repudiation of the negative images and stereotypes associated with contemporary hip-hop. While some consider it a subgenre of hip-hop, others have come to view it as an alternative to a genre that some feel is becoming too violently pessimistic or self-aggrandizing or just plain stale in form and content. What some feel mainstream hip-hop lacks, spoken word makes up for; its free-form nature allows for an infinite number of subjects of relevance or importance to be tackled in a myriad number of ways. Poets strive, in Chase’s words, “not to follow a drumbeat, but to make the drumbeat follow them,” challenging the audience to see an issue from their perspective in the hopes of creating a new understanding of the topic at hand.
Slammanomics is a unique opportunity to see the spoken word take on a significance and power all its own, as the ordinary is transformed into the poetic and language becomes art. After all, spoken word is more than just cultural and political awareness, it’s also entertainment.
Slammanomics: The Ultimate Coffee House starts at 7 p.m. on Saturday at Walsh Black Box. Tickets are $5 for students with ID, $10 for everyone else.
