Abiodun Oyewole ★★★ Gratitude AFAR. CD/DL/LP

Spiritual matters dominate Last Poets founder’s first solo LP in 27 years.

The political power of Abiodun Oyewole’s verses on Last Poets’ selftitled 1970 debut laid the groundwork for hip-hop. While the tipping point then was Martin Luther King’s assassination, his belief in poetry as an agent of social change has never faltered. He sounds as authoritative as ever on Gratitude, whether undercutting his sweeping personifications of Harlem and Brooklyn with sampled strings and old-school vibes or showing off his crooning capabilities on a two-way with Def Poetry Jam star Jessica Care Moore. Not everything works. Overly fussy backings to My Life and To Begin do him few favours and actively overwhelm his reflections on Occupy. All Oyewole needs to make his humanistic points resonate is a rattle of hand drums, as A Poem and What I Want To See demonstrate.