Just Tuesday night, on January 26th, my poetry club family and I decided we were going to do our own rendition of Trap Karaoke, an event that's been growing popular in several cities across the countries. We had speakers, music, and enough songs to __. I sat on the couch like the cousin that nobody hugs at family reunions.

I clearly don't have much experience with Hip Hop. The biggest rappers I listen to are Azealia Banks, Kendrick, Chance, and Kanye. I'm a fan of Theophilus London and Junglepussy as well. But for the most part, I hardly listen to hip hop. It's not that I don't listen to it. To put it in perspective, I listen to Florence + the Machine, FKA twigs, and other artists that kids who paint their faces in the name of "aesthetic" would listen to. I did go to a Raury concert not just once, but twice! And I enjoyed it. See, I'm borderline hip hop!

But, with hip hop being a constant voice and movement in places where most people look like me, it'd be hard to ignore the significance and relevance. Thus, my poetry club fam and I will love to get together and have random cyphers. For one of our events last year we had a rap battle that actually got pretty intense.

I found hip hop, and connecting with my people, important enough to read about it's history and relation to history. Dr. Jared Ball had a brilliant lecture that I watched on YouTube. There's also an amazing work called "How Capitalism Under-Developed Hip Hop" that was a great read. Although I didn't know much about Tupac, I felt his passion and strength through his political prowess.

As a poet, the skill of wordplay is very powerful, especially in performance pieces. Using words as tools of communication and rebellion is the biggest thing we can do for the revolution we need. Freedom isn't just for those with the ability to perform whiteness, but for everyone.