Def Poetry Jam


Russell Simmons presents Def Poetry, better known as simply Def Poetry Jam or Def Poetry, was a spoken word poetry television series hosted by Mos Def and airing on HBO between 2002 and 2007. The series features performances by established and up-and-coming spoken word poets. Performances also included special appearances by well-known actors and musicians, as well as occasional performances by Mos Def himself. Co-created by Bruce George, Danny Simmons, Deborah Pointer, Stan Lathan, and Russell Simmons, the show is a spin-off of the popular Def Comedy Jam which began airing on HBO in the 1990s.
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About

The series included historical legendary poets such as The Last Poets, Nikki Giovanni, Amiri Baraka, and Sonia Sanchez. It also featured poets, Saul Williams, J. Ivy, Jessica Care Moore, Lemon and openly gay poet Emanuel Xavier. Though technically not a poetry slam, Def Poetry has become heavily associated with the poetry slam movement, and utilized many of poetry slam's best-known poets, including National Poetry Slam champions such as Beau Sia, Taylor Mali, Big Poppa E, Mayda Del Valle, Mike Mcgee, Alix Olson and Rives, among others. Even poets who are critical of the poetry slam, such as John S. Hall, have acknowledged slam's influence on the show. In a 2005 interview, Hall was quoted as saying:
In a 2005 interview, Bob Holman, who founded the Nuyorican Poets Cafe's poetry slam and appeared on Season 4 of the show, applauded Def Poetry, noting:
However, Marc Smith, the founder of the Poetry Slam movement, is more critical of the program. Smith decries the intense commercialization of the poetry slam, and refers to Def Poetry as "an exploitive entertainment diminished the value and aesthetic of performance poetry."
In November 2002, a live stage production, Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam, opened on Broadway. Directed by Stan Lathan, the show featured poets Beau Sia, Suheir Hammad, Staceyann Chin, Lemon, Mayda Del Valle, Georgia Me, Black Ice, Poetri Smith, and Steve Coleman. The show ran on Broadway until May 2003, and won a 2003 Tony Award for Best Special Theatrical Event. The show subsequently toured both nationally and internationally.
Def Poetry premiered on HBO in 2002 and the latest season to air premiered in February 2007. As of summer 2008, there has been no word about the possibility of a Season 7. Starting in 2008, producers of Def Poetry developed and broadcast the HBO poetry show Brave New Voices, which is stylistically similar to Def Poetry, with teenage poets competing and backstage scenes.

Episode index

Season 1 (2002)

Episode 1

  • Steve Colman – I Wanna Hear a Poem
  • Georgia Me – Full Figure Potential
  • Vanessa Hidary - Culture Bandit
  • Lemon – Shine
  • Nikki Giovanni – Talk to Me Poem, I Think I've Got the Blues
  • Black Ice – Bigger Than Mine?
  • Suheir Hammad – First Writing Since

Episode 2

  • Taylor Mali – What Teachers Make
  • Yellow Rage – Listen Asshole
  • Jewel – Poem Song
  • Flow Mentalz – They Call Me Drama
  • Sonia Sanchez – Poem to Some Women
  • Shihan – This Type Love
  • Dawn Saylor – When I Was 14
  • Kayo – Who Am I?

Episode 3

Episode 4

Season 2 (2003)

Episode 1

  • Beau Sia – Asian Invasion
  • Jason Carney – Southern Heritage
  • Thea Monyee – Woman to Woman
  • Sekou Sundiata – Come on and Bring on the Reparations
  • Marty McConnell – Give Me One Good Reason to Die
  • Twin Poets – Dreams are Illegal in the Ghetto
  • Jamie Foxx – Off the Hizzle for Shizzle

Episode 2

Episode 3

  • Lemon – Where I'm From and A Toast
  • Bassey Ikpi – Sometimes silence is the loudest kind of noise
  • Taylor Mali – Totally like whatever, you know?
  • Regie Cabico – What kind of guys are attracted to me
  • Haki R. Madhubuti –
  • Rat Sack – I'm Losing You
  • Talib Kweli

Episode 4

  • Ishle Yi Park – All I have ever done is write you love poems
  • Shihan – Say What?
  • Suheir Hammad – Not Your Erotic, Not Your Exotic
  • Big Poppa E – Wussy Boy
  • La Bruja – WTC
  • Anthony Morales – Story Avenue Stuck
  • Amalia Ortiz – Some Days
  • Oscar Brown Jr. – I Apologize

