Taken from: When The Poets Spit, Part 2 Featuring HBO’s Def Poets (link)
by Wilkine Brutus

I have two gorgeous ladies that will continue the 4-question exploration of Spoken-word poetry and Hip-Hop. 4-questions? Well… yeah, because notice during the 4th quarters in basketball and football games, the players’ signals the number 4; it’s the most meaningful moment.

The first lady at bat is HBO’s Def poet, Amanda Diva. This Sirius Satellite Radio host and Columbia University graduate has performed with the legendary, Last Poets and has shared the podium with the likes of Hip-Hop pioneer, Kurtis Blow and Grammy-nominated American poet, Nikki Giovanni. Umm, yeah… the list goes on and on.

Ruby Veridiano-ching, the only female member of the international poetry group, ill-Literacy, is a versatile lyricist that has been featured in the nationally televised, Re: Vision campaign. Ruby is a poet that can sooth the most troubled mind, rocking shows from the Bay Area to NY, to Italy and the Philippines. As a television show host for SocialLush, she was also an assistant at Jive Records. Oh yeah, don’t be surprised if you see this poetic beauty in fashion lines and ads as well.

Below, the famous 4-question interviews of both:

1. It's definitely a must to reiterate this, so what is your take on the state of Hip-Hop? Not everyone wants to be in conscience mode, but would you say we've lost at least the creativity?

Amanda Diva: No, I'd say we've lost diversity.

Ruby Veridiano-ching: Losing creativity? Yes and no. But there's Hip-Hop, and the Hip-Hop that dominates the mainstream. Mainstream Hip-Hop is a completely different monster - it can be obnoxious, abrasive, at times incoherent. It's misogynistic, money hungry, and lacks punch lines, insight, and true, skilled emceeing, while its deficiency is often disguised by a beat that "knocks" or "slaps". Mainstream Hip-Hop is not about the music; it’s about the money. Yet, there's no denying the strong presence of artists like Kanye West, Common, Jay-Z, Nas, Outkast, and Lupe Fiasco who continue to challenge and uplift hip-hop and the music world as a whole. Hip-hop is there, its alive, but I wish there were more room for it to thrive.

2. I got my first dose of performance poetry by watching Russell Simmons HBO Def Poetry. Can you briefly describe your first experience with the art form and how it has impacted your outlook on life?

Amanda Diva: My first experience with spoken word was a poem my homeboy Robert Hardy did for a showcase out freshman year of college. I knew about Hip-Hop of course and poetry on the page but never of performing poetry. His performance opened my eyes to a new form of expression that captured many of my best assets, monologue, rhyming, and comfortability on stage. When I started writing rhymes they never seemed to fit into bars and I realized that they were meant to be poems and found myself delving into the art form I had just discovered to find my voice.

Ruby Veridiano-ching: I was first introduced to spoken word when I met Adriel Luis, my crewmember in ill-Literacy. I had already been writing poetry years before our introduction, but seeing it performed out loud instilled a new passion. Spoken word, combined with my increasing socio-political awareness and involvement in student activism in college, allowed me a platform to create art with a purpose. Since then, I've never doubted what it is that I do- create art with purpose, soul, and heart.

3. There are many performers, of all genres, that were playing sports or in love with something else before their occupation presently. Were you a high school jock or had other aspirations before accepting your calling? Collect... [laughing]

Amanda Diva: [Laughing] Great question! I was a competitive gymnast throughout middle school and the beginning of H.S. It was my passion and I still love it. (The walls of my room in my mother's house is still plastered with posters of the world's best gymnasts of 1996 - 1999). I broke my right wrist then immediately after my left and decided it was time to move on. I then committed my energy to acting attending a performing arts magnet H.S… and then, going to SUNY Purchase as a freshman in the acting conservatory there, but after a year there, some b.s. went down and they asked me to take a year off. I instead created my own major Black Studies with a concentration in the visual & performing arts and through my studies and continued need to be on stage found my way to poetry.

Ruby Veridiano-ching: I grew up in an immigrant Filipino family, so they always pushed a career in medicine. I was always taught that was the ideal route- I never once thought I'd make a career as an artist! I wanted to be a doctor- except I decided I hated all the pre-med classes! (Really, I sucked - I'm an artist, I create room for multiple answers, not linear ones). When I finally pursued my art as a full time career, I'm happier than ever.

3. Spoken-word is still thriving, however, how can we get the mainstream involved again like the MTV era in the 90's movement?

Amanda Diva: I don't think spoken word poetry is a mainstream thing. Though I support its popularity, if it becomes mainstream it then becomes polluted with all the things that travel in tributaries to the mainstream and that would defeat its entire purpose!

Ruby Veridiano-ching: I'm not entirely sure whether I would want spoken word to reach the mainstream level- spoken word poetry right now is still very much a grassroots movement, a push of the people, a pure art form that gives its artists freedom to say what the need. As a culture, spoken word is one of the only art forms that is known for its consciousness, its sensitivity, and its awareness - I guess I'm afraid that if it ever hits the mainstream, it will become distilled and diluted just like hip-hop, and I couldn't bear that. Spoken word is very much an art for the people, not for the profit, and while I do hope that it continues to gain popularity, I hope it will retain its culture, purity, and intent.

Game over, but check out their latest news:

Amanda Diva

Official Website: www.amandadiva.com

MySpace: www.myspace.com/AmandaDiva

Catch Amanda Diva weekly on VH1's "Best Week Ever!" Friday at 11pm EST! "Breakfast At Diva's" Monday till Friday 6am - noon EST on Sirius Satellite Radio's

Hip Hop Nation Channel 40

Ruby Veridiano-ching

Official Website: www.ill-literacy.com

MySpace: www.myspace.com/rubyskyy

- Currently hosting Socialush TV in San Francisco, CA
- Youth Speaks: Poet Mentor/Arts Educator in San Francisco
- Research assistant: We got Issues! Arts/Activism Non-profit in summer of 2007
- In constant tour with her group ill-Literacy

- By Wilkine Brutus (www.myspace.com/poeticballer)