Abiodun Oyewole
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Abiodun Oyewole (born Charles Davis, 1948), was a founding member of the legendary American musical spieling group, The Last Poets, that developed into what is considered the first ever hip hop group.
Abiodun was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and he moved with his maternal aunt and her new husband at age three to Queens, New York. At the age of 15, he attended a Yoruba Temple in Harlem. It was there that he was given the name by which he is best known.
Early in his life, Abiodun was influenced by jazz and gospel music played by his parents and the poems of Langston Hughes.
The group was born on May 19, 1968, Malcolm X's birthday, when Abiodun and two others, David Nelson, Gylan Kain, read poetry in tribute to Malcolm X. The group was based in black nationalism and quickly became known throughout the African-American community. They are generally credited, along with Gil Scott-Heron, as being major influences on the development of hip hop.
At one juncture, Oyewole was forced to leave the group as he spent four years in a North Carolina prison, convicted of larceny. After serving two and a half years of a three year sentence, because of good behavior he was eligible for study release during the day. Oyewole continued his education at a nearby college and earned his undergraduate degree. He subsequently went on to earn a doctorate from Columbia University in New York City, where has served as a member of the faculty.
Recently, Abiodun has been touring various venues giving lectures of poetry and politics.
[edit] Quotes
- "(Malcolm X) was our pathway to revolutionary understanding. Malcolm X went through a series of rites of passage - from Malcolm Little to Detroit Red to Satan to Malcolm X to El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. All this because the man never stopped trying to develop and recognize the best of himself. He was self-determined. Malcolm was saying we need to be more. And we heard that. And he said it better than anybody ever said it. He made it clear to us. So all we wanted to do was to be disciples of Malcolm, in a sense, using poetry to illuminate the same values that he planted in our head." On Malcolm X's influence on the Last Poets (2001).
