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  Watts Towers Art Center The Watts Towers tower over the citizens of East Los Angeles, a community that has spawned artists like the Watts Prophets.

By Kenny Chang

Daily Bruin Reporter

Three men, 34 years, and a positive message. The Watts Prophets have come a long way, and are still moving strong.

Consisting of Richard Anthony Dedeaux, Amde Anthony Hamilton, and Otis O’Solomon, the Watts Prophets are poets, high up on the evolutionary chain of hip-hop.

The group, which will perform at Royce on Oct. 5, was formed in 1967 when the three men met together at the Watts Writers Workshop, a program started for citizens of the Los Angeles community to express their feelings through art.

Spitting out lyrics over several kinds of musical backgrounds, the Watts Prophets flow over the rhythm, not to the rhythm, like hip-hop artists. Uncategorizable, the group has elements of several different types of music, the most recognizable being jazz and R&B.

Each of the Watts Prophets, apart from the group, have been successful in their own respective achievements and careers.

Amde Hamilton has taught poetry at San Francisco State University and has worked in several community-oriented programs, varying from a position as a counselor to coordinating special programs at Drew Postgraduate Medical School.

  Watts Towers Art Center Otis O’Solomon has written for the Los Angeles Times, as well as screenplays for television and film, and even commentary material for song books on Quincy Jones, Marcin Hamlisch and Cannonball Adderly.

Richard Dedeaux has led a flavorful career as well. In addition to touring the country and reading poetry opposite Richard Pryor, Marvin Gaye, Minnie Riperton and Stevie Wonder, he has also been a creative writing instructor for several institutions and a freelance producer for major broadcasting stations as well.

Altogether, these three gentlemen form like Voltron and spread their positive “Talk Up, Not Down” lyrical messages, according to Hamilton.

The other Watts members agree that they use their artistry to promote awareness and instill inspiration.

“We just come from our soul,” O’Solomon said. “We are conscientious poets with a message of inspiration and motivation – to bring some new awareness and to get inside people’s heads and make them think about what’s going on.”

“We do not use profanity; we do not degrade ourselves with the ‘n-word.’ All of the prophets talk up, not down,” Dedeaux said. 

And that’s the way it has been for over 30 years.

In the beginning, the poets began with social commentary. Addressing racism, poverty, violence and everyday reality, the Watts Prophets attacked problems through poetry and music.

Continuing the tradition, they have kept delivering their messages over the years.

“Today, a lot of problems, situations and challenges in people and humanity, are still there,” said O’Solomon. “We’ve dealt with sexism, racism, ecology – a lot of things that are going on.”

“That’s why Shakespeare is still good today and the Bible is still good today,” he added. “Even though they are old, they touch a quality, a humanity that they are always able to adjust to with small adjustments in the language.”

Though the Watts Prophets emphasize positive messages, an integral part of their motivation and inspiration is in helping youths. By putting forth these positive messages, the Watts Prophets hope to promote a sense of awareness in the children of today in preparation for their future.

“We love young people,” said Hamilton. “We are fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers. All of us have children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and we are concerned about their future. Sometimes it seems like the young people are abandoned and people are not thinking about them.”

“We’re concerned about our children, and our children meaning all that come in front of us,” he continued. “So that’s one of our great motivations, to make creative, aware young individuals who won’t be afraid to change things where they need change.”

That is where the Hip Hop Poetry Choir comes into play.

Commissioned by UCLA and sponsored in part by the Henry Mancini Endowment, the Hip Hop Poetry Choir is a group, ranging in age from 10 to 25, that the Watts Prophets founded to help share the beauty and power of poetry.

Officially starting about four months ago, the Prophets recruit, coach, and mentor young people, providing them with poetry, dance, drum and choir workshops.

By using hip-hop as a means of presenting a message, the Hip Hop Poetry Choir is motivated by the Watts Prophets to use hip-hop as a means of communication.

“Hip-hop is the contemporary thing that’s happening now,” O’Solomon said. “It’s always good to blend the old with the new. Amde had the point that young and old go together, like the seasons of the world, and it all comes together.”

“People always speak of the generation gap,” he added. “If the old folks give the young folks a chance, and the young folks give the older people a chance, they find out that they can learn a lot from each other, and bring both those communities together.”

A slight issue that might arise is the use of profanity and topics that can be considered a bit more frivolous in today’s hip-hop and music industry.

“I’d just like to see a lot less profanity, and also to take it a little off the materialism and put it more on the foundation of spirituality and humanity. I think sometimes the sex is a little too much,” O’Solomon said. “But I love hip-hop, I love all kinds of music. A lot of older people don’t listen to hip-hop, but they need to, because they don’t know what their kids are listening to.”

Other members of the group have similar sentiments.

“Young and old go together, and that’s the missing link,” Dedeaux said. “Kids have lost respect for their elders and that’s the missing link. If you don’t know your past, you’re bound to repeat it. We have to reestablish that link and give them those parts that are missing in their lives and put them back on track.”

Giving to the Hip Hop Poetry Choir what the Watts Writers Workshop gave to them, the Watts Prophets appear to have come full circle.

However, that doesn’t say anything about their music. Going on strong for 34 years, the Watts Prophets’ poetry and music still address social issues and current problems. Contributing a broader history of hip-hop and being so active in the education of the youth, the Watts Prophets are still revolutionary and fresh.

“We’re still doing some of the forms that we’ve been doing close to over thirty years,” Hamilton said. “We have just been evolving and continuing to evolve. Creativity is an endless avenue.”