Fusing politically outspoken lyrics with inventive percussion, The Last Poets grew out of the civil rights movement in the late 60’s.

Modern day griots, with withering attacks on everything from racists to government to the bourgeoisie, their spoken word albums preceded politically laced R&B projects such as Marvin Gaye's What's Going On and foreshadowed the work of hard-hitting rap groups such as Public Enemy and remain as politically charged today.

Their 1970 album The Last Poets, is considered the first hip-hop album of all time, and in 1971, their album This Is Madness, landed them on President Nixon’s Counter-Intelligence Programming list. This rare London performance is one to be treasured by all fans of hip-hop and spoken word alike.

Album Review: The Last Poets – Understanding What Dub Is [Studio Rockers; March 2019]

The Last Poets need no introduction, yet I find myself being reintroduced to them through their album Understanding What Dub Is (released by Studio Rockers). With their origins in Harlem in the late 1960s and the early hip-hop community, their spoken-word poetry, merged with political activism, is a sound that has…

Artists: The Last Poets