June was African-American Music Appreciation Month
Let’s hip hop back to June for a villanelle on Spoonie Gee.
When my son Jimmy, a Mt. Carmel HS graduate, was listening incessantly to Ludacris, by the way Ludacris just got his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, I asked him if he had ever heard of Spoonie Gee. He said no so I wrote a villanelle in tribute to Spoonie Gee, the man many refer to as the Godfather of Hip Hop.
I first read it at the West Las Vegas Arts Center at a monthly Poet’s Corner. The Poet’s Corner was founded in 1997 by Black poet Keith Brantley, its host for twenty years. The villanelle’s original title was “Ludicritus Ubiquitous for Spoonie Gee.” I changed the title to, “Do You Remember Spoonie Gee?” and recorded it in 2012. If readers aren’t familiar with a villanelle they may have read Dylan Thomas’ famous poem, Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night. That poem is a villanelle.
DO YOU REMEMBER SPOONIE GEE?
“Oh rapper with hip hop cd
in the old ghetto’s consulate
do you remember Spoonie Gee
chill through boom box or DVD
while Tupac Shakur lies in state
Oh rapper with hip hop cd
M&M calls on Doctor Dre
and lets the dogs out at the gate
does he remember Spoonie Gee
still by the light of MTV
vanquished Vanilla Ice finds his fate
Oh rapper with hip hop cd
and still in free style rivalry
young boys in the hood challenge hate
do they remember Spoonie Gee
Iceberg Slim hands out blunts for free
four anorexic groupies wait
Oh rapper with hip hop cd
do you remember Spoonie Gee.”
By the way Spoonie Gee “Godfather of Hip Hop” has been described as “the original gangsta rapper.”
Readers may know Ludacris as Tej Parker in “The Fast and the Furious” films. For my inspiration readers might check out Oscar Wilde’s villanelle “Theocritus.” The similarities might surprise you.
Joey aka “Pepe Batbon” Connolly is a retired educator who taught in the CNMI, NOLA, and LVNV. He is the Poet Laureate of Tinian and enjoys stargazing.
