Abiodun Oyewole (born Charles Davis, February 1948), is a poet, teacher and member of the

African-American music African-American music is an umbrella term covering a diverse range of music and musical genres largely developed by African Americans and their culture. Their origins are in musical forms that first came to be due to the condition of slaver ...

and spoken-word group

The Last Poets The Last Poets are several groups of poets and musicians who arose from the late 1960s African-American civil rights movement's black nationalism. The name is taken from a poem by the South African revolutionary poet Keorapetse Kgositsile, who bel ...

, which developed into what is considered to be the first hip hop group. Critic Jason Ankeny wrote, "With their politically charged raps, taut rhythms, and dedication to raising African-American consciousness, the Last Poets almost single-handedly laid the groundwork for the emergence of hip-hop."

Early life

Oyewole was born in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wi ...

and he moved with his maternal aunt and her new husband at age three to Queens, New York. At the age of 15, he attended a

Yoruba The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitute ...

Temple in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater Ha ...

. It was there that he was given the name by which he is best known. As a youth, Oyewole was influenced by

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

and gospel music played by his parents and the poems of Langston Hughes.

The Last Poets

The group was born on May 19, 1968, Malcolm X's birthday, when Oyewole, David Nelson, and Gylan Kain read poetry in tribute to

Malcolm X Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figure during the civil rights movement. A spokesman for the Nation of I ...

. The group was based in

black nationalism Black nationalism is a type of racial nationalism or pan-nationalism which espouses the belief that black people are a race, and which seeks to develop and maintain a black racial and national identity. Black nationalist activism revolves aro ...

and quickly became known throughout the African-American community. They are generally credited, along with Gil Scott-Heron, as being major influences on the development of hip hop. At one point, Oyewole was forced to leave the group as he spent four years in a

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, corre ...

, convicted of

larceny Larceny is a crime involving the unlawful taking or theft of the personal property of another person or business. It was an offence under the common law of England and became an offence in jurisdictions which incorporated the common law of Eng ...

. After serving two and a half years of a three-year sentence, because of good behavior he was eligible for study release during the day. Oyewole continued his education at nearby Shaw University in Raleigh, and earned his undergraduate degree. He subsequently went on to earn a doctorate from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in New York City, where he once served as a member of the faculty.

Later years

In 1994, Oyewole appeared on the Red Hot Organization's compilation CD, '' Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool'', appearing on an update of "This is Madness" alongside Omar Ben Hassen and Pharoah Sanders. The album was named "Album of the Year" by ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

''. Recently, Oyewole has been touring the world giving lectures on poetry and politics and hosting a weekly Open House for up-and-coming poets. He has also taught at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in

. In 2022, he released a solo CD entitled "Gratitude".

Quotes

* "(Malcolm X) was our pathway to revolutionary understanding. Malcolm X went through a series of rites of passage - from ''Malcolm Little'' to ''Detroit Red'' to ''Satan'' to Malcolm X to ''El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz''. All this because the man never stopped trying to develop and recognize the best of himself. He was self-determined. Malcolm was saying we need to be more. And we heard that. And he said it better than anybody ever said it. He made it clear to us. So all we wanted to do, was to be disciples of Malcolm, in a sense, using poetry to illuminate the same values that he planted in our head." ''On Malcolm X's influence on the Last Poets (2001).''

References

External links