Album Review: Longstoryshort by Sekou Sundiata

The music in most spoken word poetry recordings is little more than background texture, the sole thing separating the album from the books-on-tape racks. Few poets know how to truly interact with the music the way Sekou Sundiata does. Sundiata calls his work "Rythym and News," an apt term for the thick, soul-stirring verse he lays down over hip-hop, tribal and bebop grooves. His words are as deeply rooted in African-American culture as the beats that back them; the verse explores Sundiata's own experiences as a native son of Harlem, as well as the stories of black icons like Malcolm X, John Coltrane and Nelson Mandela. In addition to his frequent readings around New York City and his musical theater work (most notably 1994's The Mystery of Love), Sundiata works a day job teaching literature at the New School for Social Research. Among his first students was indie rock queen Ani DiFranco, who later remarked that he taught her everything she knows about poetry. Released on DiFranco's Righteous Babe record label, longstoryshort is a lesson both in what it means to be black in America and in the possibilities available within the spoken word medium. A