Archive for March, 2007

George Watsky on Def Poetry Friday, March 30th, 2007

In the following video, George Watsky performs his spoken word poem on Def Poetry:

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a crowd get so excited at Def Poetry before, but I may remember wrong. Anyway, I liked that humorous poem.What did you think?

It is the Screaming by Lyrical Shaman Thursday, March 29th, 2007

The following video shows Lyrical Shaman’s submission, It Is the Screaming, for the 2007 Virtual Online Poetry Slam hosted by Citizens for Globabl Solutions. Last year’s success has prompted another Online Poetry Slam, this time the theme is “Torture”.

I find it great to see spoken word poetry used to raise awareness about torture, and work to stop it. Sadly, under the Patriot Act, the United States now holds even its own citizens as “enemy combatants”, refusing to give them the right to speedy trials, formal charges, and legal representation. So, governments such as and including the U.S. now detain people without charges, disallow them from seeing a lawyer, and then torture them!

What do you think?

Coded Language by Sail Williams Thursday, March 22nd, 2007

In the following video, Saul Williams perform his spoken word poem, Coded Language, at Rock Valley College:

Not the best Saul Williams poem, in my opinion, but definitely up there. What do you think?

The Sun Said Shine by Logan Phillips Tuesday, March 20th, 2007

In the following video, Arizona Poet, Logan Phillips, performs his spoken word poem, The Sun Said Shine, in Tucson, Arizona

I liked that deep and metaphorical poem. What do you think?

Exchange Links with SpokenWordArt.com Monday, March 19th, 2007

You can now exchange links with this website, SpokenWordArt.com. That means that we will place a link to your website on ours, if you do the same for us on yours. This works for MySpace profiles as well as any other website. We recommend this if any of the following apply:

  • You are a spoken word artists with a website or MySpace page.
  • You own a website about spoken word, poetry, hip-hop, art, or anything else related.
  • You have any other cool website you think other people should know about.

You can exchange links by clicking here. Remember, you need to first link to our website from yours. Use the following HTML code to link to our website:

<a href="http://spokenwordart.com">Spoken Word</a>

Tell anyone who might benefit from this! Thanks!

Spoken Word Group Wins Microsoft Competition Sunday, March 18th, 2007

Dunstan Prial writes that a spoken word group won Microsoft’s small-biz competition:

The Mayhem Poets, three Jersey City-based missionaries for the art of spoken-word poetry, will soon have a headquarters in New York from which to spread their passion, courtesy of Microsoft Corp.

The trio — Kyle Sutton, 27, Mason Granger, 24, and Scott Tarazevits, 26 — was named winner Tuesday of Microsoft’s Ultimate Challenge, a nationwide contest to reward an innovative idea for a small business.

The contest was tied to the release of Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2007, the software giant’s latest program for small businesses.

The Mayhem Poets’ concept of a spoken-word cafe to combine workshops, performances and cappuccino won over a panel of judges who pored over nearly 5,000 entries from entrepreneurs across the U.S.

Winning the contest will allow the Mayhem Poets to set down roots and create an environment where spoken-word poetry can be shared among enthusiasts and taught to novices, said Sutton.

Read entire article by Dunstan Prial.

I do not know these artists personally, but I feel good about this nonetheless. The group must have some business sense, seeing how they earned a living doing as travel poets before winning the contest.

What do you think?

If I Ran the Internet by Rives Saturday, March 17th, 2007

Three minutes of fast-paced, whip-smart wordsmithing from spoken word artist Rives, who has some unconventional ideas about how the Internet should be run.

Wow! That amazed me. I loved it. With that spoken word poem, Rives mixed humor with poetry better than I’ve ever seen before.

What do you think?

Afro DZ AK at Tufts University Thursday, March 15th, 2007

The following video shows Afro DZ AK at Tufts University performing spoken word:

I enjoyed that hip-hop for social change. What did you think?

Pursue Your Passion by Kirk Nugent Wednesday, March 14th, 2007

In the following spoken word video, Kirk Nugent performs his poem, Pursue Your Passion:

This powerful performance motivates and inspires me. I especially like when he says, “live your life or live your excuse.” What do you think?

I Need to Write by J.Ivy Tuesday, March 13th, 2007

In the following spoken word video, J.Ivy performs his spoken word poem, I Need to Write, on Def Poetry:

J.Ivy speaks reality! I enjoyed that poem and performance very much. What did you think?