Watts Prophets "Celebration"

The West Coast's answer to The Last Poets, The Watts Prophets played an integral part in the raising of black consciousness and laying the foundations for rap. Formed at the Watts Writer's Workshop, Anthony "Amde" Hamilton, Otis O'Solomon, and Richard Dedeaux began performing together as Watts Prophets, setting their socially and politically conscious poetry to spare, often jazzy musical backing. They made high-profile guest appearances on Stevie Wonder's Songs In The Key of Life and Quincy Jones' Mellow Madness. And were later the subject of an Emmy-nominated documentary, Victory Will Be My Moan. In 1969, the group debuted with The Black Voices: On the Streets in Watts and, two years later, followed with Rappin' Black in a White World, which featured accompaniment by ex-Motown songwriter/pianist DeeDee McNeil. The radical, incendiary tone of their work fit right in with the emerging black power movement and attracted unfavorable notice from the government, with the home of the Watts Writers Project being destroyed by fire in 1975 after having been infiltrated by an FBI informant. Throughout the years, they've remained sporadically active as performers, and were rediscovered by the hip-hop generation as their records were sampled frequently by many hip-hop artists including Ice Cube, Digable Planets, and Coolio. The Watts Prophets remain dedicated community activists today, promoting creative self-expression and the arts to young people around Southern California and beyond.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Watts
• prophets
• Poetry
• Spoken
• word

[translatoractivist]

no matter if we are black white yellow or red ,this is the sort of speech we respect because it is a human cry , it is true and revolutionary. It speaks to our minds and to our hearts . Join the movement and forget about the movement . Come and play .

[erickBUENO2009]

i'm asian but i want to be black sometimes

[TWHYtv]

im white but i respect this so much

[bigclassclown219]

@LeftSideFreedom fuck you man, no one asked you what you thought? Gtfo. and stop looking for trouble, I commented and said what what i felt needed to be said, YOU on the other hand commented and despised someone for being 15? Really? We're not here to fuckin argue you dumbass cunt. Stfu and enjoy the music -__-

[LeftSideFreedom]

@bigclassclown219 Who the fuck cares if you are 15, you want to get thumbs up now, lol?

[bigclassclown219]

im 15 . and this is what goes through my mind every day . im the only one of my friends that truly understands this . Things Gotta Change .

[mrmention1]

Wow, amazing to know that it was not only Gil Scott Heron and The Last Poets who were keeping it real at a time when keeping it real would mean prison or at least a beating. These were brave acts who fought a worthy cause.

[Bigpoopymonstar]

Teach!

[2011tmnt]

nigga



[rapanaut7]

and thangs!