Rakim Drops Another One

Love is the message. Drops
his weight for the struggle.
One more day. This thing
is Bluesy. Metallic. Hot.

Them brothers spit metal—
devil’s horns boiled down
to lyrics, turns of phrases,
scratches be on some type

of revolution. They seek
sermons that build. Temples.
Buildings rush toward sky
pushing past hostile voices

trying to challenge Creation.
Through cages or closed
doors, or low ceilings, they
live for the fight, rewriting 

fairytales for young Black
males, for ravens carving
paths every time they hurl
verses or dragons’ breaths.


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Published by Synnika Chizoba Lofton

"Synnika Alek-Chizoba Lofton is an award winning poet, the president and CEO of Guerrilla Ignition LLC, host of a Nationally Syndicated radio show, and an educator, teaching literature at Chesapeake Bay Academy and English courses at Norfolk State University. Lofton has recorded more than one hundred and fifty CDs, albums, CD-singles, and mixtapes of poetry, including his highly praised debut, The New Breed. He is the author of twelve books and the founder of Riot Speech, a musical genre combining performance poetry with traditional musical forms, such as Rock, Jazz, and Hip Hop. His poems have been published in Experience Reality Magazine, Quay: A Journal of the Arts, UpStreet: A Literary Magazine, and, in 2014, Lofton has been featured in Blind Sided Magazine. He is a regular on Virginian television programs such as The Hampton Roads Show and Chesapeake’s Thinking Out Loud on WCTV. He teaches World Literature, British Literature, and Composition, while touring the country, performing at literary festivals, musical festivals, poetry readings, open mics, concerts, high schools, and colleges."

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