Travis Johnson, an NYU graduate in his first year at the NYU School of Law, believes that spoken word has become a way to unite people of color, as hip-hop was when it first began. There are so many things that we need to talk about as people, Johnson said. Poetry is my way of communicating in that dialogue. Hip-hop used to be the envelope pusher in terms of how we saw ourselves as people of color in this world. I think spoken word has become that.
Belle sees how hip-hop has affected poetry.
As an art form, rap is changing to this complicated, tongue-twisting thing, Belle said. I think in the same way our ears have changed with the sounds. You hear some poets with styles. They rhyme with a beat or a flow. Because slam poetry is performed and because it is a creative outlet, the art form is close to hip-hop.