2008 Woodie Awards
Saturday Night at the Red Bull Word Clash
Charles Wood
Issue date: 2/14/06 Section: Arts & Entertainment
At the Red Bull Word Clash on Friday, February 11, street poets from around the nation gathered at the Carolina Theatre for one purpose: to start a revolution. The group of poets came from every possible background and ethnic group with topics ranging from child abuse and molestation to the objectification of women in the media and first hand experiences of the war in Iraq. Despite all of their differences, the poets were unified in their desire to help bring about a drastic social change and to topple the Bush regime and everything it stands for.
The poets presenting during the Word Clash represent everything the founder of the event, revolutionary street poet Monte Smith, hopes to accomplish. Smith founded the event in 2002 as a reaction to what he feels to be an increasingly tyrannical and Orwellian government.
"The Patriot Act is limiting free speech everyday." Smith adds, "We have to take back our rights through poetic conviction and edutainment."
The poet, Brother Earl from Harlem, New York, has a similar sentiment to Smith.
"These are crazy and unbelievable times. People are crying out for a new voice. It's almost like an act of rebellion just to come to an
event like this," comments Brother Earl.
The Reverend Alabama Jones also adds, "There are a lot of poor disenfranchised people in this country. If protests can't change anything, maybe art can."
Smith has been frequently asked how he can reconcile preaching
revolution and anti-establishment while using a corporate sponsor like Red Bull. To this Smith replies, "When you can get a company to support a revolutionary cause such as a poetry event, than you're getting the establishment to pay for what will eventually topple it and what's a better way than to do that from the inside?"
Smith believes that street poetry, unlike traditional poetry, has
an inherently unique ability to educate and create change through its connection to the common man.
The poets presenting during the Word Clash represent everything the founder of the event, revolutionary street poet Monte Smith, hopes to accomplish. Smith founded the event in 2002 as a reaction to what he feels to be an increasingly tyrannical and Orwellian government.
"The Patriot Act is limiting free speech everyday." Smith adds, "We have to take back our rights through poetic conviction and edutainment."
The poet, Brother Earl from Harlem, New York, has a similar sentiment to Smith.
"These are crazy and unbelievable times. People are crying out for a new voice. It's almost like an act of rebellion just to come to an
event like this," comments Brother Earl.
The Reverend Alabama Jones also adds, "There are a lot of poor disenfranchised people in this country. If protests can't change anything, maybe art can."
Smith has been frequently asked how he can reconcile preaching
revolution and anti-establishment while using a corporate sponsor like Red Bull. To this Smith replies, "When you can get a company to support a revolutionary cause such as a poetry event, than you're getting the establishment to pay for what will eventually topple it and what's a better way than to do that from the inside?"
Smith believes that street poetry, unlike traditional poetry, has
an inherently unique ability to educate and create change through its connection to the common man.
