Even readers unfamiliar with the Last Poets' historic significance as
building blocks of the hip-hop and rap movement, will instantly find
this novel a compelling read.
The Last Poets were self-proclaimed prophets of "hope and change." The
band was formed in 1968 against an incendiary backdrop of the black
power movement and murders of Martin Luther King, Kennedy and Malcolm X.
Today their socio-political lyrics have a renewed sense of urgency,
rallying loud and clear against the fear-based politics of the Trump
era.
Christine Otten spent three months travelling across the United States
interviewing members of the Last Poets, their families, friends, and
musicians. She describes their impoverished childhoods, their love
lives, successes and failures in this beautifully written, sensuously
swinging, biopic-style novel.