Aja Monet On “People’s Party With Talib Kweli”

In this episode of “People’s Party With Talib Kweli”, Talib Kweli and Jasmin Leigh sit down with poet, writer, lyricist, and activist:

AJA MONET

Here’s what they got into:

• Her and Vic Mensa’s rendition of the classic Black Star song, “Brown Skin Lady”
• Visiting Cuba, meeting family there, and discussing the revolution
• Love for hip hop activist and revolutionary, Nehanda Abiodun
• The importance of the Nuyorican Poets Café and it’s connection to hip hop
• How community was everything for developing poets while coming up
• Being a part of the first “Brave New Voices” teen poetry slam and winning
• Looking to make her elders like poet/activist June Jordan proud
• Coming to Talib’s defense in her piece, “For Women, Love, and Hip Hop”
• Talib clarifying the reasons he called out Maya Moody on Twitter
• “We need to love each other more than we hate our enemies”
• The complicated relationship between her and her mother growing up
• The rappers and singers she listened to as an aspiring artist
• Feeling motivated to use her gift of translating emotions into words
• Aja’s “Give My Regards To Brooklyn” piece and talk about gentrification
• Her poem, “The Whistleblower” about LAPD officer Christopher Dorner
• The notion of hashtags becoming cemeteries and dangers of social media
• George Floyd’s death being a wake up call to those denying police brutality
• Her pushback of the capitalist “Rise and Grind” hustle culture
• Wise words from poets Nikki Giovanni and Ntozake Shange
• Nikki Giovanni and James Baldwin’s interview on the 70s show “Soul!”
• Phil Agnew, and the legacy of Dream Defenders activist organization
• Why she chose to publicly show support for the Bernie Sanders campaign
• Taking a hiatus from poetry while living in France and getting inspired again
• Penning “Limbo” after witnessing someone being shot and killed
• The relevance of her piece, “The Emerging Woman After Aborting A Girl”
• How she was recruited by Eve Ensler to work with the V-Day movement
• Her take on the term, “birth-givers”, that Rage Against The Machine used
• How comedians should be triggering the questions nobody is asking
• The practice of having conversations her younger-self and how much it helps
• Making a poetry album over lockdown with today’s greatest jazz artists

“People’s Party With Talib Kweli” is also available to give a listen via Spotify | SoundCloud | Google Play | Apple | Luminary