Fresh Face – Abraham “Honest Abe” Benjamin

Posted on 04 April 2010 by Nicole

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The following is the first part of a two part interview that I did with Abraham “Honest Abe” Benjamin. In this part, I focus on getting to know him, how he got started in poetry and what some of his inspirations were at that time. Since I have seen him perform on several occasions, I really felt like I could “see” how he evolved into the person that he is today. I think you will find this to be insightful and I can’t wait to post the second part. ~SpokenWordNewYork

What Do You Do Now and How Did You Get Started As a Poet

As far as work goes, I’m a student now in at Kingsborough CC in Brooklyn. Currently, I’m majoring in Liberal arts. I’m a writer/poet/artist in general. I originally got started writing back in the 5th grade. I mean I was around poetry. But really wasn’t quite knee deep into it as of yet. Throughout mid-late Jr. High school, as far as my writing goes, I was writing songs, short stories and essays. So fortunately, for me at that time, my bread and butter was writing songs. Through that point, at 13yrs. old I had just been writing straight songs. Singing was my first passion and still is. But it wasn’t till like late, high school-my 1st yr. in college(2006) when I started writing poetry more often. Being a song writer and singing back then, poetry is another form of song and song is another form of poetry. So it kind of went hand in hand.

When did you know you wanted to get into performing Spoken Word for the public?

I have performed in public before singing and all. As far as performing my poetry live, I began doing that during my first year in college. Joining a creative writing club/poetry group to help in my writing was a good step forward. And there was a Professor/Curator of the club that told me about events around school to perform at. This was still a bit new to me so I started reciting my work at school events via paper (of course, still a paper poet at the time. Not ashamed to say I was. Lol).

These performances also lead to me featuring at my recent college at a fashion show, definitely an great experience. So, I continued with it, trying out new stuff at home, and then doing more open mics around school. Then, the professor who led the group suggested I check out a venue called, The Bowery poetry club. He also mentioned that he hosts a monthly show. This was kind of big for me due to the fact that I had never performed at a venue like this in front an audience before. This ended up being a slam competition. I never knew about or had been in one ever. I obviously didn’t win that night.

So I went home and started writing more. I started competing in more slams. Then, I decided to strictly stick to open mics. It made a good base to hone my performance aspect. Like, I gradually got more comfortable performing in front bigger and relatively small crowds and venues. The nervousness still comes to me whenever I’m in a new venue now a day.

What or who inspired you to become an artist?

What inspired me to be a writer in general was my parents, teachers and brothers. With my teachers, I was constantly in arts classes and of course English classes. Painting, drawing and all that; but who particularly was my influence was, my father for one. He was a guitar player. And he got me my first guitar at 13 yrs. Old. I started creating my own music from then.

As far as music wise, I was influenced by , a lot of Caribbean music (calypso, reggae, Soca), R&B/Soul, hip-hop growing up. Some of the artists include, Whitney Houston, Brian McKnight, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye…etc. Hip-hop, it was KRS-One, Buck Shot shorty and Blackmoon, Common, Rakim….etc. As far as poetry/spoken word go, I’d have to say my mother was my first influence in terms of poetry and spoken word is concerned. Before meeting or knowing of any other artist; I say this because, when growing up, if me or my brothers said or did something wrong….the way she would cuss us out, before, during and after the whooping/consequences…. I swear, it was pure poetry!!

Some other actual artists, poet wise, that influenced me, Langston Hughes, W.E.B. Dubois. And Spoken word wise, I’d have to say, Rainmaker, Ainsley Borrows, Taalam Acey, Lamar Hill, and Mahogany L. Browne. There is a bigger list of names, but they are the ones that influenced me a lot when stepping on the scene about 3 yrs. ago. Partly, they influenced my style, not totally, partly. Some I didn’t fathom the magnitude of how big they were until I did the research and was like whoa. A few of these artists I’ve had the honor of being in their workshops, that help improved my writing. That’s one thing I’ll always be thankful to each for.

How does your style of Spoken Word Poetry differ from other artists?

I’d say my style differs from others, because of the way I used my vocab. I put my own little Brooklyn swag on it. I Also incorporate some of my influences including music. Lately I’m starting to include some singing in my poems. I know a lot of other poets that do that.

I didn’t even notice till recently that I was unconsciously including humor in my poetry to make light of some serious situations and pointing out how ridiculous they are. But when it comes to love, or maybe even erotic poems (I do go there at times) the subject matter is usually pretty random. Unless it’s something specific that’s on my mind, it tends to be a random topic/genre. Coming out however it is, I may hit on some serious STUFF (as political, social or whatever) on the head.

Anyone who knows me, or heard me before knows I curse from time to time. I only do this to get my point across. I don’t have to curse in all my work to get my point across though. A friend helped describe my style, she said, “Even if it’s tragic at the beginning, it always ends with hope and you have your way of delineating things to give fair deal to all your life’s ordeals.”

I’d say that my style starts with my stage presence. It has something to do with the type of spiritual movements my poems bring out in me. I don’t read the dictionary a lot, but I do have a list of words that I’ve cataloged over the years that stuck out to me when reading something. And I use them in my style of writing, also, doing my best to embody it.

My style also tends to be more inspirational. Whether it’s a free write or concentrated, the words come out as they see fit. I’m always told my work is mad deep. I’ve been told, my style mirrors like, artist like Taalam Acey most. I don’t really see it much. I mean, I do respect the brother, don’t get me wrong. I may resemble some similarities when on stage. But I think my kind of stank is much different.

Check out Abraham’s videos here on Spoken Word New York or go to Youtube and follow his videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfYwfvptR1c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dh389zUAnbA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFxRJz79TdU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s91pOG7fJ44

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxWCpMbvwHg

You can also see more of Honest Abe’s work or to contact him:

http://www.myspace.com/honestabeizdtruth

http://www.reverbnation.com/dtruthspeaks (current main site)

http://www.youtube.com/abestube

http://www.facebook.com/dtruthspeaks

http://www.honestabe4u.blogspot.com