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From: kfc123
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  • when something seems like it will never reach irrelevance, i take it it is a message from God. that's my sentiments as far as this poem is concerned.

    TOO SAD INDEED!

  • I'm lying,me too!!

  • This man was one of the torchbearers for modern poetry. R.I.P. Oscar Brown Jr. we can only hope the children of children will, at the very least, turn out with voices as eloquent as your own.

  • mind fuck

  • sampled this and made a deep house track from Oscar's poem. I have also used a sample of a young girl singing a skipping song to capture the innocence of youth. Please listen , any comments welcome. I would like to rework some of Oscars material and bring to a new younger audience who might not get to hear him. soundcloudcom/lewis-fisher/lew­is-fisher-children-live

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  • Thanks for sharing your wisdom and gift!!!

  • wow

  • omg....this is the reason for the london riots of 2011.

  • My uncle was one of the greatest spoken word poets that lived

  • this guy makes me shake with emotion

  • for more poetry visit this link

    /user/FierceAce?feature=mhee

  • Wow. Simply, wow.

    

  • Dr. Suess should have got into def poetry...

  • @AnticolonialSettler yea i get that

  • The current generation have grown up with the government giving them all the important things in life on a plate. Education, housing, clean water, food, clothing and job prospects. But this has lead to a generation with a huge sense of entitlement who sneer at jobs that they see beneath them and would rather be given money for free. Reality tv and social media build a picture in individuals heads that they should be famous or at least have what others have without doing anything worthy for it.

  • R.I.P Oscar Brown Jr. The world lost a tremenduos artist the day you passed away. Your greatness will forever be remembered through your poetry.

  • those 10 dislikes are "hiding the results"

  • we are all these children no matter how young or old..and he realized IT

  • I LOVE this poem. We don't honour our elders enough, this is why we stay foolish for so long.

  • @Glynnisable

    this poem isn't about honoring our elders this poem is about the results of having a child at too young of an age, and how no one cares about these children

  • @jhniscolV2

    Hey

    I wasn't reffering to what the poem is about. I'm celebrating the wisdom in it, and the fact that we don't always appreciate the wisdom years of living give our elders, or how precious they themselves are, and the truths life teaches them. So that we don't have to go through a mess if we would only listen and learn that way. I remember sitting up late with my Grandmother as she told us the same thing. And stil... you know?!

    God bless and take care

    Glynnis

  • although this poem has a very clear and concise message, the way the words are spoken what we enjoy and that poem is top quality.

  • This was sampled???? I have heard a song with this poem....i think is Nas

  • WOW....I THINK I'M ACTUALLY SPEECHLESS 

  • RIP oscar jr.. you are one of a kind

  • it's about collective responsibility and commitment, which is foreign/alien to those who want to individualize and "moralize" what's happening to our young people.

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  • I'm not lying, I cried when I watched this.

  • @MegaPrettyinpink09  Understandable.

  • hard body

  • It is about time that the Black and Latinos communities deal with this issue of children having children. This has such an effect on us when young people who are still children themselves, who can not take care of themselves, who are not educated enough to get a job outside of minimum wage for a life time of poverty can only give their children poverty in return. Socioeconomic status shows that most end up on welfare and government housing and never get off. It is time for a dramatic change.

  • @ABSAT01 Blacks and Latinos aren't the only ones who have this problem. There are just as many whites having children when they are only children too.

  • Beautiful

    

  • Man, this guy is a beast of a poet.

  • deep stuff dude.

  • If only there were a solution.

  • epic

  • He's like... if Dr. Seuss grew up overlooking the hood. Respect to both.

  • a fantastic man

  • this man is deep if you really let them words seek in

  • i love how this guy walks out onto stage, like he owns the place....... cause he does.

  • This poem.....Pushing all ignorance aside this poem is the defenittion of this generation.....The love is gone....Children are battered and broken and angry...The is no Respect....There is no discipline because they subconciously destroy the past when mother are no longer mother and father are only shadows....And through it all still only just children...The world isnt the same....I think thats what he was trying to say....

  • @Thesongbird623 This is a poem about the human experience. Distant parents and teen pregnancy is not an invention of generation X. We like to think that the future is doomed, but in reality teen pregnancy rates are no different from the 50's and things like domestic and child abuse rates have gone down. Yeah there's a lot of angst, but I was just talking to my grandpa about his HS experience when segregation ended TALK ABOUT ANGST. Gen X is full of love, just need to open your eyes to see it.

