- The Watts Prophets
Infobox musical artist
Name = The Watts Prophets
Img_capt = The Watts Prophets, from left to right: Amde Hamilton, Richard Dedeaux, and Otis O'Solomon
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Origin = Watts,California
Genre = Rap, Hip-hop,Jazz ,Spoken word ,Poetry
Years_active = 1967-present
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Current_members =Richard Dedeaux
FatherAmde Hamilton (born Anthony Hamilton)
Otis O'Solomon
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Notable_instruments =The Watts Prophets are a group of
musician s andpoet s fromWatts, Los Angeles, California . Like their contemporaries,The Last Poets , the group combined elements of jazz music and spoken word performance, making the trio one that is often seen as a forerunner of contemporaryhip hop music . Formed in 1967, the group comprisesRichard Dedeaux , FatherAmde Hamilton (born Anthony Hamilton), andOtis O'Solomon (also billed as Otis O'Solomon Smith) [O'Solomon removed the "Smith" from his name in the 1970s.]History
Hamilton, O'Solomon, and Dedeaux first met and collaborated at the
Watts Writers Workshop , an organization created byBudd Schulberg in the wake of theWatts Riots , as theAfrican American civil rights movement was beginning to take a new cultural turn. Fusing music withjazz andfunk roots with a rapid-fire, spoken word sound, they created a sound that gave them a considerable local following, but little commercial success. They released two albums, 1969's "The Black Voices: On the Streets in Watts" and 1971's "Rappin' Black in a White World", which established a strong tendency toward social commentary and a reputation for militancy. Despite considerable acclaim, the group was unable to secure another record deal; a promising deal with Bob Marley'sTuff Gong label famously fell through. Unable to sustain success, the group has performed only sporadically since the mid-1970s.In recent years, the group's profile has improved somewhat. The 1997 recording, "When the 90's Came", found them in the studio with pianist
Horace Tapscott , and a European tour reunited the trio with former collaboratorDeeDee McNeil . In 2005, "Things Gonna Get Greater: The Watts Prophets 1969-1971" combined the group's first two efforts, bringing them back into print for the first time in more than a decade.Amde Hamilton, who is a priest of the
Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church , [Hamilton was the third American to be ordained as a priest of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.] can be seen performing a spoken word piece at the 1981 funeral service ofBob Marley in Jamaica in the 1982 film "Land of Look Behind ".Discography
*1969 - "The Black Voices: On the Streets in Watts"
*1971 - "Rappin' Black in a White World"
*1997 - "When the 90's Came"
*2005 - "Things Gonna Get Greater: The Watts Prophets 1969-1971" (compilation)References
*Cross, Brian (1993). "It's Not About a Salary: Rap, Race, and Resistance in Los Angeles". The Haymarket series. London and New York: Verso.
Films
*1982 - "
Land of Look Behind ". Directed byAlan Greenberg .External links
* [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:4e811vkozzza~T1 All Music Guide bio]
* [http://www.citypaper.net/earshot/earshot.0497/zoom.wattsprophets.shtml Citypaper article] , Major Jackson
* [http://www.dlartists.com/wp/company.html Artist's bio] , David Lieberman
* [http://www.wattsprophets.com/ Amde Hamilton page]ee also
*
The Last Poets
*Gil Scott-Heron
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