On May 16, 1969 -- Malcolm X's birthday -- they officially formed the Last Poets, adopting the name from the work of South African Little Willie Copaseely, who declared the era to be the last age of poets before the complete takeover of guns. After a performance on a local television program, the group was signed by jazz producer Alan Douglas, who helmed their eye-opening eponymous debut LP in 1970. A collection condemning both white oppression ("White Man's Got a God Complex") and Black stasis ("Niggas Are Scared of Revolution"), The Last Poets reached the U.S. Top Ten album charts, but before the group could mount a tour, Oyewole was sentenced to 14 years in prison after being found guilty of robbery and was replaced by percussionist Nilaja.
"When the moment hatches in time's womb there will be no art talk," he wrote. "The only poem you will hear will be the spearpoint pivoted in the punctured marrow of the villain....Therefore we are the last poets of the world."
Last Poets This Is Madness (1971
With withering attacks on everything from raciststo government to the bourgeoisie, their spoken word albums precededpolitically laced R&B projects such as Marvin Gaye's What'sGoing On and foreshadowed the work of hard-hitting rap groupssuch as Public Enemy. Their classic poems Niggersare scared of Revolution, This is Madness, When the Revolution Comes(not to be confused with Oyewole's modern version linked above),and Gashman were released on their two record albums LastPoets (1970) and This Is Madnesss (1971). I, the makerof this webpage, learned the poems of both albums from the lyricson the back.
Mills stated that the Last Poets remained nameless until Nelson found inspiration in the last verse of a poem by William Kgositsile: "When the moment hatches in time's womb, there will be no more 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."
In 1990, the founding members of the Last Poets staged a comeback tour that lasted only four dates. El-Hadi dismissed this to Mills when he said, "They put in the papers that the Last Poets are being 'resurrected' when we've been working all this time. My vibe is 'Why didn't you jump on board when it was hard times?'" Jalal and El-Hadi released Freedom Express as the Last Poets in 1991. Three years later, the Last Poets played 13 dates on Lollapalooza. They also contributed tracks to the Panther film soundtrack and Stolen Moments: Red, Hot + Cool--an African American AIDS awareness album. 2ff7e9595c
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