Review

The Last Poets: This Is Madness (Charly)

Provocative, confrontational, pulls no punches. The Last Poets spoken-word double CD “This Is Madness,” most definitely an acquired taste. You need a very broad mind, a love of poetry and an understanding of black culture.

No kids in the house, and very understanding neighbours. If you want to spend the night in a cell, play this loudly on your car CD player with the windows open in your local high street!

First released in 1971 in vinyl, as a follow-up to the 1970 debut album which got them top 10 chart success in the US. “This Is Madness,” featured more politically charged poetry and that resulted in the group being listed as subversives by the Nixon administration.

They recorded the sophomore album without then-incarcerated Abiodun Oyewole, who received a 12-to-20-year jail sentence for manslaughter, but served less than four years.

The “N” word crops up three times in song titles, and many times on most tracks. The “F” word” is amply represented too.

The Last Poets are often cited as laying the foundations for hip hop, way back in the 60s when a group of poets and musicians banded together around the African American civil rights movement's Black Nationalists. Their name taken from a poem by South African revolutionary poet Keorapetse Kgositsile.

The original Last Poets were formed on May 19, 1968 (Malcolm X's birthday), in the East Harlem area of New York. The original members were Felipe Luciano, Gylan Kain and David Nelson.

Jalal Mansur Nuriddin, Umar Bin Hassan, and Abiodun Oyewole, along with percussionist Nilaja Obabi, are considered the core members of the group, as it appeared on the group's 1970 self-titled debut and on subsequent releases.

Hassan left the group following “This Is Madness” to be replaced by Suliaman El-Hadi, with Hassan's brief return on 1974's “At Last.”
In the 1980s and beyond, the group were name-checked as grandfathers of hip hop. They collaborated with post-punk band the Pop Group, among others. Nuriddin and El-Hadi worked on several projects under the Last Poets name, including 1984's “Oh My People” and 1988's “Freedom Express,” and recording the final El Hadi-Nuriddin collaboration “Scatterrap/Home” in 1994.

Suliaman El-Hadi died in October 1995. Oyewole and Hassan began recording separately under the same name, releasing “Holy Terror” in 1995 (re-released in 2004) and “Time Has Come” in 1997.

The Last Poets found fame again when the trio was featured with hip hop artist Common, on the Kanye West-produced song "The Corner," and with the Wu-Tang Clan-affiliated hip hop group Black Market Militia on the song "The Final Call."

They feature on "Organic Liquorice (Natural Woman)" "Voodoocore" and "A Name," with Shaka Amazulu the 7th. They are on the Nas album “Untitled.”

With no boundaries in what they would be prepared to attack, from racists to governments, The Last Poets preceded rap groups such as Public Enemy and NWA.

They eventually split into two groups. One, including Jalal Nuriddin and Suleiman el-Hadi, was known as "The Last Poets" and the other, including Abiodun Oyewole and Umar Bin Hassan, billed as "Formerly of the Last Poets." Years of legal dispute over the use of the name, followed.

In the 90's in Paris, Umar Bin Hassan was there for a Last Poet concert, Jalal suddenly appeared and it is said he stabbed Hassan in the throat.

If you seek peace, tranquillity and something to sooth, and have on in the background on your CD player as you unwind, this is not for you. If you want to expand your horizons beyond music and get stuck into some controversial, thought-provoking social and cultural history - X-rated spoken word and percussion fusion - grab this one, get rid of the kids for the night……………and make sure you have closed those windows tight!
Words SIMON REDLEY