The first thing I knew I had to do before I went to Def Poetry Jam was to try and put out of my head whatever pre-conceived notions and prejudices I have about the current street culture, how it does nothing for me and why it doesn't speak to me, including hip-hop music and rap. (I do remember when rap used to be called patter and Gilbert and Sullivan had the market.) So I was completely unprepared for the exhilarating experience I ended up having courtesy of hip-hop mogul/entrepreneur Russell Simmons and his collaborator and director, Stan Lathan. It was their idea to present the vision of nine extraordinary and personable multi-racial poets on one stage, with their poetic presentations laced together by music spinning talent of rapping DJ Tendaji Lathan.
The young, talented and tough-looking cast, veterans of the HBO TV series "Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry," is providing Broadway with it first "slam." And a grand slam it is. The heat and the beat of their more-often-than-not disquieting, disturbing poems are discharged with gusto ready to empower, enlighten and enrage, but also eager to provoke audience response.
Even before the house lights dimmed I noticed the number of young people in the theater and the mix of black and white, all there to welcome and embrace a daring departure from the traditional theater experience. It may take a bit of convincing to make you believe that your time will be well rewarded by some of the most dynamic and passionate bursts of rhyme and lyrical prose you have ever heard in one space.
Tamika Harper AKA Georgia Mae, a large and beautiful woman whose frame is as full of dimension as is her poetry, raps rhapsodically about "Full Figure Potential," and later more seriously about responding to an abusive relationship in the fierce "Hit Like a Man," among other poems that give her the edge as the resident diva. Poetri, his also-generous frame supporting his even more generous consideration of love in all its aspects, in the hilarious "Dating Myself" and wondering why and where all his "Money" keeps disappearing. But nothing tops his thesis on "Krispy Kreme Kroissants" (catch the three Ks) manufactured (he knows) to keep the black man "down and round."
With her voluminous hair puffed up and sculpted like a huge black halo around her pretty face, Staceyann Chin, a New York resident and Jamaican National, makes an arresting agenda of gender with "Litany of Desire," and "Passing" (for straight). Brooklynite Lemon, can't keep his command of street smarts from informing gutsy poems like "County of Kings," and "Shine," about the swim of a black man surviving the Titanic. Lemon shows his comedic side in a hilarious duet with Latina Mayde Del Valle in "Tito Puente" ("the Don Corleone of Latin America"). There is turbulence beneath the gentle delivery of Palestinian-American Suhier Hammad, who isn't comfortable with labels as in "Exotic" ("...but not erotic"). Self worth is explored by rapping dynamo Black Ice in "410 Days in the Life," while self-doubt and rage are given strenuous workouts by Steve Colman in "But," and "Terrorist Threat," respectively. But, my favorite poet, perhaps because of his body language, would have to be Chinese-American Beau Sia, whose lithe torso belies his combative personality and ferocious delivery of "The Asians Are Coming, The Asians Are Coming," and other comforting issues.
There is genuine dramatic excitement hearing these skilled performing poets of attitude recite their poems either alone, in duets, trios, or as a company, in a theater filled with attentive listeners who hang on every word. The only thing more to say is that Bruce Ryan's simply classy set design serves the artists as do the funky and grungy garb. So let these terrific award-winning poets win you over. This may be the most surprisingly entertaining show to open on Broadway this season.
