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Pen Black's avatar

Fascinating read.

I've been a fan of the New York based precursors to Rap/Hip Hop music since discovering 'The Last Poets' and Gil Scott Heron in the late '80s. Looking forward to diving in to The Watts Prophets' work.

Matt Fish's avatar

Cheers! Thanks for reading.

Tamara Casey's avatar

Excellent 👍

Matt Fish's avatar

Thank you!

David Perlmutter's avatar

-Definitely their work forms a triumvirate with The Last Poets and Gil Scott-Heron as Black artists who used both the sensibilities of spoken word poetry and the unique nature of Black music and communications to establish a very specific form of protest media.

- "...which resulted in 34 deaths and over $40 million in property damage..." One of the dead was Charles Fizer, a member of the well-known local vocal group The Olympics.

Matt Fish's avatar

Yes! Thanks for adding this depth David