Money - Benjamin Zephaniah

[ALODZIC]

Cool poem, Please chek out my poems, it would mean the world to me :)

[SvenXXX]

His poems were the topic of my exams

Thanks Benjamin

[TheRamdomVideo]

i saw him once in a school trip!!!

i LOOOOVE his poetry i want to see him again but this time i'll talk to him but first i see him

[presidentillclinton]

i really want to collaborate with this guy is their anyone who knows how i can contact this guy.

[CalJennings]

Keep speaking the truth!

[xAngelxWhisperx]

I have met him! He came to Ilkly Literature Festival a couple of years ago, and said that he was in a rush to leave to get to London for another show. But I had done a project on him for school, he's been my hero since i was old enough to read, and my mums friend asked if he'd talk to us briefly and he said yes. I got pictures and everything, It was the best moment I've experienced, and he's just as amazing to speak to in person as he is to listen to or read about!

[MegaPickleTickle]

3 bankers heard this and thought "Oh shit!"

[jnmklo9]

Benjamin rocks man I've got money been working since I was 15 now 55 and money can't solve much at all except you don't worry about it

[wally2606]

Love his poetry, certainly makes me listen and makes me think...

[ItaliavsChile]

Thanks for our current life compilation, is good to hear that i am not getting paranoid and we are not running around alone.

Love my friend.

[tommyplops]

A man who has lived his words.

Respect.

[huncifunci]

vote 4 benjamin!

[triplejo1]

Money makes a rich man think he`s big.

[Llama4President23]

you would have to memorise so much!

[cricke86]

this man is really smart, ive read his books nad poems.. I recommend everyone to take a look at them.. / juan, sweden

[merisluts4lee]

because you're a fuckwit whiteboy, enjoy your meltdown white shit.

[TwilightFalls]

@ merisluts4lee Why are there so many worthless, racist nobodies in this world? You are nothing.

[merisluts4lee]

who exactly am i racist towards? i'd have an appointment booked with your local neurosurgeon if i were you, you just replied to nothing.

[theskatekids]

@merisluts4lee hey man please dinna judge I n I on de colour of my skin, or yu just as bad as dem KKK or dem BNP.

[emmerdale44]

I dont understand what he is saying all i understood was MONEY

[Rose6643]

I didn't understand anything

[LionEntity]

would you like me to send you the lyrics?

[Rose6643]

Wasn't meaned bad. But it's hard to understand becuase my main- language is german.

[hymnofashes]

The problem isn't that there is too much value in the hands of individuals, its that its distributed unequally and you can get money by already having money.

[avasheridan1987]

amazing, so true.

[anarkyoni]

this poem kicks ass and has a point.

copperpotbaby your opinions are your opinions and your entitled to have them even if I find them dispicable and wrong.

[anarkyoni]

I don't know Benjamin, but His Poem has a point and it relates to a lot of people, white, black, yellow or Blue ! Money affects us all whether we have it or not, I do pretty well for myself but still have money troubles.

[anarkyoni]

As for whether or not he would want us to be able to celebrate st. Georges day, I have loads of friends of all different races and backgrounds that agree with me that we should be free to celebrate it, so your point about him being of a different culture is irrelevant.

You are spreading just as much Hate if not more than the extremist muslim clerics or "Black men with grudges" that you have banged on about.

but these are just my opinions on what you have said, take them as you will.

[ITSLIFEprouductions]

i find it funny that ppl watch this video and Critise it when they r probarly no better themselves , i like this poem and i think its true so dont be all serious about blah you must like money ur self etc when he isnt saying he HATES money is he ? he is just saying his opinion in the form of a poem

[lionjimmy10]

what is this.. a talk?!

[copperpotbaby]

If I went to live in Africa I'd have to live under their law and join churches that were unlike my own here. This is reasonable! S.Africa isn't England, so people like Benjamin and extremists are now being stopped because they want to change us to be like them. You've got your houses and benefits but now you've gone too far. You are scared of the B.N.P because you know it is the end!

