WEBVTT

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All right.

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So Afaa Michael Weaver
invented this poetry form

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called The Bop.

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All right?

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Bop-- so I've tried
writing a few Bops.

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This one, I think,
might almost work.

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This Bop might almost
always almost work.

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And I was both freaked
out and pleased,

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because I read it once when
he was in the audience.

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And he was like,
that's all right.

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[LAUGHTER]

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So yeah, the song--

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for those of y'all that
don't know what a Bop is,

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shame on you.

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[LAUGHTER]

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So a Bop is a form that
progresses both formally--

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and to form, I always
think about as,

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how much of what kind?

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But then there's
structure, which

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is invisible-- the
cognitive part, the way

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the thoughts move
through the poem.

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And most poetic forms don't
really include a structure.

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Sonnets include a structure--
argue, argue, argue, counter--

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along with the rules,
the architectural rules.

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One might make the argument
that haiku, juxtaposition--

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and then right before you get
to the moment of epiphany,

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because recently in
contemporary poets in the US

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we're kind of inside
pornographers.

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So it's all about,
let's have an epiphany.

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Oh my god.

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I was lying in my hammock,
and I realized that the red--

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right?

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[LAUGHTER]

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But the haiku, I
always felt, set up

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the condition for the reader
to have an epiphany as

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opposed to sort
of voyeuristically

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watching the poet be deep.

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So one might make that
argument in structure.

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But with the Bop,
the form is sestet--

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six-line stanza-- followed by
a quote from a song, an octave,

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eight lines--

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followed by the same
quote as refrain,

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and then another sestet
at the end, followed

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by the same quote as refrain.

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And the structure, the
ideational structure,

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is presentation of a
problem in the first.

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Working through the
problem in the middle.

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And the final one is
resolution of the problem.

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But Afaa Michael Weaver's--

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That doesn't mean
the problem's solved.

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It might just mean that
you're ready to move on

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with the problem.

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And so this quotes "Da Mystery
of Chessboxin'" from Wu-Tang

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Clan--

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in particular, a line
from Raekwon's verse.

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[BEATBOXING]

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[ELECTRONIC BEAT]

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"African Merkin Bop a.k.a.

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woke up this morning a.k.a.

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"Da Mystery--" these are
to be good at the worst

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of the things were a good one
of the worst of the things

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one could be.

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Add it.

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Right?

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Right?

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Either to be good at
the worst of the things

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or a good one of the worst
of the things one could be.

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Add it.

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Right?

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Right?

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So, to me, to be bad at the
worst of the things could,

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in the worst way, which is bad--

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since it's bad to
be for the good.

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And thus good to the worst
of things one could be.

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At it.

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[INAUDIBLE]

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Either to be good at
the worst of the things

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or a good one of the worst
of the things one could be.

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At it.

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Right?

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Right?

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So, to me, to be bad at
the worst of the things,

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good in the worst
way, which is bad--

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since it's bad to
the good and thus

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good to the worst of
things one can be.

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At it.

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I only been a good nigga
for a minute, though.

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I only been a good nigga
for a minute, though.

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I only been a good nigga
for a minute, though.

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I only been a good nigga
for a minute, though.

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[BEATBOXING]

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Too bads a positive
when times them times.

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But time comes to write
the worst of the ways.

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It's good.

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That's good.

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It's good.

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It's as bad as the bad
does to be of good things

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to see the bad things
as the worst of things,

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which ain't no no good.

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Too bads a positive,
with times, of them time.

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But time comes to
right the worst

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of the ways which is good.

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And that's good.

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That's good.

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He's so bad.

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That's so bad.

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Plus, to be a good thing, to
see the bad things as the worst

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of things, which ain't no good.

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I only been a good nigga
for a minute though.

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I only been a good nigga
for a minute though.

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I only been a good nigga
for a minute though.

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I only been a good nigga
for a minute though.

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You know how I feel.

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The light goes on, hey,
for a darkness I jet.

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As though dawned-up to
the illest sensation.

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I reach the shit and feel me.

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I'm at it.

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Only been a, only
been a, only been

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a good nigga for
a minute though.

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I only been a good nigga
for a minute though.

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I only been a good nigga
for a minute though.

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I only been a good nigga
for a minute though.

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I only been a good nigga
for a minute though.

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da dun doooooooooonnnnnnnnne

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