UK #HipHopEd Manifesto

Over the last 2 years the UK#HipHopEd crew have been working towards a manifesto of our beliefs. On Monday 4th November we will be inviting responses to this manifesto as part of the relaunch of our UK #HipHopEd Twitter chats. These chats were the groups first official foray into HipHopEd, following on from the ground-breaking work of our US family. The chats will continue weekly throughout Novemebr before the work on our 5th UK #HipHopEd seminar in February 2014. If you are interested in matters of hiphop and education, find us on Twitter using  '#HipHopEd' and have your say on the topics raised. peaCe

When Words Collide on iPlayer + download

Last night's BBC Radio 1Xtra documentary, "When Words Collide, was a truly epic look at hiphop, poetry and education. Made by sound recordist and documentarian Nick Taylor, this programme featured the words and work of such luminaries as Chuck D, KRS One, TY, Mystro, Akala, Mos Def and Dels from the hiphop camp, and Kate Tempest, Angry Sam, Mark Grist, Deanna Rodger, Scroobius Pip, Polar Bear, Kat Francois and many more.

Stand out contributions came from Kate and Akala, whose linking of hiphop and poetry through time was enough to have a spoken word performer and hip hop head like me shouting, "Tell DEM!" at my laptop screen!

The show, presented by Nihil, is available to listen back on iPlayer

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Download link

Big props to everyone who contributed and especially to Nick for doing the damn thang!

peaCe

*New Book* - I Used To Be A Rapper by poetcurious

I say:

"This first collection of poems contains much of my work performed on the spoken word poetry scene around London and across the UK over the last 3 years. Spanning childhood, love, politics and revolution; and heavily influenced by the rhythms and flow of the UK rap scene and the gnarliness of the London skateboard community of the early 90's; I Used To Be A Rapper makes a great edition to offend an elderly relative or traumatise a teen with this Xmas ;)"

You can now order my first collection of poetry by clicking the book below...

Self-published online via Lulu.com

To Sea

Refugee Week 18-24 June 2012

To celebrate the innumerable stories of political and economic migration that have shaped our cities and societies, 'To Sea' reworks Edward Lear's 'The Jumblies' for a 21st century audience. Echoing the bravery and persistence of Lear's green and blue creatures, this poem serves to highlight the superhuman struggles undertaken daily in the name of freedom and opportunity.


Poetcurious says:

I know the original from my childhood and read it regularly to my young daughters. Reading it as an adult I was struck by the parallels between the fantastic story of the poem and the realities of many of my own friends journey's to this country. Once I had written the poem, I recited it for some of my friends whose stories had inspired it. They told me they were moved by the honesty of the piece and that it resonated with their own experiences. This was obviously a very rewarding response. 

After that I contacted human rights charity 'Restless Beings' to discuss turning the poem into a film. I was introduced to video-journalist and documentary maker, Ceren Yilmaz. I presented my ideas for visuals and Ceren edited my still images into the animated montage that you see projected onto my face in the film.
Ceren shot the performance in a single first take before editing it and delivering it to my inbox before midnight!

My greatest thanks and admiration go to Ceren, Mabrur and the whole Restless team for their support and dedication to this project. I am very proud to be associated with this crew!

If you would like to know more about the Restless Beings; find out more information about ways to support Refugee Week; get a film made or if you just want to see more curious poetry, check out the links below...peaCe

www.refugeeweek.org.uk
www.restlessbeings.org
www.cerenyilmaz.com
www.artofcurious.blogspot.com

Twitter:

@poetcurious
@_cerenyilmaz
@restlessmabrur
@refugeeweek

curious - Future Movement *new video*

This is a piece I wrote in response to the fuckeries of the new coalition government. Enjoy (if you are not out protesting to claw back your dignity).

peaCe

Future Movement - interview for The Artruists

I was lucky enough to get this clip shot by Lara Akinnawo for her blog, The Artruists. Follow the link to her site and read the interview that accompanies this poem. This piece talks about the ridiculous state of our political institutions. Enjoy.

Big thanks to Lara.

Wordamouth - Old to the New

BIG LOVE to everyone who came down to Wordamouth on 22nd November. The jam might not have been packed but the mic was busy all night. The enigmatic straight talk of Tim Wells was counter-pointed nicely by Charlie Dupre's rhythmic onslaughts and Swing-hop spitting. The open mic was live as usual. Stand-out for me was Nathan Guessask's tale of incarceration, but a shout goes out to Richard Marsh; Chip Grimm; Hayley Stevens and Catherine for representing lovely.

Here's the pics:

curious

Charlie Dupre

Tim Wells

Hayley Stevens

Richard Marsh

Chip Grimm

Catherine

Nathan Guessask

Still to come in 2010 is the Wordamouth New Years Hold Up at The Live Room on 29th December. Great line up for this one with, hip-hop spokenword supremo HKB Finn bringing his own brand of vibes; Paul Case aka Captain of the Rant will be spitting his use fire of satire and Prisoner turned poet, Chris Syrus brings his own guitarist to the party to get the party started with some positive movements. The mic will be open as ever, with the added bonus of a dj on stage for the MCs who want to drop on a beat or for those that just want to get their jam on...

2011 - Look out for more spoken word from Wordamouth as we plan a move out of North London towards a more central location as well as getting down with plans to set a sister night up in Birmingham, courtesy of Wordamout family member, Hayley Stevens. Nothing is finalised yet, but there's big ting a gwan for Wordamouth in the New Year, stay aware. peaCe

We need more Yes Men!!

If you don't know, the Yes Men are political activist pranksters that play high-stakes charades posing as employees and representatives of unethical global corporations for the purpose of exposing the hypocritical and inhuman practices of off-shore, free-market capitalism. One such company is Dow Chemicals:

Check out more at http://www.babelgum.com/yesmen