THE LAST POETS ‘UNDERSTAND WHAT DUB IS’ (PRODUCED BY PRINCE FATTY)

By Rishma Dhaliwal • On What is New ,

last poets

Last year saw The Last Poets cel­eb­rate their 50-year anniversary with the right­eous, polit­ic­ally-charged poet­ic record, ‘Under­stand What Black Is.’ Now to con­tin­ue the party, Brighton pro­duc­tion-maes­tro Prince Fatty has reworked the album with a fresh twist and blend of smooth, dub-delights. Set to land on the 29th March, with first single ‘Rain Of Ter­ror’ lead­ing the way on the 22nd March, the revolu­tion marches on – this is ‘Under­stand What Dub Is.’

After Prince Fatty’s involve­ment in the pro­duc­tion of the ori­gin­al pro­ject, he was the per­fect per­son to help update the record with five dec­ades of exper­i­ence for a new audi­ence to enjoy. The ten tracks of ‘Under­stand What Black Is’ depict a rel­ev­ant, his­tor­ic­al philo­sophy of iden­tity and race that has fol­lowed The Poets over the last 50 years. Since the ori­gins of the civil rights move­ments back in the late 60’s, Abiodun Oye­wole and Umar Bin Has­san (two of the longest-stand­ing group mem­bers) have provided social com­ment­ar­ies and a voice to Afric­an-Amer­ic­an con­scious­ness that has now been heard on a glob­al scale.

Their raps, exploit­a­tions and insights quickly evolved into the ori­gins of hip-hop in Har­lem, New York back in 1968, and now in 2019 they con­tin­ue to voice their ded­ic­a­tion to the cause with the back­ing of slick rock-steady infused beats to keep things mov­ing. Hav­ing had their work sampled by the likes of NWA, Dr Dre, Kanye West, Snoop Dogg and count­less oth­ers is just a test­a­ment to the time­less sounds and proph­ecy they have cre­ated, and now Prince Fatty has stepped up to put his stamp on it.

Track­list

  1. The Last Poets — Rain Of Ter­ror (Prince Fatty Dub)
    02. The Last Poets — We Must Be Sac­red (Prince Fatty Dub)
    03. The Last Poets — How Many Bul­lets (Prince Fatty Dub)
    04. The Last Poets — Cer­tain Images (Prince Fatty Dub)
    05. The Last Poets — The Music (Prince Fatty Dub)
    06. The Last Poets — Under­stand What Black Is (Prince Fatty Dub)
    07. The Last Poets — What I Want To See (Prince Fatty Dub)
    08. The Last Poets — North, East, West, South (Prince Fatty Dub)

Prince Fatty’s ever-reli­able work gives ‘Under­stand What Black Is’ anoth­er lease of life as he main­tains an undeni­ably slick groove through­out. Both thera­peut­ic and warm, the soul­ful rhythms of ‘Under­stand What Dub Is’ provide the per­fect plat­form for The Last Poets to delve into everything from Trump’s inaug­ur­a­tion, nods to Big­gie Smalls and respect to Prince. The calm, col­lect­ive and down­right thought-pro­vok­ing words go hand-in-hand with the roots-driv­en reg­gae med­leys with ease — this is dub in its raw­est form.

last poets

Not only do these songs explore per­son­al struggles and indi­vidu­al endeav­ours, they also rep­res­ent a col­lect­ive of deprived aspects of human­ity and social­ism, that per­haps now need to be poin­ted out more than ever. Although there is a vari­ation of sound, the overly­ing top­ics remain a con­stant – it is time to ‘Under­stand What Black Is’ once more.

Pre-order: https://fanlink.to/TLPUWDI

See The Last Poets Live in 2019:

Fri­day 22 March: Ban­lieu Bleues Fest­iv­al, Par­is (Full band)
Sunday 24 March: Trin­ity, Bristol
Wed­nes­day 27 March: Peggy’s Sky­light Jazz, Nottingham
Fri­day 29 March: Hootananny, Brix­ton (Full band)

The Last Poets
http://www.thelastpoets.net/
https://www.facebook.com/The-LAST-POETS-564265693631864
https://twitter.com/TheLastPoetsNYC
https://spoti.fi/2I7AUhT

Prince Fatty
https://www.princefatty.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/princefatty
https://twitter.com/princefatty
https://www.instagram.com/princefattyofficial/
https://spoti.fi/2GEyXak

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Rishma Dhaliwal

Edit­or / PR Con­sult­ant at No Bounds
Rishma Dhali­w­al has extens­ive exper­i­ence study­ing and work­ing in the music and media industry. Hav­ing writ­ten a thes­is on how Hip Hop acts as a social move­ment, she has spent years research­ing and con­nect­ing with artists who use the art form as a tool for bring­ing a voice to the voice­less. Cur­rently work­ing in TV, Rishma brings her PR and media know­ledge to I am Hip Hop and oth­er pro­jects by No Bounds.

About Rishma Dhaliwal

Rishma Dhaliwal has extensive experience studying and working in the music and media industry. Having written a thesis on how Hip Hop acts as a social movement, she has spent years researching and connecting with artists who use the art form as a tool for bringing a voice to the voiceless. Currently working in TV, Rishma brings her PR and media knowledge to I am Hip Hop and other projects by No Bounds.