  • @Thesongbird623 That was a poem that you just wrong. Lovely :).

  • this isn't a poem about bigotry, it's a poem about condoms and education.

  • @kungaofsheol

    That's what I got out of it. I think people hear from poetry what the want to hear. You and I wanted to hear it as a cry from an old man looking at a younger generation that is knee-deep in self-destruction and looking for a way to convey that to them. But I guess some other people wanted to hear something else.

  • @briandee i think what he's saying is how they are already being brought up to fail in that respect.

  • #DoBetter #change our #future know your past

  • made me cry

  • Not that I don't like free flowing poems, but you gotta love a nice structured rhyming poem.

  • Who's your favorite poet on the Def Jam Poetry series?

  • @zarenj21 Rafael Casal

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  • THANKX MAN!

  • How in the world could 9 people dislike this? Apparently some folk have no taste in true poetry.

  • deep, true and very necessary..

  • i wish he was my grampa

  • this man is a def poet and a wonderful conversationalist. meet him and you'll see

  • @KnuckleheadSag1989 unfortunately he died

  • @king78802 wen?!?!?

  • @KnuckleheadSag1989

    May 29, 2005

  • wow.....  just wow.

  • @AnimalJam

    I thought the same thing once I saw dem' titties rofl...

  • I agree garethac81 and I'm mixed, tired of that colour shit thing....:/

  • RIP

  • He should read doctor seuss books out loud. I'm not demeaning this poem, he just has the voice for it.

  • his deliverance is so moving!

  • The children of chrildren are

    led astray

    by lies that make cries of

    sorrow and pain

  • wow thats a jr?

  • you say shut up!

  • Reminds me of a black santa lol

  • Love this !

    twitter/Pierre_Gerard

  • this is the truth

  • Damn Grandpa you never seize to amaze me. Very deep man! RIP Oscar Brown Jr.

  • WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW! Amazing!

  • "they beg for rescue and what do you say?" that line was great ever.

  • The fact he has a simple, short message and can still leave a huge impact...

  • "The perils of teenage pregnancy and a lack of proper parenting/ moral foundation."

    we are ALL responsible for guiding the focus of younger generations to find moral foundation.

    be the change

  • most legit poem syle poem instead of rap style poem on def poetry...

  • 'Trapped by adults, who fail them then jail them to hide the results' wow

  • Damn that was real

  • R.I.P.......Wisdom.....Pure Wisdom.....

  • Well done the Moor! Well done!

  • beautiful eyes

  • Nice

  • so profound and true

    great poem by a great poet

  • "the children of children by the time they're have grown have habits like rabits and young of thier own"

  • Definitely up there with Langston Hughes. Oscar is amongst my top five poets.

  • Such an eloquent poet. Thank you Oscar for being the voice that uttered a poem of so much fortified truth. THANKS for the upload. Respect to the children of children they cry out everyday and what'll you say!

  • what a G

  • word

  • Wow...I love this one, so true!

  • This is real poetry!

    It is so deep, real and raw.

    Amazing

  • "...the Children of Children being

    trapped by adults

    as they nail them

    nd jail them 2 hide the results.."

    WOW... this guy needs 2 b a rapper.. LoL..

  • Fresh Shit. HOLLAAAAAAAA at your boy

  • no...

  • HOLLA AT UR MOTHA FUCKIN BOY!!!!

  • Yes, he nailed... He is a true legend and has changed my life

  • This is beautiful, really glad I was able to find this, thanks to the uploader

  • respect  ............he is a great Poet and special one about children of children !!!

  • Beutifully written and well executed my friend, very moving and compeling.

  • I have always respectewd and honoured your work. You are amazing!!!  God (Allah) Bless you my brother.

    Professor Shahid.

  • truth, passion, reality, a work of beauty and brilliance

  • i agree....

  • That was so real and so true!

  • loved this. i believe it's timeless spans across wide cross sections of classes. Sadly, it will be relevant for most of our lifetimes. This piece is a work of genius.

  • hotep! nice poem! this is the black messiah the poet.

  • Oscar is a great poet...but don't bring him down by calling him "black messiah". The man is bigger and better and more important than the colour of his skin will ever be...when you put that label on him, you make him an instrument of division, a tool of isolation...a way of separating light from dark, a way of saying: "If you don't look the same as him, his words are not for you."

