The Problem - Ralph "Wale" Folarin
Spoken word is a performance art that is word-based. Spoken word usually tends to focus on the words themselves, including tone, gestures, & facial expressions.
Spoken-word performances generally consist of storytelling within poetry. Modern spoken-word poetry originated from the poetry of the Harlem Renaissance and blues music. The term "spoken word" was first adopted to explain the new art coming out of the postmodern art movement, although the art of spoken-word poetry has existed for many centuries & the Ancient Greeks included spoken-word poetry in their Olympic Games. Famous Spoken Word Poets: Hedwig Gorski, Gil Scott Heron, Spalding Gray.
This poem is about a portion of the artists life, including the victories, and losses, which is stated from the beginning in the first line of the poem. "This isn't no groit but a mere portion of a semi-important life". He also talks about the pressures that may appear in a persons life. For example, in the line "The proverbial lemonade that I made
I made my mistakes, you see life's lemons often times come in a abundance
In conjunction with the pressure that we're under". He uses a altered version the phrase "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." to describe how life often presents many challenges without notice as it goes on top of all the pressure people already deal with, and some people doesn't handle those extra “lemons”(pressures/challenges) correctly.
Spoken-word performances generally consist of storytelling within poetry. Modern spoken-word poetry originated from the poetry of the Harlem Renaissance and blues music. The term "spoken word" was first adopted to explain the new art coming out of the postmodern art movement, although the art of spoken-word poetry has existed for many centuries & the Ancient Greeks included spoken-word poetry in their Olympic Games. Famous Spoken Word Poets: Hedwig Gorski, Gil Scott Heron, Spalding Gray.
This poem is about a portion of the artists life, including the victories, and losses, which is stated from the beginning in the first line of the poem. "This isn't no groit but a mere portion of a semi-important life". He also talks about the pressures that may appear in a persons life. For example, in the line "The proverbial lemonade that I made
I made my mistakes, you see life's lemons often times come in a abundance
In conjunction with the pressure that we're under". He uses a altered version the phrase "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." to describe how life often presents many challenges without notice as it goes on top of all the pressure people already deal with, and some people doesn't handle those extra “lemons”(pressures/challenges) correctly.
Literary Devices
And I admit, in this race I tend to struggle to relate in words
It's like
I'm an alien who alienates by the herd, so as far as being heard
I guess I
gotta wait - These series of lines are filled with
puns. The poet uses the similar sounding words to create the picture of
Wale out-casting himself, along with a group of others, and no
one wanting to listen to them.
Thank God for the free thinkers,
for you keep me in mind
In this state of mind that I'm in, for you keep me in
the race with the baton that y'all give... - this is a
metaphor. Since Wale is a hip hop artist, as well as a poet, he
calls his fans free thinkers, because they widen their musical horizons above
what is played on the radio, and says that even though he is ready to stop
running the race(stop making music) they keep him running by keeping him with
the baton(don't let him quit by being supportive of the music he is producing)
It's like
I'm an alien who alienates by the herd, so as far as being heard
I guess I
gotta wait - These series of lines are filled with
puns. The poet uses the similar sounding words to create the picture of
Wale out-casting himself, along with a group of others, and no
one wanting to listen to them.
Thank God for the free thinkers,
for you keep me in mind
In this state of mind that I'm in, for you keep me in
the race with the baton that y'all give... - this is a
metaphor. Since Wale is a hip hop artist, as well as a poet, he
calls his fans free thinkers, because they widen their musical horizons above
what is played on the radio, and says that even though he is ready to stop
running the race(stop making music) they keep him running by keeping him with
the baton(don't let him quit by being supportive of the music he is producing)