Spoken Word: Poetry & Gregory Kemmis – “Black Talking”

Listen to this audio, listen to its intent. Try to figure out why a single like ‘Black Talking’ can exist. The same way that you try to figure out a song why ‘Common People’ exists. It’s clearly obvious that it has different meaning, but this, on the surface, is just a form of poetry… an ‘A cappella’ if you will… But there’s reasons behind that as well

Parental warning- Explicit lyrics

I really wanted to lay this out in a clear and concise way that people could look at it and say, OK, if there’s thought and there’s intelligence and there’s reason and logic behind it, then maybe you have to deal with everything like that. Is that the case with this single? Let’s dig in…

Gregory paints a dark picture of the end of humanity, a people without positivity. Gregory blames this on “Black Talking”

Racial ridiculing happens. But it isn’t a feature of black culture.

I suppose there is no such thing as ‘talking white,’ … it’s actually called ‘speaking fluently,’ speaking your language correctly. I don’t know why we’ve gotten to a place where as a culture—as a race—if you sound as though you have more than a fifth-grade education, it’s a bad thing…This reflects proper English and attacking the idea that it’s a deviation from black identity.

The main ideas—that black Americans disparage “proper English” and education and use a “broken” version of the language—have wide currency among many Americans, including blacks.

Still, it is true that so-called “proper English”—otherwise known as Standard English—is associated with white people. And there are many anecdotes and stories of black teenagers disparaging one another for using Standard English or “talking white,” which also tends to come with accusations of “acting white.”

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this single ‘Black Talking’ are those of Gregory Kemmis and do not reflect the official policy or position of Exposed Vocals, LLC. Assumptions made within the analysis are not reflective of the position of our staff or third party entities.