    Time to leave "black" and "white" on the garbage dump of history where they belong, and let PEOPLE BE PEOPLE.

  • @garethac81 ever thought about doing readings or prose yourself?

  • @ScoobyBBS

    Actually, I am trying to make it as a writer at the moment. I haven't read out my work in front of an audience, though...to do what Oscar does takes a phenomenal amount of courage!

  • @garethac81 AMEN!!

  • @garethac81 dude ive just copied and pasted this reply. i like you. not in a gay way.

  • @dtm876

    Your compliment is gratefully received, and no less valued for its platonic nature :)

  • @garethac81 truest thing ever

  • @garethac81 That will never be, Garethac81. It's the saddest thing I have to say. People like Oscar help break down these type of walls that infinitely stay up. The day society ends is the day "white" and "black" mean nothing.

  • @garethac81 I love the fact that most people wish to move on from times when colour lines reigned supreme. I wish people could just be people but we are still treated differently according to skin colour and to pretend this is no longer a problem is an insult.

    It is not divisive to point out the truth. This poet addreses issues which disproportionately affect black people so yes some BP may look to him as a leader. This in no way means that no other race can take on board his wise words.

  • @blujazjeans

    People are defined by the content of their character...THAT'S the truth. People are defined by the colour of their skin...that's the lie. As long as you think of Oscar Brown as "a black poet" instead of A POET...you're still believing the lie. Believe the truth, my friend.

  • @garethac81 I mean you no disrespect but how i feel when say that people are defined by their character and not skin colour, is a lot like how i feel when someone who has always had ridiculous wealth speaks on what its like being poor. You have the privilege of ignorance to that reality. There is no reason for you to ever really grasp a grave frustration running throughout your whole race consciously and unconsciusly. You have nothing to compare it to. It's neither your fault or your problem.

  • @blujazjeans

    "It's neither your fault or your problem."

    Racial division is EVERYONE'S problem.

  • @garethac81 Racial division is not what my point was about so your point is your own and not really a response to anything i have said here. Quoting me before making your statement about racial division is a total misdirection. Punchy though. You could be a government speech writer! If you have no comment about what i actually said i guess we're done here. Peace.

  • @garethac81 Please know that i am not saying you do not have the good sense to imagine or even have experienced prejudice yourself. What i am saying is that for many black people, hearing Oscar comforts wounds. Wounds you could never know.

    Check out his other stuff. It's pretty clear where he is coming from. Oscar Brown is "a poet". To pretend i cannot see and hear in much of his work that he is black is just silly.

    Again. I'm not disrespecting you. Honest! We can agree to disagree. Peace.

  • @garethac81 WHAT? It's time to take black and white out of the garbage dump of history. We need to stop looking to the future as a melting pot of one homogenous experience. Instead I like to think about it as a salad bowl. Each ingredient is different and has a different history, but they all come together to be greater than the sum of their parts. I'm tired of people saying that we need to distance ourselves from what makes us different OWN YOUR OTHERNESS! It just gives the salad a better taste

  • @limm300

    The "otherness" you are so determined to own is a sociological illusion designed to obscure a biological reality. The concept of "race" simply doesn't exist in biological terms. It was invented by ignorant explorers who didn't have a clue what melanin was. They just saw people who looked different, and that frightened them...so they started using "race" to dehumanise and segregate different coloured people. Your celebration of "otherness" is a celebration of ignorance and fear.

  • @limm300

    As for "giving the salad a better taste", who says acknowledging that "race" is a myth means everyone has to think and act exactly the same? We live on a planet with extraordinary cultural diversity - diversity of ideas, traditions, art, architecture, literature, fashion - and there is nothing stopping us from celebrating this diversity WITHOUT measuring it in drops of melanin.

  • @garethac81 isn't it things like that that he was talking about? being indoctrinated with these notions of division.

  • @garethac81 Amen.

  • Amazing....

  • chilling and true. words of wisdom from the wise

  • Deep, real deep man.

  • wow the poem wasn't even that long but it was REALLY deep

  • OMG I cried man.

  • GoldenLibra:

    yes I did, its touching when you understand and feel what he is saying.

  • racism is a system we need to talk openly about it

  • Great way to put it, thats exactly what it is a system, a machine. Someday maybe someone will stop it.

