Erica Reed – The Future of Spoken Word

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Erica Reed is a Southern Louisiana spoken word poetry artist, that is in her senior year of college majoring in Mass Communications and minoring in Speech. Heavily influenced by Alicia Keys’ and Maya Angelou’s poetic styles and humanitarian ways, this spoken word powerhouse became interested in the art form when she was just in middle school.

Her mother, who also enjoys poetry and spoken word, was Erica’s 6^th grade English teacher and one assignment that she gave the class was to create and share a poem using certain vocabulary words. Erica’s poem was titled, “My Life” and after that assignment she knew that she enjoyed poetry. Her poetry became so popular while in school, that it was even published in some school-related books.

Described by her friends as, “One of the humblest and most interesting people they’ve ever met,” and “A natural inspiration they can always go to in a time of need,” Erica believes that the art of spoken word poetry has impacted her life for the better. Inspired by topics like relationships, police brutality and war, Erica’s creative process consists of sitting in her room while listening to gospel music and letting the words flow. After writing her thoughts down, she practices her poems over and over in order to remember them for performances. While she has only done local open-mic nights, Erica looks forward to being in spoken word poetry competitions.

Reflecting on how nervous she was before reciting her first poem at an open-mic night to where she almost backed out, Erica feels that spoken word definitely gives her the courage to give oral presentations and that her doing spoken word will help her in her future career field. While spoken word is a current interest and hobby for Erica now, she would really love for the art to become a career for her. She’d like to become a public or motivational speaker because she feels that she has been through a lot in her short 22 years and if she could make a living talking to people, encouraging them and letting them know that they aren’t alone, it’d be a dream come true for her.

The advice that Erica would give to anyone just starting out in or interesting in doing spoken word poetry would be to never give up, always carry something around to write down thoughts and don’t be afraid to push the limits and tell people the truth.

T.I. Speaking on Hip-Hop Music

(Rapper T.I. speaking on the Daily Show with Trevor Noah, 9.12.16)

Sometimes I think that people forget that music is the most influential form of spoken art that there is. Rap and Hip-Hop have always been considered controversial and I think T.I. does a wonderful job of explaining why. Yes, violence is what most rap and hip-hop consists of, but it is also the truth. With all of the backlash that the two genres receive, it’s obvious that some people can’t handle the truth, but that doesn’t change the fact that it needs to be said. And T.I. made a very valid point of saying that someone who disagrees with the content of the music should work to give the artist more positive content to write, sing, and/or rap about.

Speaking Out

This post isn’t necessarily about spoken word, but it is about speaking out. I do have a certain stance on the police brutality and Black Lives Matter Movement, being a young Black man in America. To avoid and conflict or confrontation, I’ll do my best not to say anything too controversial while stating my viewpoints on the issue. I’m a very understanding person and I have a short series of questions for those who are against BLM and come up with reasons for what a Black person did wrong or should’ve done differently to prevent getting shot.

• If all lives matter, what’s the issue with Black people saying that their lives matter?
• Why do you speak out against the new Black Panther Party, but didn’t speak out when the KKK announced that they were making a return?
• Why do you voice your opinion about Black people making an uproar when a Black person is killed due to police brutality, but you all don’t cause an uproar when a White person is killed due to police brutality?
• Is it possible for someone to explain to me why there’s so much hatred for Colin Kaepernick and Olympic athletes for “disrespecting the flag”, but no one sees an issue with it when political figures do the same thing the athletes did?
• If all lives matter, why aren’t you all standing with those saying Black lives matter to in turn prove that all lives matter?
• How is it that you call Black people the racists because we “turn everything into a race issue”, but don’t see that statements like that cause us to turn everything into a race issue?

If anyone has the answers, please feel free to enlighten me so that I can have a better understanding of what it’s like on the other side of the fence.

-TheSpokenArt

“The System”

With so much going on in the United States around the topics of police brutality, the Black Lives Matter Movement, athletes and celebrities speaking out and ect. listening to this spoken word poem really stuck with me. As a Black male who finds it that the odds are stacked against him, I thank Prentice for not only having the courage to write such a powerful piece, but for going on national television and performing it. I think that any person, no matter gender, race, age, social class, or whatever can relate to this poem in some type of way. It may not strike everyone on a personal level, and if it doesn’t then I believe that it can give that person a bit of insight of what it’s like to be in another person’s shoes.

Don’t Disrespect My Ebonics

Okay guys, I have a quick rant to go on. So, earlier today I was sitting outside with a few of my friends at “The Wood”, the place on campus where most minorities hang out in between classes, and with me being comfortable in my setting I used a lot of slang. While we were there talking, laughing and gossiping, a guy politely interrupted our conversation and asked each of us what our majors were. He asked me last and when I told him that my major was mass communications, he replied, “Wow, I never would have thought. I’d think that major would discipline people to speak well since it involves so much networking and stuff.” And maybe it was the tone of his voice, but his response definitely rubbed me the wrong way. I sat up in my seat, adjusted my clothes and cleared my throat. Looking him in his eyes I told him, “The way I speak while I’m in a social setting is not the same way I speak while I’m in a business or professional setting. My major and my minor in creative writing allows me to be versatile in that way. And no matter the setting, I always speak well because the Ebonics you heard before you joining in on our conversation is another language within itself like Creole or Cajun-French. So the next time you make the conscious decision to indirectly belittle my way of speaking, I’d like to suggest that you take the time out to learn and fully comprehend my native language like you would Spanish or Japanese. Until then, we ain’t got a ner notha thing to talk bout.”

Now, I’m not sure if i took his response out of context and clapped back on him for no reason or if he truly deserved it, but either way I felt as though I should share that part of my day with you all. #rantover

 

 

“Shoot Your Shot”

This past week overhearing some freshman guys talking, I noticed that a few of them used the phrase, “Shoot your shot” a lot. After hearing it so much I finally decided to ask what it meant and where it came from. The guy I asked said he first heard the phrase in Baton Rouge and the phrase is supposedly a shortened version of the Wayne Gretzky quote, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”. After talking to the group of guys for a while, I understood that the saying was more than just slang. Sometimes in life you really do have to shoot your shot.

Want to see if that new burger place is worth it? “Shoot your shot”. Is your friend worried about sliding in someone’s DM’s? Tell him or her, “Shoot your shot”. Is your gas meter on E, but you have somewhere to be?  DO NOT, “Shoot your shot”.