The Last Poets

A rare appearance by spoken word legends The Last Poets, often hailed as the first ever rap group. Grown out of the civil rights movement in the late 60’s, The Last Poets are modern day griots with withering attacks on everything from racists to government and to the bourgeoisie.

Their spoken word albums preceded politically laced R&B projects such as Marvin Gaye's What's Going On and foreshadowed the work of hard-hitting rap groups such as Public Enemy. Hip-hop history officially started in Harlem on May 16th, 1969 (Malcolm X’s birthday). Imprisoned after refusing to fight in the Vietnam War, Jalal Mansur Nuriddin began to blend spoken-word verse with street-corner beats, and befriended fellow inmates Umar Bin Hassan and Abiodun Oyewole.

Upon their release, they named their trio The Last Poets after the work of a South African writer who predicted violence would destroy the current, last generation of poets. The group would soon electrify audiences both the Apollo Theater and on local television, capturing the attention of producer Alan Douglas, known for his landmark sessions for Duke Ellington, Charlie Mingus, and Eric Dolphy.

The group debuted in 1970 with the album The Last Poets, considered the first hip-hop album of all time, followed in 1971 with This Is Madness landing them on President Nixon’s Counter-Intelligence Programming list! Both discs scored high on the album and R&B charts thanks to their arresting fusion of politically outspoken lyrics and inventive percussion. Listen to these records today (as reissued by Light in the Attic & Vampi Soul) and hear why Chuck D says, “The Last Poets are the birthplace of rap.”