Talking With Abiodun Oyewole at LARB

Patrick A. Howell interviews poet Abiodun Oyewole, "one of the founding members of The Last Poets, often considered to be the first hip-hop group," for Los Angeles Review of Books. Oyewole's new book, Naked (2Leaf Press, October), "deals with self-love, forgiveness, lost love, survival, and cultural identity." Their conversation, excerpted here, is prompted by an epigraph by James Baldwin on the poet's role in the revolution. 

…Because of your prescient insights in 2016 — some may even say visions — I categorized you as a prophet in my book Dispatches from the Vanguard.

I don’t see myself as a prophet. I see myself as a poet who pays attention to all the signs. Having been here for a while enables me to have some clarity about life and what life has to offer. Everything comes in cycles. As we go around, we should also evolve. History will teach us about our future.

I like that wisdom. That sentiment reminds me of some of the lyrics in one of the Last Poets signature songs, “When the Revolution Comes,” where you rhymed, “Understand the beginning to be the end and nothing is in between but space and time that I make, or you make, to relate, or not to relate, to the world outside my mind, your mind.” Do you think the revolution spoken of not only by the Last Poets but by many of the poets and spoken-word artists throughout time — for example, Gil Scott-Heron or June Jordan — has happened?

When any writer or thinker tries to assess what has happened and what is happening, revolution is an obvious conclusion. This revolution will be more cultural than bloody. There will be, unfortunately, more bloodshed, but during this process we will get back to what matters most, and we will regain our consciousness and hold sacred our humanity.

It's all to be found at LARB.