[nahumpaul85]

@copperpotbaby in the poem he says food is what we need, i don't think he mentions anything about wanting houses or benefits. You see Benjamin understands the mindset of people like the BNP, they want everything british like the good olds days, but in the end they use plp and resources frm the thirdworld to make their nation rich, and when they have finished they call us lazy, stupid, immigrants and if we express our unhappiness you call us extremists. U talk about culture, take a look @ urs

[copperpotbaby]

This guy was talking about being as british as the B.N.P and wanting to know why he couldn't join. You look second generation African to me and sound it too! You're not related to the saxons as they came here in A.D 500. We love our race and want to keep its customs. Babies who cry are weak and never know how to get their way. reminds me of you!

[Broomeister]

@copperpotbaby Benjamin Zephaniah is considerably  more British than the BNP, or yourself will ever be!

[copperpotbaby]

I agree that this man is British because i'm Anglo saxon English! British isn't a nationality because it means that you live and work under the British Govt. Don't the recent events show why black people shouldn't join the B.N.P? Why has a major, in the U.S army, killed 13 people? Why did an Afghan soldier shoot 5 of this man's soldiers? It's because when u allow the enemy to open your door you lose! Think about that one.

[copperpotbaby]

Don't bother yout time defending this man' because he talks about money like it is evil and he wouldn't touch it! Hypocrite! He has a fortune. all earned because he is a funny sounding foreigner!

[samoman92]

you sure bout that? he seems too down to earth to have made loads of cash, i mean hes not exactly made alot of money from his songs or poetry (though i get that hes not exactly struggling for it).

And id have to disagree that the only reason hes credible is because hes a 'funny sounding foreigner', id say its because he talks about things that me and lots of other people can relate to and feel good about.

[copperpotbaby]

Why do you think some Spanish and Italians are dark? It's not because of the weather. The Saxons have done far more than a person like Benjamin will ever do! If he doesn't like democracy then sling his hook. Why doesn't he preach to the black community because they cause most of the crime here! Do you know that our prisons are full of blacks and immigrants? Whites are a small % inside. Brixton riots? All because they didn't want to be searched?

[copperpotbaby]

If you think he can influence your life then you are free to listen to him. I am free to vote for a party who only want a ban on extremists preaching hatred and to uphold our culture. Multi-culture doesn't work. Britain one law, one religion! Did you know that a group of muslims in the north wanted to bring sharia law in? Wake up before your children have to be a muslim!

[samoman92]

plus id say he made the point about not being able to join the bnp to show them to be the racist party that they are, as he is technically a citizen of this country. and as a matter of my opinion, id say that benjamin has actually enriched my life as an english guy.

[copperpotbaby]

Do you really think that it would be wise for a non white person to join the B.N.P? He is a citizen and is able to live and work here without the fear of persecution. Why do you think those U.S soldiers and British soldiers were killed? If a black man- with a grudge-came to a B.N.P meeting and pulled out a gun would they shoot you? As I will be there, I think I have a say as to who attends meetings!

[copperpotbaby]

You may not want to stand up for our rights but like minded people like me do! I don't think Benjamin cares if St George's day is celebrated or our culture is threatened. Afterall, his culture is clearly not ours! I don't think the tories or an Islamic party would allow me to stand for them politically so they must be racist? The Anglo Saxons protected this island for centuries, stopping blacks from coming here to rape etc.

[brutussmithicus]

@copperpotbaby The Saxons were a bunch of immigrants who came over here, took all the jobs, stole all the land, got all the best homes, raped, pillaged and made life a misery for all the "Proper English" who were here before. Except that the people here before them were immigrants too.

Since those times, immigration and cultural change have never stopped. If you want to reject all change influenced by foreigners, go find yourself a muddy field and build yourself a Saxon hut to live in.

[2manylost]

When a mind is as thoughtful & thought provoking as Benjamin's, it always makes hearing his work a pleasure. :)

[yOgZ8]

True poem

[CcraziiCchickAalex]

Great peom. Shame no one will actaully take something from this poem. There's people dying in countries because of our greed for money.

