“The Best Poet Always Loses”: The Influence of African-American English Discourse Styles on the Slam Poetry of Non-AAE Speaking Performers Heather Sommer, Dr. Erica Benson, Dr. Allyson Loomis Department of English, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
performance register, which would not include African American English features to the speaker's per- Features Identified: Overview formance (i.e., slam poetry) register to include features of African American English. Group-exclusive “n*****”: speakers within the group are ‘allowed’ to use the word to the ex- The audio clips used for this study were found via IndieFeed Performance Poetry podcast; Team clusion of others; the group is defined, with regards to this word, by the fact that “speakers from other * The slam poetry movement is about 30-years old and slam poetry is performed and defined by a Nuyorican’s performance of “Sha-Clack-Clack” is found on the SlamNation DVD. The clips chosen for groups do not use these forms rather than the fact that all members of a particular group use [it]” set of specific rules. inclusion in this study both exemplified diverse features of AAE and were the performances of perform- (Schilling-Estes 172). By no means do all speakers of AAE use “n*****” or its variants in any context. ers whose non-performance register did not generally include the discourse styles prevalent in AAE. * The slam poetry movement has roots in hip-hop and, thus, the Black Oral Tradition. Though many of the works reviewed for this pilot qualitative study demonstrated a few features of AAE, Example Text:
these three were chosen that seemed to exemplify discourse features specifically in their performance: Now is the essence of my domain and it contains * This relationship - and the dialect features of AAE - have become a part of the slam aesthetic. all that was and will be [rhythmic pattern]
* Taylor Mali’s “Like Totally Whatever” (mimicry, spontaneity) And I am as I was and will be because I am and always will be [rhythmic pattern] * Taylor Mali’s “Like Totally Whatever” exhibits the features of mimicry and spontaneity. that n***a [group-exclusive ‘n*****’]
* Beau Sia’s ”A Little Known Truth About Financial Success” (mimicry, braggadocio, rhythmic pat- I am that n***a [group-exclusive ‘n*****’] * Beau Sia’s “A Little Known Truth About Financial Success” exhibits braggadocio and rhythmic terns) I am that n***a [group-exclusive ‘n*****’] features. I am that timeless n***a [group-exclusive ‘n*****’] that swings on pendulums like vines
* Beau Sia’s performance of “Sha-Clack-Clack” with Team Nuyorican (group-exclusive ‘n*****’, through mines of booby trapped minds that are enslaved by time * Team Nuyorican’s “Sha-Clack-Clack” exhibits group-exclusive “n*****” and rhythmic features. rhythmic patterns and movements) And again we see the rhythmic performance common to African-American church services, during Abstract which the preacher engages the congregation. It is also this style that necessitates slam poets to create their own beats (no musical accompaniment allowed!) in performances that have a musical quality, In its short 30-year history, slam poetry, a performative art with roots in hip-hop, has been dominated by Results echoing the rhythmic performance and ‘toast’ aspects of AAE found in slam. African-American (and other minority) slammers. Interestingly, despite the primary audience of slams Likewise, in video of this group’s performance, we see another quality of African-American church Taylor Mali’s “Like Totally Whatever”: being middle-class Caucasians (e.g., Somers-Willett 2009) features of African American English and the service: rhythmic movement during portions of the sermon. Though Team Nuyorican acts out portions Black Oral Tradition are commonly used by not only African American English speaking performers but of the poem as an actor would, the truly telling movements are rhythmic and synchronized and not nec- Features Identified: also performers of other ethnicities/dialects. I demonstrate that discourse characteristics common to essarily merely mimicking the text of the poem but adding an element that propogates the engagement Mimicry: “...a deliberate imitation of the speech and mannerisms of someone else [that] may be African-American English and the Black Oral Tradition — spontaneity (improvisational deviation from of the audience with the text, performance, and speakers. used for authenticity, ridicule, or rhetorical effect” (Smitherman 217). a practiced piece), braggadocio (a type of boasting), call and response with rhythmic features typical of Spontaneity: the improvisation of verse - in hip-hop, often called “free-stylin’” (Smitherman African-American church services, and others (e.g., Smitherman 2000; Alim 2008) — are frequently Example Text: 218). used in the slam poetry of non-African-American English