Hip-hop recording artist Mos Def, along with his “human beatbox” entertain media and others at Def Poetry sound check

What's The 411 attended a media event for Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry, better known as Def Poetry Jam, and captured Mos Def doing a sound check.

Def Poetry Jam, a spoken word poetry television series which is hosted by Mos Def, features many established and up-and-coming poets and spoken word artists.

Just prior to the sound check, What’s The 411 producer Ruth J. Morrison, got an interview with Russell Simmons, who spoke about the value of poetry and spoken word.

Additionally, Uncle Rush was on hand earlier for a photo opp with Alicia Keys and John Legend.

Def Poetry Jam aired on HBO from 2002 through 2007.

Hip-Hop artist Common wows media and others during a sound check for Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry

What's The 411 attended a media event for Def Poetry Jam, and captured spoken word artist, poet, and actor, Common, during a rehearsal/sound check for an episode of Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry, better known as Def Poetry Jam.

Def Poetry Jam, a spoken word poetry television series hosted by Mos Def, featured many established and up-and-coming poets and spoken word artists and aired on HBO from 2002 through 2007. Mos Def completed his sound check earlier.

Just prior to the rehearsal/sound check, Uncle Rush was on hand earlier for a photo opp with Alicia Keys and John Legend.

What’s The 411 producer Ruth J. Morrison, got an exclusive interview with Russell Simmons, who spoke about the value of poetry and spoken word.

Award-winning poet Sonia Sanchez rehearsing for Def Poetry Jam

What's The 411 attended a media event for Def Poetry Jam, and captured poet and activist, Sonia Sanchez, during a rehearsal/sound check for an episode of Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry, better known as Def Poetry Jam.

An educator, mother, and winner of several awards for her poetry and activism, Ms. Sanchez is most often associated with the Black Arts Movement. In fact, Sanchez was a very influential part of the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Studies Movement. Sanchez has edited two anthologies on Black literature, We Be Word Sorcerers: 25 Stories by Black Americans and 360° of Blackness Coming at You. She continues to advocate for the rights of oppressed women and minority groups.

Def Poetry Jam, a spoken word poetry television series hosted by Mos Def, in addition to Ms. Sanchez, featured many established and up-and-coming poets and spoken word artists and aired on HBO from 2002 through 2007.

When life got tough, Lemon didn’t make lemonade, he created an orchard

Hailing from Brooklyn, NY, artist extraordinaire, Lemon Anderson’s specialty is spoken-word, poetry, and acting. What makes Lemon special is his tenacity. After bouncing around from school to school, Lemon found himself in jail at Rikers Island and fortunately, at Rikers, he found a great teacher. From there Lemon began to focus on his greatness. He learned that life is a marathon, not a sprint, and you have to put the work in to see results.

Lemon considers himself to be a studied poet, which means he follows and studies the great poets who have come before him, which is a great attribute because so many people across industries don’t recognize the people who have come before them. They tend to think it’s unimportant or it doesn’t matter. Lemon also recognized from studying great poets that poetry is performance art which actually separates decent poets from great poets. A so-so poet may just recite a poem, but great poets put their whole being into the words. So when Spike Lee saw Lemon’s performance in Def Poetry on Broadway, he extended an opportunity to Lemon to work on two of his films proving that putting the work in was starting to pay off.

We’ll be watching.