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Russel Simmons
presents Def Poetry.

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Ladies and gentleman, your
host from the planet of Brooklyn,

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Mos Def.

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What up, what up, what up?

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(applause)

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What's up, New York?

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I say what's up, New York?

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Where Queens at?

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Where the Boogie Down at?

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Where Uptown at?
Where Jersey at?

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Where Brooklyn at?

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That was just three
mother fu..ers.

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Thank you all for coming out to
the first Def Poets.

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Tonight you're going to hear
from a lot of different people

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from a lot of different places.

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People tend to think that
there's only one type of

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poet, only one type of
style,

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but tonight you're going to hear from all different races,
genders,

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perspectives, and they're all
united by one thing and that's

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the power of the word.

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So is you all ready?

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Yeah!

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Is you all ready for some
poetry mother fu..ers?

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(applauses)

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Our first poet is 1998 Slam
champion.

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Please give it up
for Steve Colman.

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(applauses)

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I want to hear a poem.

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I want to learn something I
didn't know.

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I want to say yes at the end,
because I'm sick of saying so.

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I want to hear a poem
about who you are and what

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you think and why you slam, not
a poem about me and my poem,

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because I know who
I am.

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I want to hear a love poem, a
sad poem,

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an I hate my dad poem, a dream
poem, an I'm not what I seem
poem,

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an I need poem, and I also bleed
poem,

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an I'm alone poem, an I can't
find my home poem.

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I just want to hear a
poem.

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I want to hear a poem about
revolution,

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about fists raised high and hips twisting and a rumble like a rumba.

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I want to follow the footsteps
of Che and hear the truth about

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the day the CIA killed the
Mumbai.

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I want to hear a poem about
struggle so that when I

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open my mouth I can step outside
myself.

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I want to listen to no less than
the sounds of protest in the

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factories where workers sweat
and make Air Jordans and

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PRO Keds because if you want

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to take shots at people, target
Phil Knight and Bill Gates.

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Contemplate how they own
the products and they got the goods,

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how they act like they care,
but they're just Robin Hoods.

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And because every second
matters, I want to hear

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long poems and short poems
about time and its limits,

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because it took less than three
minutes to attack Abner Louima,

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to frame Assata Shakur and
destroy Hiroshima,

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to kill Eleanor Bumpurs and
Anthony Baez,

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to gun down Malcolm with bullets
they bought from the feds.

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I want to hear a poem
where ideas kiss similes

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so deeply that metaphors get
jealous.

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Where the subject matters
so much that adjectives

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start holding pronoun rallies at
city hall.

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Because I want to hear a poem
that attacks the status quo,

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that attracts the claps of the
cats with the fattest flows,

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that makes the crowd pass their

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hat and pack my cap with a stack
of dough.

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I want to hear a poem that
makes this audience yell ho!

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Because I want to guess
your favorite color then

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craft rhyme schemes out of
thin air.

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I want to hear a poem about why
the statute of

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limitations for rape
is only five years.

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I want to hear a poem.
I want to feel a poem.

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I want to taste a poem.

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Give me your spot on the
mic if you want to waste a poem.

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I want to hear a poem.

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(applause)