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P-I-M-P
(Poetic Intellectual Making
Progress)
By Rochell
D. Hart (Ro Deezy )
P.I.M.P. (poetic intellectual making
progress) set to a slow and often sensual beat, by Portland poet
Rochell D. Hart, mixes hip-hop rhythms with real-world
street lyrics, black feminist pride and abundant intelligence in
order to create a "higher level of spoken word."
Exploding with self-confidence, honesty and conviction, Hart's
voice, backed by O.G. One, P.I.M.P. paints a vivid
portrait of black America and addresses such issues as the self-ghettoization
of black youths, racism and the antagonistic attitude of the
police.
P.I.M.P. also delves into the idea of a "reborn black
woman," a black queen free from both the constraints of
history and the current MTV hip-hop attitude toward black women
as easy ho's or as shallow materialistic bitches. In her track
"Don't Wana Be" she states, "My inner spirit
called out and demanded that I be more than the images I too
often see/ because I don't wana be another booty-bouncin', loud-talkin'
ghetto-unfabulous girl."
Instead, Ro Deezy calls for a black
woman who is more than a stereotype imposed by white America or
black culture. Black men are also scrutinized. In "I Got a
Bone to Pick," Hart attacks the glorified vision of
gangsters, hustlers and pimps in black culture, stating that
"to those who think a pager and a cell phone means having
big things/ to those who think that waiting on a once-a-month
county check is having a dream/ I got a bone to pick/...hustling
on the block is not an accepted alternate to a 9-5, and that
gun-toting rough-neck mentality is just a contribution to
genocide."
Hart reveals the power and beauty, as well as the flaws, of
her world, and in doing so she stands out as an original and
intelligent voice struggling free from a crowd of
one-dimensional stereotypes. Cris Day
This CD is HOT and the fact that you wrote
everything on it is even hotter. Do ya thang gurl, keep rep'n
for all the real folks out here. People who like Jill Scott,
Badu, The Roots, and other such famous artist, are going to love
Ro Deezy! This CD speaks the truth!!! I became very
inspired listening to the lyrics. Loving the words and music girl. keep
representing the beauty of us. keep fighting for our lives. we
can fly without wings. much respect, jessica
care moore
Rochell D. Hart is a 26-year-old native and
resident of Portland, OR. In 1998, Hart self published her first
book, "From The Ghettos To The Heavens." In 1999 she
was the first African American woman from Oregon to represent
the state at the 10th Annual National Poetry Slam in Chicago,
IL. In 2001, Highbridge Press of NY signed Hart for her second
book, "A Black Girl's Song." That book was later
nominated for the Oregon Book Award - the highest literary award
in the state.
In March of 2001, The Associated Press interviewed Hart for a
syndicated radio show, which aired on more than 800 stations
across the United States. Highlights of Hart's media coverage
include being the featured topic of a column in The Oregonian,
(the largest daily circulated paper in the Northwest), a
front-page article about her book nomination in The Skanner,
being cited as ".... Worth the ticket price alone" in
Our Town Magazine (regarding an upcoming talent showcase) and
numerous appearances in the Willamette Week and other printed
media. Hart also opened the concert for Grammy award winning
group "The Roots" during their visit to Portland in
August 2001.
In 2002, Hart will be interviewed for the print and online
magazine SpokenVizions - a publication that provides national
information and recognition about spoken word artists to the
general public.
Hart's third book debuted in November of 2001 and is titled
"Urban Journeys." In March of 2002, for the 4th year
in a row, Hart won 1st place at the 27th Annual International
Women's Day All-Girl Poetry Slam. Rochell recently completed her
fourth poetry manuscript titled "What Did You Think I Would
Say?" - the book will be released at a later time. Hart's
current project, her largest endeavor thus far, is known as the
Project of 76 Voices. It is a compilation of 76 biographies on
African American women. The main intent of this compilation is
to break down racial stereotypes and generalizations of
African-American women. It is also intended to give voice to a
group of women who are overlooked by mainstream America. Some of
the participating women include BET/Sepia author Linda Dominique
Grosvenor and Jacquelyn Hughes Mooney, a national artist, writer
and poet whose work appeared on Oprah in January 2002. Maria
Dowd, the founder and executive director of AAWOT (African
American Women On Tour)is also included.
Rochell's work will also be included in the forthcoming
anthology "The Poetry of Emcees: A Comprehensive Anthology
of Hip-Hop Generation Writers Known to Rock the Pen" from Jessica
Care Moore. That anthology includes writings by emcees like
QTIP, comedians like Dave Chapelle, poetical icons like Sonia
Sanchez, The Last Poets and more.
Poetry By Ro /
PO BOX 20511 /
Portland OR 97294 USA /
Rochell
D Hart poetrybyro2@hotmail.com
website:
www.cdbaby.com/rochelldhart
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The New Jim Crow
Mass Incarceration in the Age of
Colorblindness
By Michele Alexander
Contrary to the
rosy picture of race embodied in Barack
Obama's political success and Oprah
Winfrey's financial success, legal
scholar Alexander argues vigorously and
persuasively that [w]e have not ended
racial caste in America; we have merely
redesigned it. Jim Crow and legal racial
segregation has been replaced by mass
incarceration as a system of social
control (More African Americans are
under correctional control today... than
were enslaved in 1850). Alexander
reviews American racial history from the
colonies to the Clinton administration,
delineating its transformation into the
war on drugs. She offers an acute
analysis of the effect of this mass
incarceration upon former inmates who
will be discriminated against, legally,
for the rest of their lives, denied
employment, housing, education, and
public benefits. Most provocatively, she
reveals how both the move toward
colorblindness and affirmative action
may blur our vision of injustice: most
Americans know and don't know the truth
about mass incarceration—but her
carefully researched, deeply engaging,
and thoroughly readable book should
change that.—Publishers
Weekly |
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Blacks in Hispanic Literature: Critical Essays
Edited by
Miriam DeCosta-Willis
Blacks in Hispanic Literature is a
collection of fourteen essays by scholars and
creative writers from Africa and the Americas.
Called one of two significant critical works on
Afro-Hispanic literature to appear in the late
1970s, it includes the pioneering studies of
Carter G. Woodson and
Valaurez B. Spratlin, published in the 1930s, as
well as the essays of scholars whose interpretations
were shaped by the Black aesthetic. The early
essays, primarily of the Black-as-subject in Spanish
medieval and Golden Age literature, provide an
historical context for understanding 20th-century
creative works by African-descended, Hispanophone
writers, such as Cuban
Nicolás Guillén and Ecuadorean poet, novelist,
and scholar
Adalberto Ortiz, whose essay analyzes the
significance of Negritude in Latin America. This
collaborative text set the tone for later
conferences in which writers and scholars worked
together to promote, disseminate, and critique the
literature of Spanish-speaking people of African
descent. . . .
Cited by a
literary critic in 2004 as "the seminal study in the
field of Afro-Hispanic Literature . . . on which
most scholars in the field 'cut their teeth'."
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The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
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Ancient African Nations
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If you like this page consider making a donation
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Negro Digest /
Black World
Browse all issues
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Enjoy!
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The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
/
The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
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Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
Slavery /
George Jackson /
Hurricane Carter
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The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The
Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
/
January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
Haiti
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update
3 March 2012
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