When Public Enemy released their first album, they established something
called The Thank You's at the end of the record. The thank yous would be
a litany of celebrities artists and historical figures in the black
heritage such as Martin Luther King, Nzake Shange, Toni Morrison, Paul Robeson, WEB Dubois
etc. We were pleased that the first list included The Last Poets. The Last Poets
was a collective that produced a few records in the 70's and were
contemporeaneous with Gil Scott Heron.
Not long ago I was surprised to learn that the Last Poets "When The
Revolution Comes" and "This Is Madness" were available on cd.
I requested that my local library make this part of acquisitions
which they did. Now new artists can hear the source material for
much of what rap has become.
I would start with the Last Poets.
Link is below.
Also if you keep an eye on www.half.com, some titles may
show up in there.
Lesson 2 will be The Care And Feeding Of The Signifying Monkey.