For all of you who don’t know, spoken word is a a performance poetry which uses the intonation of the voice, narrative and commentary to get the artist’s opinion across. In that sense, it’s similar to traditional freestyle hip hop,[and by traditional I don’t mean writing out what your going to say on your blackberry and reading it out when the mic is on], such as Def Jam Poets on channels like HBO and Slam competitions. Now the literati among you might be turning up your nose to the idea of ‘rap’ and ‘hip hop’ pervading your arts, however spoken word is very much considered a lyrical art and one which encompasses a wider audience than you might think. For example in a religious context it has numerable following with youth movements and in terms of literature, most young people now turn their attention to alternative sources of poetry other than that provided by textbooks. In my personal experience their not to be blamed for the works of Shakespeare seeming tedious and boring, after all they were meant to be performed.

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Polarbear is a spoken word poet from Birmingham UK, his real name is Steve Camden. In ‘08 he was ‘breaking on to the scene’ around the UK with his touring piece ‘If I Cover My Nose You Can’t See Me’ and performing with well known artists such as Scroobius Pip. His style has been described as an ‘approachable, straight forward yet insanely thought provoking, break down of real life and real people’.

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Perhaps that’s where the appeal in this artist comes from, in an interview with british hip hop UK when asked ‘Do you want your words to hurt or heal?’ he replied simply with ‘I just want my words to connect’. He’s not pretending to be some great rapper ‘from the streets’ and rapping about grime. The words he uses in his performance pieces creates a school boyish charm connecting him with his audience and it comes as no surprise that his fans described him as not ‘swapping integrity for making his words rhyme’.

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The story he tells in Jessica/Dumpling is one which most men may relate to. He starts of with what might be the protagonists’ first cigarette, through to a childhood introduction of his first love in a setting most people would be familiar with …the park and the all important first kiss. Then appealing to many a young man’s sporting sense he retells the story of how he won a football  grudge match and saved the day at the cost of ‘catching a lick’ off his mum’s shoe. [we’ve all been there…making excuses for turning up late and trying to ‘butter her up’]. Fast-forward and the character is about to marry a pregnant Jessica, he’s happy with his life even though he has debts. Fast-forward again, 8 years on and it’s the final verses, the character gives very important advice to his son who wants to be like his father ‘a good flow is like a fossil, it preserves the time’. From a poet this is invaluable advice, exactly the type of advice any father can hope to give their child in their lifetime.

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…For now I say keep an eye on this poet =]