Hip-hop culture has already blown up the fashion world, the music charts
(at one point in 2003, all of Billboard's Top 10 singles were by hip-hop
artists) and the cineplex (last week's top film was You Got Served, and
look for Barbershop 2 to do bang-up business this weekend). So it's
only natural that its well-blinged fingers would extend to other areas, such
as live theater.
Hip-hop theater, or what some call "spoken word theater," is already a big
deal in New York, where groups such as Universes are shaking up our staid
ideas of language. Even hip-hop's music stars are getting in on the theatrical
action. Sean "P. Diddy" Combs is playing Walter in this spring's Broadway
revival of A Raisin in the Sun, alongside Audra McDonald and Phylicia
Rashad; and Mos Def garnered raves for his performance with Don Cheadle in
Broadway's Topdog/Underdog.
But perhaps the biggest sign that hip-hop culture is infiltrating Broadway
is Russell Simmons' Def Poetry Jam, which won a Tony in 2003 for
Special Theatrical Event. The show is now touring the country, stopping in
Dallas on Tuesday for a week.
Seven of the nine poets from the Broadway production are in the tour --
Beau Sia, Black Ice, Mayda Del Valle, Georgia Me, Suheir Hammad, Lemon and
Poetri -- plus Nigerian poet Bassey Ikpi, with live music from DJ Jedi.
What's amazing about this cast is its diversity. Beau Sia is
Chinese-American (from Oklahoma City), Del Valle a Latina from Chicago, and
Hammad is Palestinian-American with African bloodlines.
"I think it's really important to get many people in the seats who can find
reflection on stage," says Hammad in a noticeable Brooklyn accent, "and
sometimes the first step in doing that is the physical appearance of someone.
What people see is a vision of America that is more like the one that they
live in, especially in the bigger cities."
Simmons is one of the most important businessmen in hip-hop. In 1983, he
co-founded Def Jam Records with Rick Rubin. The label released records by such
seminal acts as LL Cool J, Run-DMC, Public Enemy and the Beastie Boys.
Simmons' Def Comedy Jam began on HBO in 1992 and helped launch the
career of Martin Lawrence, among others. His HBO series Russell Simmons
Presents Def Poetry began in 2002, and new episodes are being filmed.
He must have known hip-hop was going to be a huge worldwide phenomenon,
which makes one wonder if he's now saying "I told you so."
"I can never think like that," Simmons says. "There have been lots of
incredible artists who have become popular because they were talented, and I'm
just one of the guys who helped them along."
For Def Poetry Jam on Broadway, Simmons and director Stan Lathan
wanted to showcase the diverse styles and themes their poets offer, while
making the show a unified whole for large theatrical venues. The poets don't
change their routines city to city because, as with standard plays and
musicals, there are light and sound cues that dictate timing.
Which is not to say that the poets don't retain that sense of spontaneity
you get when seeing a poetry slam at a nightclub or coffeehouse.
"Every audience makes the poem completely new," Hammad says. "You go
onstage every night knowing you've got to do the same poem, and you try to
remember the intention with which you wrote it. If the audience is open and
ready and willing to listen to what we have to say, it makes our job
completely different. You're sharing your heart and vulnerabilities with an
audience who came to share their own vulnerabilities."
Both Simmons and Hammad say that on the Great White Way and on the tour
they've seen great racial and age diversity in the audiences, proving that
anyone can relate to their free-verse spoken word, whether the topic is
politics, romance or everyday situations.
"Is it a show of and for the hip-hop generation," Hammad asks, "or is it a
continuation of T.S. Eliot and the poets who have come before us?"
Both, methinks.
