TEDYouth 2011
Lemon Andersen: Please don't take my Air Jordans
Filmed:
Readability: 3.9
1,332,245 views
Would you kill for a pair of Air Jordans? Lemon Andersen spins a tale of someone who did, reciting a poem by Reg E. Gaines. These verses taught Lemon that poetry could be about more than self-expression, and could sound like music when given rhythm and infused with the grit of the New York streets around him.
Lemon Andersen - Poet and actor
Lemon Andersen is a wordsmith who thinks deeply about the sounds of syllables. Full bio
Lemon Andersen is a wordsmith who thinks deeply about the sounds of syllables. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:17
"My Air Jordans cost a hundred with tax.
0
1170
4687
00:21
My suede Starters jacket says Raiders on the back.
1
5857
4548
00:26
I'm stylin', smilin', lookin' real mean,
2
10405
2990
00:29
because it ain't about being heard, just being seen.
3
13395
3914
00:33
My leather Adidas baseball cap matches
4
17309
2137
00:35
my fake Gucci backpack. (Laughter)
5
19446
3619
00:38
Ain't nobody who looks as good as me,
6
23065
2549
00:41
but this costs money, it sure ain't free,
7
25614
2376
00:43
and I gots no job, no money at all,
8
27990
1853
00:45
but it's easy to steal all this from the mall.
9
29843
2372
00:48
Parents say I shouldn't, but I knows I should.
10
32215
2837
00:50
Got to do what I can to make sure I look good,
11
35052
2691
00:53
and the reason I have to look real good, well, to tell you the truth, man,
12
37743
2991
00:56
I don't know why. Guess it makes me feel special inside.
13
40734
4989
01:01
When I'm wearing fresh gear I don't have to hide,
14
45723
2884
01:04
and I really must get some new gear soon
15
48607
1931
01:06
or my ego will pop like a 10-cent balloon.
16
50538
1971
01:08
But security is tight at all the shops. Every day there are more and more cops.
17
52509
3905
01:12
My crew is laughing at me because I'm wearing old gear.
18
56414
2523
01:14
School's almost over. Summer is near.
19
58937
2853
01:17
And I'm sportin' torn Jordans.
20
61790
2493
01:20
I need something new. Only one thing left to do.
21
64283
5300
01:25
Cut school Friday, catch the subway downtown,
22
69583
3760
01:29
check out my victims hangin' around.
23
73343
2383
01:31
Maybe I'll get lucky and find easy prey.
24
75726
2040
01:33
Got to get some new gear. There's no other way.
25
77766
2186
01:35
I'm ready and willing. I'm packing my gun.
26
79952
2358
01:38
This is serious business. This ain't no fun.
27
82310
2456
01:40
And I can't have my posse laughin' at me.
28
84766
2568
01:43
I'mma cop something dope, just wait, you'll see.
29
87334
3755
01:46
Come out of the station, West 4th near the park,
30
91089
2585
01:49
brothers shooting hoops and someone remarks,
31
93674
2237
01:51
'Hey homes, where you get them Nik's?'
32
95911
1462
01:53
I says to myself, 'Yeah. I likes 'em, I likes.'
33
97373
4394
01:57
They were Q-tip white, bright and blinding my eyes.
34
101767
2768
02:00
The red emblem of Michael looked as if it could fly.
35
104535
2680
02:03
Not one spot of dirt. The Airs were brand new.
36
107215
2434
02:05
Had my pistol and knew just what to do.
37
109649
1720
02:07
Waited until it was just the right time, followed him very closely behind.
38
111369
3187
02:10
He made a left turn on Houston, I pulled out my gun,
39
114556
2603
02:13
and I said, 'Gimme them Jordans!'
40
117159
2746
02:15
And the punk tried to run.
41
119905
2270
02:18
Took off fast, didn't get far. I fired,'Pow!'
42
122175
2762
02:20
Fool fell between two parked cars.
43
124937
1918
02:22
He was coughing, crying, blood spilled on the street.
44
126855
3119
02:25
And I snatched them Air Jordans off of his feet.
45
129974
3785
02:29
While laying there dying, all he could say
46
133759
2113
02:31
was, "Please man, don't take my Air Jordans away."
47
135872
5063
02:36
You'd think he'd be worried about staying alive.
48
140935
2729
02:39
As I took off with his sneakers, there was tears in his eyes.
49
143664
3614
02:43
Very next day, I bopped into school
50
147278
2898
02:46
with my brand new Air Jordans, man, I was cool.
51
150176
3406
02:49
I killed to get 'em, but hey, I don't care,
52
153582
2488
02:51
because now I needs a new jacket to wear."
53
156070
4169
02:56
Thank you. (Applause)
54
160239
8809
03:04
For the last 15 years that I have been performing,
55
169048
4931
03:09
all I ever wanted to do was transcend poetry to the world.