[DrumsSaxViolins]

good words Ben !

im feeling you dude

say you people what dya want,

yer wantin always wantin more than you can chew

grew from a seed like the concrete trees

i see us all going down on the crack of greed .

there is an alternative to this hell hole

if youve not already been there ,go to 'the venus project' and 'zeitgeist'

i cant post the links cause youtube keeps censoring me ....guess i should expect that tho

[linapao17]

Wow! Incredible! What a poet. He just speaks the truth as he sees it and feels it. He makes poetry come alive!

[tommybevano]

great, but loads is cut out

saw him last night in the sherman cardiff- he was amazin and this is class performed live

since he wrote it 25 years ago, its amazin how things come back into relevance

[fredkleinvideos]

he is a wise man

[kratzenbourgII]

Made me think fondly of Robert Burns' poetry...:O

[howlingjackel]

hate to be the voice of controversy, but ummm

what does he hope to achieve by notifying people about the problems of our capitalistic world.

cus if it isnt changing, then where will we get by exclaiming at its perpetual negativity. The answer is we will get nowhere, if you dont want to be rich and powerful, mark me the next man will. and on goes the dooming circle

the truth is were trappand by our own form of society.

and left quite powerless to change things, sigh.

[vegardertilbake1]

There will allways be waves of time where people change. And people change when they know them done wrong. Its the point of the poem to remind you of what babylon is based on .. Money.. Whenever you see truth, your resposible to continue to spreading it.

[ironboogz]

the poem is food for thought.. self disacplin,, and consumerism go hand in hand without the exitstence of money,, people need to control there desires... for all we know the capitolist system could be the reason behind the fall of most ancient kingdoms which we are still baffled about

[merisluts4lee]

whilst he makes dosh off the system he denigrates, odd place we live in

[mtscales]

cool stuff indeed, and lots of good points... but if it wasn't money, and we all just had food, and some people had more food than others, then wouldn't there be similar problems of swelling ego when you have your own personal granary full?

Though maybe it would be more obvious to see what is happening if u were just stockpiling food.. if people were starving then it would be human nature to let them have some of yours no?

the society we live just makes us strive for as much money as we can.

[droppedyursoap]

True money isn't to blame in itself because it's just another commodity, that's become fetishised in the human mind as some kind of physical manifestation of value despite having no value for function as stockpiles of food certainly would. But the state protects those that hoard their wealth, but that's why it's everyone's responsibility rather than just the wealthiest members of a society to share the wealth

[droppedyursoap]

This guy's a fuckin genius. Oxford were a bunch of fuckin retards for not giving this guy a fellowship.

I read one of his recent poems it was amazing, it had the line

the conservatives are running out of tings to conserve.

fuckin brilliant

[eligezTUBE]

business is violence!!!

[thep122]

Benjamin is a wonderful poet and rapper he iis a gifted man!

[waffiki]

excellent love him so much.great to watch you and gives me a very happy feeling.

thanks for sharing.

[riannamck]

he is good

[Jefferson1228]

woo go benjamin.... i love his work its amazing i`ve read all his books so far and im only 11 becoming a vegan!!!i already got my nose pierced wooo

lou...x ( im inspired and touched by his work

[hbjellaanes]

Brilliant. Benjamin for Prime Minister!

[PersephoneSwimming]

@hbjellaanes sorry, we need him in the US... Benjamin, come to my town!!!

[brutussmithicus]

@PersephoneSwimming Fuck off, he's ours, you can't have him. Now that we've got a conservative goverment we need him more then you ;-p

[LUTONKAY89]

any1 reminded of mr pregnant by this vid?

[353weirdo353]

lol a tiny bit but dis guys a gr8 poet n his accent propa goes wiv da poem init. btw mr pregnant is fatta :P

[josh9421]

This is awesome. Love it!

[wurzelturd]

one of the most gifted & most underrated performers of the last two decades or so.still cool & sharp as ever.world take notice!

[grnlfe01]

Weirdly topical wouldn't you say?

[profdiabolical]

this is now my favourite poem =]

[animatorphil]

one of the greatest Poets, people looking for truth will find it in his poetry :)

[Chrotisofus]

Good one.