  • each one teach one, it only takes one to change one, try tell somebody else that then open a dialogue

  • I don't think you guys are right about this.

  • i know God got a great place for him because he's one great poet... RIP

  • R.I.P

    you da man Oscar

  • ok i understand hate, i just moved to nebraska and got a new understanding of the word biggot, but this is so much more than a simple empowerment poem, its a cry from an old man with a lot of wisdom, hes not just speaking about the world entraping him, hes blaming those who let him be trapped, those who refuse to break the endless chain, and those who dont even try, its about our generation not focusing on the prison you we are in, but changing the world before our children are born in it

  • legendary

  • now that my friends is poetry, that is what a legend is... that.....is that in which is never forgotten.

  • Damn. Me, too, I was silenced by that one fo' sho!  What could I say?

  • r.i.p.

  • omg did he die?

  • Love it

  • so true if u dark skin the world makes u feel like ur nothing...abuse is not only physical its deeper when its emotional... and The wound that touches the heart not even the doctor can repair... if you could hear the sound of my heart when people look down at me cus i am darker in few shades its screams louder than the lonely graves.

  • i feel you, racism has hurt me. I live in a bit of a backward market town in north west england. one day i was crossing the road on the way home from school

    (still in my uniform) and a nice man took the trouble to say "get out of the way nigger!" It hits you somewhere you can't defend

  • cuz people like that end up in the trunk...

    no matter what people say about others ...be well known to yourself... be truthfull to your believes... and one day u smile of what u achieve;)

  • but ya know God screams louder and more powerful than any negativity, and thats the greatest peace and natural beauty attainable

  • this is kind old, but anyway, I think as a white guy, that he is not critic about the "white system" but yes to all the system created by either black, white, latin or else. The system is what has been f****n the world, not only itself but also the ideas of the peopple who made this system. "They" crushed the nation, the World Wide nation. not only american or african, the whole world is damaged, that's what he is tryin to say, that's what the world need to understands.

  • amen.

  • i disagree but not to argue but i got a different meaning from the poem entirely

  • ok, so i know his comments are kind of old, but i just have to comment on how pathetically empty kungfuetc.'s life must be if he has this much time to watch art like this that he clearly doesn't understand, and can do nothing but make banal comments...

  • ...& to think: There are thousands of kungfuetc's out there mocking this art...

  • wtf are you tlakin bout?

  • listen im white and i hate it that some white people are that prejudice to say shit like that, it makes me and america look bad, i think this was deep, and it brings out emotion and for a white racist to say the n word i wont even say it because i respect people whether youre black white tan or fucking blue everybody is equal, and if you cant get that then FUCK OFF

  • I honestly don't think he's bagging out white people... I'm asian myself and i think he's commenting on the system that identifies negativity with the black concensus...

    maybe im being too deep...

    you need to be more open minded mate.

  • Wow... this man speaks a hundred lifetimes of wisdom.

  • and he does it under 2 minutes

  • Sorry guys i ment to push the thumbs up buttons! Dumb ass

  • rest in p.e.a.c.e god

  • he was a real cool guy..he wuz my grandpas uncle so i got a chance 2 meet him a few times

    i wish he was still alive...,.his poetry was deep ...so real

    R.I.P Oscar Brown JR. u r loved

  • I am upset to find out this man has passed away. His face and voice, not to mention his verse, echo wisdom.

    peace

  • that was deep. RIP oscar

  • This one and This Beach are my two favorites of all the ones I have seen on youtube.

  • Dame Oscar that was deep your gone and we weep, Im glade you've been set free. Were all children of children- God Bless

  • God Bless, may you rest sweetly.

    May God bless me as he has so blessed you to perform all the days of my life... Let poetry keep changing lives

  • This guy has a certain style that nobody really usess anymore..

    The A,B,B,A format of poetry... I love it, keeps it flowing nicely and the rhyme patterns sound good!

  • we should have 3 co. presidents from different parties 2 to slap the 1 acting dumb or 1 to slap the two acting dumb either way this would eliminate abuse of power...

  • this is on the blakc market militia album. awesome

  • well the thing is the problem does exist and if young adults listened now then the problem would fade away, but the poem would remain as a reminder.

  • problem there is if the people who needed to hear this listened, then the problems that this poem adresses wouldn't exist, it's a bit catch-22 like that