I have been a poet since 7th grade. I tried rapping a few times but I could never freestyle so I left it alone. Then when I bought the black album last year, Jay-Z made me want to rap again. I stayed with it for about a month which is the longest i've ever stayed with it, but I realized that it just wasn't for me. I was my very best as a poet. The only thing that disappoints me is, poets will never garner as much respect as rappers. Poets (paricularly males) are often looked at as gay, feminine, wanna be revolutionaries and wanna be rappers. We are viewed as flighty arrogant and very critical of rappers. We are basically thought of as haters. The only image of us that is slightly positive is Def Poetry Jam. I am a great poet. And I am an emcee in the respect that true lyricists are poets when you take away the music. But my question to you is what do u think about poets, and them supposedly living in the shadow of rappers. Is one better than the other? I personally like listening to rap better than going to open mics, because I feel rappers are more authentic sometimes, but what do u think?

~1~

__________________
Politics and politrix are the same thing because the whole point of the political process is to trick us into giving a particular candidate our favor. So why do people feel so clever when they use the word politrix?