Soundtrack to struggle: the Last Poets are still making music about what is happening in the streets, using the language of streets.

By 1968, hopefulness in black communities was fading away. Lyndon Johnson's Great Society program was undermined by the high cost of the Vietnam War, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy were both assassinated, and the country was spiraling into a chaos fueled by racism, poverty, and violence. Eleven cities rioted after King's assassination. The black community felt deeply betrayed by the white political establishment. With its most powerful and prominent leaders cut down in their prime, there seemed to be a political as well as a cultural void in the black community.

Enter The Last Poets, a group of creative activists who, in the eyes of many, are the pioneers of hip-hop. The Last Poets were formed in Marcus Garvey Park on May 19, 1968, when they read poetry at a memorial for Malcolm X. Thirty-five years later, they remain as relevant as ever and have experienced a much-deserved resurgence over the past decade. Still, far too few people know of The Last Poets and their impressive legacy. Their recordings are vital, alive, and fresh and their performances are powerful, emotional, and transcendent. They were the forerunners of today's Afrocentric rappers, opening the door to a jazz/hip-hop union that continues to be experimented with from London to New York.

They began as three poets and a drummer and quickly grew to include seven young black and Hispanic artists: David Nelson, Gylan Kain, Abiodun Oyewole, Felipe Luciano, Umar Bin Hassan, Jalal Nurridin, and Suliamn El Hadi. They took their name from a poem by South African poet Willie Kgositsile, who escaped the apartheid regime and joined Harlem's New York Black Writer's Workshop in 1968. Kgositsile posited the necessity of putting aside poetry in the face of looming revolution:

"When the moment hatches in time's womb there will be no art talk. The only poem you will hear will be the spear point pivoted in the punctured marrow of the villain.... Therefore we are the Last Poets of the world."

The Last Poets now consist of Abiodun Oyewole (born in Queens, New York) and Umar Bin Hassan (born in Akron, Ohio). I first met The Last Poets while working with them on the film As an Act of Protest, where they serve as political-creative mentor to the lead character, Cairo Medina. They help him deal with the madness brought on by a racist state that denies its people art and culture while using terror and torture against them.

Soon after that, we began work on a series of La Lutta NMC-produced events called This Is a Movement. The title, Bin Hassan says, invokes the basis for longevity. "We have been at this for over 35 years and to do that you must understand that you are part of a movement that is ever changing ... Art and culture is central to this work."

Over the course of the group's history, the members collaborated in various combinations to produce more than a dozen albums and several books.

The Last Poets served up an antidote to the sugary sweet pop music that dominated much of R&B and pop music in the 1960s. They took music to another level with illustrative lyrics detailing the harsh reality of America's social and racial failures, set against a backdrop of jazz inspired by the likes of Charlie Parker. Long before Marvin Gay recorded What's Going On, The Last Poets' records were a powerful balance of brutal honesty and beautiful truthfulness demanding that all who listen challenge themselves, their communities, and society.

It began with The Last Poets' self-titled 1970 debut, which in the words of Chuck D, "is one of the greatest American albums ever produced." Bringing to the forefront the raw vocals that would become the backbone of 1970s funk music, The Last Poets united street poetry and radical politics with sparse instrumentation and tribal beats.

Hip-hop owes a serious debt to The Last Poets and their formula. "All you need to do is just listen," Bin Hassan points out., "When we heard groups like A Tribe Called Quest referencing our poems and music, we knew our influence was deep and far-reaching." Labeling this album or any of their work as "spoken word" is shortsighted and simplistic. The essence of the group is their unswerving vision and commitment to creating work about what is happening in the streets using the language of the streets.

The Last Poets' first two albums are considered classics not just because of the originality of the music but also because of the powerful lyrical compositions, which articulated the feelings of an oppressed people. The Last Poets' new brand of music attacked a dehumanizing government system ("This Is Madness"), white racism and liberalism ("White Man's Got a God Complex"), and black complacency ("Niggers Are Scared of Revolution," "Black People What Y'all Gonna Do"). Bin Hassan points out "that we must first look at ourselves, what are we doing to change things. Do we want to be a part of a system that hates us, kills us or do we want to create something new?"

When first released, these albums found success on both the R&B and pop charts. With little promotion or marketing, they quickly sold over a million copies. "Our goal," Abiodun Oyewole says, "was to give a poetic voice to Malcolm's call for self-determination and black nationalism." He adds that, like many black activists at the time, "we were just sick and tired of things like King's call for integration, which seemed to work against liberating the black community."

Conversely, they were more influenced by radical members of the SNCC (Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee), the SDS (Students for a Democratic Society), and the Black Panthers. Walter Stafford of New York University, an original member of SNCC, told me that "The Last Poets were composing the revolutionary soundtrack." When I mention this to Bin Hassan, he smiles, looks me in the eye, and in his husky voice tells me, "We still are."

With success came plenty of misfortune and struggle. First, The Last Poets became the targets of both the FBI and the police, namely via the FBI's COINTELPRO (Counterintelligence Program). Although the FBI has always used covert operations, the formal COINTELPRO operations of 1956-1971 targeted domestic radical political organizations.

In effect, a secret war on political freedom, the vast majority of COINTELPRO activity worked to eradicate black nationalist/ radical groups and associated leaders or artists. Documents that were declassified years later reveal how the FBI ordered its COINTELPRO agents to "expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize the activities of Black Nationalists" and "to take an enthusiastic and imaginative approach" to eliminate these groups. COINTELPRO, with its infiltrators, agent provocateurs, and overwhelming financial and political resources, waged successful covert actions that broke up many of these groups. If activists could not be set tip and sent to prison on trumped-up charges, they would simply be "terminated" or murdered (i.e., Fred Hampton, leader of the Chicago branch of the Black Panthers, murdered December 4, 1969).

When SNCC was targeted for such sustained counterintelligence activity, so were The Last Poets, who had become closely aligned with the group. As a result, some members of The Last Poets ended up serving time in prison while others experienced other difficulties. Both members today are open but cautious in discussing this period in their lives. Oyewole, for example, served time in prison for what Bin Hassan describes "as giving himself more to the cause in taking direct action for justice." Bin Hassan also served time but found that he struggled most with "the demons of drug abuse." Both men bring these painful experiences to bear in the current work and performances.

"We must never forget," Bin Hassan says, "because if we do we could lose much more this time."

SELECTED LAST POETS DISCOGRAPHY 

The Last Poets, Douglas 1970

This is Madness, Douglas 1971

Chastisement, Douglas 1972

Hustlers Convention, with Jalal Nuriddin recording as "Lightnin' Rod," Douglas 1973

At Last, Blue Thumb 1974

Delights of the Garden, Celluloid 1975

Jazzoetry, Celluloid 1975

Oh! My People, Celluloid 1985

Freedom Express, Celluloid 1991

Be Bop Or Be Dead, Umar Bin Hassan with Abiodun Oyewole, Axiom/Island 1993

25 Years, Abiodun Oyewole with Umar Bin Hassan, Rykodisc 1994

Holy Terror, Rykodisc 1995

Time Has Come, Mouth Almighty/Mercury 1997

Antonino D'Ambrosio is the director of La Lutta (lalutta.org), a media organization based in New York City.