Spoken Word

Have you ever listened to a rap song and said to yourself, wow these lyrics suck. "Colt 45 and two Zig-Zags, baby that's all we need." "Do me in back of the car, put me in handcuffs, start ripping my pants off." Really? Sure, they're catchy. Sure, they're funny. But where's the meaning?

Spoken word.

Rhythm like rap, meaning like poetry. Metaphors, allusion, emotion - spoken word does it all. 

The flow and content of these works of art are so modern, appealing to even the youngest of our generation. It has content that is relevant to us with the poetic devices of Dickinson and Shakespeare.

Michael Lee, 22 years old with the experiences of a 90 year old - suicide, depression, addiction, murder, poverty - his poems make me feel exactly what he has felt. When Michael was 12 years old, his best friend Stephen was stabbed to death by his schizophrenic mother. Broken, Michael to this day still remembers Stephen in each and every poem he writes. 

"The day Stephen was murdered / everything that made us love him rushed from his knife wounds / as though his chest were an auditorium / his like an audience leaving single file."

Beautiful. Referencing auditoriums and audiences (which were in the context of a basketball game) help younger listeners relate. The metaphors and emotion flowing through each verse and stanza tug at our feelings. We feel what he wants us to feel - exactly what he felt. In YouTube videos of his performances, you can always hear sobbing, sniffling, the occasional "amen" and similar comments from the touched audience.

Spoken word isn't what most people think it is. Before being introduced to it in my AP Lit class last year, I though it was stupid and boring, like Dickinson and Shakespeare. But thanks to Michael Lee, my opinion is changed.

Just because someone can be as tactful and deep as two historic poets doesn't mean they're just as boring.