speaking performers. In particular, I examine because I am not the son of Sha-Clack-Clack [rhymic movement] work by Taylor Mali (Caucasian) and Beau Sia (Chinese American), in an individual performance and a I am before that, [rhymic movement] Taylor Mali’s performance of “Like Totally Whatever” at the 1996 National Poetry Slam in Portland team performance with New York City's Team Nuyorican. Moreover, I argue that successful slammers I am before [rhymic movement] ... Oregon was immediately preceeded by the performance of “How to be a Teacher” by Dan Ferri. Mali adopt features of African-American English and the Black Oral Tradition to strengthen their perceived uses this to his competitive advantage by using spontaneity and mimicry in his performance, drawing on minority identity for the sake of authenticity (Somers-Willett 2009) and to build on performances imme- like HYAH! HYAH! HYAH! [rhymic movement] Ferri’s performance and adding to his own. An example of the two performance texts follows: diately previous to their own for the sake of competition. Sha-Clack-Clack [rhymic movement] Excerpt (Ferri’s “How To Be a Teacher”): Now. Introduction Now, before you say anything, always say Conclusion ‘Now.’ My interest in the prevalence of dialects in poetry, coupled with the resistance of the slam poetry move- Now, This qualitative study analyzes three video/audio performances of slam poetry by National Poetry Slam ment to cave to the standards imposed on so-called “academic” verse led me to explore not only the After you say anything always say participants. While a sample size of three performances seems small and a larger sample size is needed already-established relationship between hip-hop and the slam movement, but also the influence of ‘Okay?’ for a bigger-picture analysis of AAE discourse features in the slam poetry movement, this study presents African-American English discourse styles on this artform. I demonstrate that discourse characteristics Okay? three examples as a jumping-off point for future studies. common in African-American English and the Black Oral Tradition are used in slam poetry, even among AAE discourse features found to be present in the three performances include: spontaneity and mim- non-AAE speaking performers. Excerpt (Mali’s “Like Totally Whatever”): icry (’free-stylin’) in Taylor Mali’s “Like Totally Whatever”; ‘toasting’ tempo, braggadocio, rhythmic Now, [spontaneity, mimicry] performance, and mimicry in Beau Sia’s “A Little Known Truth About Financial Success”; and use of A Brief History of the Slam Poetry Movement I’m a teacher, [spontaneity] Taylor Mali, photo courtesy of SlamNation. group-exclusive ‘n*****’ and rhythmic performance/movement in Team Nuyorican’s “Sha-Clack- Okay? [spontaneity, mimicry] Clack.” Aptowicz suggests that three very important 20th century arts movements play a pressing role in the evolution of slam poetry: the Harlem Renaissance, the Beat Generation, and hip-hop. The Harlem Re- Beau Sia’s “A Little Known Truth About Financial Success”: naissance, being the true basis and binding-glue of this triad of oral tradition, “begat jazz poetry, which was embraced and promulgated by the Beats. Jazz poetry later begat free-styling, which in turn became Features Identified: one of the foundations of hip-hop” (Aptowicz 5). Braggadocio: exaggerated speech elevating the social status or abilities of the artist “to convey The poetry slam was founded by Marc Smith in Chicago, Illinois, on July 25, 1986 at the Green the image of an omnipotent fearless being, capable of doing the undoable” (Smitherman 222). Works Cited Mill. Smith “believed that poetry should reflect the core of one’s being, that it was a raw part of human- ity, and that a poet had to be both fearless and dogged to tackle it properly” (Aptowicz 35). Sia’s performance also draws on the Black Oral Tradition, giving a a perfomance that imitates a typical Aptowicz, Cristin O’Keefe. Words in Your Face: A Guided Tour Through Twenty Years of the New York City rhythmic pattern used in church services that is particular to the ‘toast’ or the “narrative tale[s] of bad Poetry Slam. New York: Soft Skull, 2008. n*****s and they exploits” (Smitherman 64). In ‘toasting,’ the “speaker’s voice still has that rhythmic, Sia, Beau. “A Little Known Truth About Financial Success.” GoogleDocs. 10 July 2009. musical quality, just with a faster tempo,” which Sia keeps up throughout his performance of this piece
* UWEC Differential Tuition Video and audio recordings were reviewed for AAE discourse features. When features were discovered in a performance, information regarding the poet’s non-performance register was sought. This study * UW-Eau Claire Center of Excellence for Faculty and Undergraduate Student Research Collaboration relied on a shift in the non-use/use of African American English features from the speaker's non-