In Kevin Coval's 2005 book of poetry Slingshots: A Hip-Hop Poetica, the Chicago poet cites KRS as a big influence on his artistic vision and in his overall world view.
In fact, Coval's style of poetry and his live performances bring hip-hop style into close proximity with some of Chicago's major literary lights.
Kevin Coval joins us to talk more about that mash-up. He's out now with his second book – a collection of his work entitled Everyday People.
You can also download selections from his book at his website.
If you'd like to catch Kevin live, he has a number of performances coming up. On Monday night, he'll perform at Mental Graffiti at the Funky Buddha Lounge in Chicago. Later in the month he'll be at the Social Justice Fair at Orozco School in Chicago.
Music Button: Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, “The Message”, from the CD The Message, (Dbk Works records)