Episode 5

  • Felipe Luciano – Jibaro, My Pretty Nigger
  • MuMs – Ploylessness
  • Amanda Diva – Hot Shit
  • Malik Yusef – I Spit
  • Asha Bandele – Morning Was My Mentor
  • Malcolm Jamal Warner – I Love My Woman

Episode 6

  • Sekou the Misfit – I'm a Rapper
  • Steve Connell – Why Not Wine Coolers
  • Georgia Me – NigGods
  • Louis Reyes Rivera – Bullet Cry
  • Jessica Care Moore – I'm a Hip Hop Cheerleader
  • Keith Murray – Man Child.

Episode 7

  • Denizen Kane – Lost and Found
  • Staceyann Chin – If Only Out of Vanity
  • Big Rube – Alphabet Acrobat
  • Wood Harris – Night Song
  • Goldie – No title
  • Regie Gibson – For James Marshall Hendrix
  • Joy Harjo – A Poem to Get Rid of Fear
  • Linton Kwesi Johnson – If I Was a Top-notch Poet

Season 3 (2004)

Episode 1

Episode 2

  • Mayda Del Valle and Lemon – Tito Puente
  • Flaco Navaja – Kids Don't Play
  • Gemineye – Poetic Bloodline
  • Ursula Rucker – Get Ready
  • Michael Ellison – Light Skin-did
  • Ishle Park – Pussy
  • Ras Baraka – American Poem
  • Dana Gilmore – Wife, Woman, Friend
  • Common – God is Freedom

Episode 3

Episode 4

Episode 5

Episode 6

  • Shihan – Sick and Tired
  • Jason Carney – Out Here
  • Gina Loring – Somewhere There Is a Poem
  • Kanye West – Self Conscious
  • Jamie DeWolf – Grim Fairy Tale
  • Bao Phi – You Bring Out the Vietnamese in Me
  • Roscoe P. Coldchain – Trouble
  • Mayda Del Valle – Mami's Makin' Mambo
  • Buju Banton – How Long

Episode 7

Season 4 (2005)

Episode 1

  • Daniel Beaty – Knock, Knock
  • Rives – Kite
  • Nafessa Monroe – White
  • Mark Gonzales – As with Most Men
  • Zena Edwards – Laugh
  • Oscar Brown Jr. – Children of Children
  • Amalia Ortiz – Women of Juarez
  • Black Ice – Or Die
  • MC Lyte – I Was Born

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4

  • Poetri – Dating Myself
  • Julian Curry – Nigger, Niggas, Niggaz
  • Ishle Park – Open Letter to Soldier
  • Taylor Mali – Like Lily Like Wilson
  • Adele Givens – That Shit Ain't Funny
  • Kevin Coval – My g-dself Loose
  • Yolanda Kae Wilkinson – Circa Valentine's Day
  • Amir Sulaiman – Danger
  • Floetry – Everybody Heard

Episode 5

  • Lemon – Love Poem
  • Regie Cabico – You Bring Out the Writer in Me
  • Rafael Casal – Abortion
  • Kim Fields – How Come
  • Reg E. Gaines – I Don't Feel Like Writing
  • Jon Goode – Barbara
  • Dana Gilmore – Wife, Woman, Friend, Pt. 2
  • Rita Dove – Black on a Saturday Night
  • Talib Kweli – Lonely People

Episode 6

  • Flaco Navaja – Revolution
  • Liza Jesse Peterson – Waitress
  • Robert Karimi – Get Down with Your Catholic Muslim Self
  • Triple Black – Love Poems
  • Bonafide Rojas – In front of the Class
  • Laura "Piece" Kelly – Central District
  • BessKepp – Rotten Pomegranates
  • Michael Franti – Rock the Nation
  • Ruby Dee – Tupac

Episode 7

  • Georgia Me – Bitch Ass Nigga
  • Jus Cus – Homeland Security
  • J. Ivy – Dear Father
  • Marlon Esquerra – Morning Papers
  • Marvin Tate – My Life to the Present
  • Martin Espada – Imagine the Angels of Bread
  • Alix Olson – America on Sale
  • Mos Def – Pornographic Content
  • Ani DiFranco – Coming Up
  • Mike Epps – I Love the Hood

