Friday, October 6, 2006

Last Poets - 21st Century Griots

First, some business. It's been a busy week, and next couple weeks promise to be just as busy, so uploads will be sporadic.

Now for the goods: I've got a couple singles - one from 2004, and one from last year - featuring The Last Poets (in this case Abiodun Oyewole & Umar bin Hassan). The shelf-life of singles tends to be on the short side, so you might have to do a bit of digging to find these on the market.

The same cats who can be credited as being among the first rappers have gone from revolutionary firebrands to griots who continue to carry the revolutionary torch - in the process inspiring a current crop of underground hip-hop artists including cats like Common & Dead Prez (just to name a couple). These cats have a story to tell, and it ain't just reminiscing - it's about inspiring today's youth.

First single is "Panthers" (Last Poets, featuring Dead Prez & Common):

Label: Counterflow Recordings
Catalog#: CF051-1
Format: 12"
Country: US
Released: 2004

Tracklisting:
1 Panthers (Clean) 3:53
2 Panthers (Instrumental) 3:52
3 Panthers (Tony Galvin Remix) 4:10
4 Panthers (Tony Galvin Remix Instrumental) 4:10
5 Panthers (Illmind Remix) 3:43
6 Panthers (Manuvers Mix) 3:43
7 Panthers (Illmind Remix Instrumental) 3:41
8 Panthers (Manuvers Remix Instrumental) 3:39
9 Panthers (Acapella) 3:39

Will Roberson, producer

Sound quality on this one is excellent: 320 kbps.

Our second single is "The Corner" (Common, Featuring the Last Poets):

Released 2005, Geffen

Tracks

1. The Corner Instrumental 3:44
2. Last Poetry Reprise 3:45
3. The Corner Dirty Acapella 3:32
4. The Corner Dirty 3:44
5. The Corner Radio Acapella 3:35
6. The Corner Radio 3:44

Produced by Kanye West

Sound quality on this one is good: 192 kbps.

Both are well worth hearing, and for those of you who like to spin hip-hop over the airwaves, both have radio-friendly edits. Both singles were found via p2p.