Episode 8

Episode 9

Episode 10

  • Tommy Bottoms – Basic Economics
  • Staceyann Chin – Three Frenzied Days
  • Joe Hernandez-Kolski – Cool
  • Marc Batmuthi Joseph – Move
  • Denizen Kane – Love Song
  • Aya De Leon – Cellulite
  • Musiq – Pieces of this Life
  • Mos Def – My Life is Real
  • Yusef Komunyakaa – The Sure Beat
  • Beau Sia, Georgia Me, Suheir Hammad – First Taste

Season 5 (2006)

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4

Episode 5

  • Poetri – Driving
  • Sharrif Simmons— Fuck What You Heard
  • Michael D. Ellison – Mezeker Means to Remember
  • Phylicia Rashad – On Status
  • Ratsack – Free the Toes
  • Abyss – She
  • Kevin Coval – Nothing Fight
  • Mollie Angelheart – Psychotic Bitch
  • Flomentalz – Talkin' to God
  • Thea Monyee and Gaknew – A Different World

Episode 6

  • Wyclef Jean – Immigrant
  • Nayeli Adorador-Knudsen – Priceless
  • Michael Cirelli – Love Song for Kelis
  • M'Reld – Ready for Love
  • Red Storm – Snake in the Grass
  • Kelly Tsai – Aftershocks
  • Paul Mabon – The Toothbrush
  • Kevin Derrig – Andrew
  • Mighty Mike McGee – Like
  • Narubi Selah – Uncle Benz
  • Ise Lyfe – Popular Dirt

Episode 7

  • Kanye West – Bittersweet
  • Ursula Rucker – What a Woman Must Do
  • Rafael Casal – Barbie and Ken 101
  • Terry Creech – Lost Bird
  • Thadra Sheridan – Bad Boyfriend
  • Beau Sia – Hip Hop
  • Shihan – In Response
  • Sonia Sanchez – Our Vision Is Our Voice
  • Amir Sulaiman – She Said, I Prefer A Broken Neck...
  • Lemon and Flaco – Boriquas

Episode 8

  • Preach R Sun – Cotton
  • Steve Connell and Sekou The Misfit – America Calls
  • Big Poppa E – Poem For A Friend
  • Amanda Diva – 40 Emcees
  • Al B. Back – Super Negro
  • Sista Queen – Try Being A Lady
  • Jerry Quickley – 3-Part Bitter X-girlfriend #167249-B
  • Oscar Brown, Jr. – This Beach
  • Staceyann Chin – A City In Tragedy
  • Brother J – Atlan
  • Common – Be Known

Episode 9

Episode 10

  • Gina Loring – You Move Me
  • Rock Baby – That Sweet That Funk
  • Chinaka Hodge – Cousin
  • Denizen Kane – Patriot Act
  • Sekou Sundiata – Amman
  • Kristiana Colon – From the Clay
  • Jimmy Tran – Mediocre Penis
  • Flaco Navaja – Dimple
  • Eve Ensler – My Father's House
  • Black Ice, Poetri and Shihan – We Are Men

Season 6 (2007)

Episode 1

  • DMX – The Industry
  • Big Mike – Sexy
  • Asia – The Waiting Hour
  • Dan Vaughn & Dasha Kelly – Six Million
  • Kelly Tsai – Grey Matter
  • Red Storm – Black Barbie Doll
  • Shanelle Gabriel – Why I Love You
  • Idris Goodwin – What is They Feedin' Our Kids
  • Jill Scott – Ain't a Ceiling

Episode 2

Episode 3

  • Sarah Kay – Hands
  • Riva & Sciryl – My Best Friend
  • Rafael Casal – First Week Of A Break-Up
  • Meilani Clay – Lost
  • Shihan – Father's Day
  • Shannon Matesky – My Space
  • Carlos Andres Gomez – What's Genocide
  • Carole King – Touchstone
  • Natalie Stewart – Her Story
  • Jamal Joseph – Ricky Do & The 4th Of July

Episode 4

Episode 5

  • Big Poppa E – Propers
  • Bassey Ikpi – Apology To My Unborn
  • Alvin Lau – What Tiger Said
  • Saddi Kali – Goin' Platinum In 2 Days
  • Liza Garza – My Everything
  • Lamont Carey – I Can't Read
  • Brian Dykstra – Pushing Bush
  • Vanessa Hidary – Phd In Him
  • Basikknowledge – Numbers
  • George Clinton – Dope Dog

Episode 6

Reboot

Chance the Rapper will host this season.