56
173979
4730
03:14
See, it wasn't enough for me to write a book.
57
178709
2456
03:17
It wasn't enough for me to join a slam competition,
58
181165
2600
03:19
and while those things hold weight,
59
183765
2472
03:22
it wasn't the driving force that pushes the pen to the pad.
60
186237
3688
03:25
The hunger and thirst was, and still remains:
61
189925
3888
03:29
How do I get people who hate poetry
62
193813
2928
03:32
to love me?
63
196741
2888
03:35
Because I'm an extension of my work,
64
199629
2299
03:37
and if they love me, then they will love my work,
65
201928
1904
03:39
and if they love my work, then they will love poetry,
66
203832
3267
03:42
and if they love poetry, then I will have done my job,
67
207099
3146
03:46
which is to transcend it to the world.
68
210245
3107
03:49
And in 1996, I found the answer in principles
69
213352
4855
03:54
in a master spoken-word artist named Reg E. Gaines,
70
218207
4651
03:58
who wrote the famous poem, "Please Don't Take My Air Jordans."
71
222858
4859
04:03
And I followed this guy everywhere until I had him in the room,
72
227717
4045
04:07
and I read him one of my pieces,
73
231762
2342
04:10
and you know what he told me?
74
234104
2246
04:12
"Yo' wack.
75
236350
1957
04:14
You know what the problem is with you, homie?
76
238307
3034
04:17
You don't read other people's poetry,
77
241341
2440
04:19
and you don't got any subordination for verbal measures
78
243781
3130
04:22
to tonal consideration." (Laughter)
79
246911
5725
04:28
Now he kept on rambling
80
252636
3197
04:31
about poetry and styles and Nuyorican Friday nights.
81
255833
4805
04:36
Now I could have quit. I should have quit.
82
260638
2852
04:39
I mean, I thought poetry was just self-expression.
83
263490
3480
04:42
I didn't know you actually have to have creative control.
84
266970
3385
04:46
So instead of quitting, I followed him everywhere.
85
270355
3983
04:50
When he was writing a Broadway show, I would be outside of the door.
86
274338
3417
04:53
I would wake him up at, like, 6:30 in the morning
87
277755
3380
04:57
to ask him who's the best poet.
88
281135
2476
04:59
I remember eating the eyes of a fish right out of the sea
89
283611
4240
05:03
because he told me it was brain food.
90
287851
2528
05:06
Then one day I told him,
91
290379
2856
05:09
"Reg E., what is subordination for verbal measures to tonal consideration?" (Laughter)
92
293235
7336
05:16
And he handed me a black-and-white printed out thesis
93
300571
4120
05:20
on a poet named Etheridge Knight
94
304691
2928
05:23
and the oral nature of poetry,
95
307619
2417
05:25
and from that point,
96
310036
1539
05:27
Reggie stopped becoming the best to me,
97
311575
2488
05:29
because what Etheridge Knight taught me
98
314063
3028
05:32
was that I could make my words sound like music,
99
317091
3906
05:36
even my small ones, the monosyllables,
100
320997
2910
05:39
the ifs, ands, buts, whats,
101
323907
2100
05:41
the gangsta in my slang could fall right on the ear,
102
326007
4522
05:46
and from then on, I started chasing Etheridge Knight.
103
330529
3170
05:49
I wanted to know which poet he read,
104
333699
2232
05:51
and I landed on a poem called ["Dark Prophecy: Sing of Shine"],
105
335931
4096
05:55
a toast signifying that got me on the biggest stage
106
340027
4640
06:00
a poet could ever be:
107
344667
2584
06:03
Broadway, baby.
108
347251
2592
06:05
And from that point, I learned how to pull the mic away
109
349843
3344
06:09
and attack the poetry with my body.
110
353187
3836
06:12
But that wasn't the biggest lesson I ever learned.
111
357023
2708
06:15
The biggest lesson I learned was many years later
112
359731
4374
06:20
when I went to Beverly Hills and I ran into a talent agent
113
364105
4818
06:24
who looked at me up and down
114
368923
2451
06:27
and said I don't look like I have any experience
115
371374
2997
06:30
to be working in this business.
116
374371
2358
06:32
And I said to him, "Listen, punk fool,
117
376729
4069
06:36
you're a failed actor who became an agent,
118
380798
3110
06:39
and you know why you failed as an actor?
119
383908
1564
06:41
Because people like me took your job.
120
385472
3210
06:44
I've traveled all the way from Cleveland and Essex
121
388682
2768
06:47
in East New York, took the local 6 line up to the hookers of Hunt's Point
122
391450
3391
06:50
who were in my way on my way to master the art of space,
123
394841
4036
06:54
and the one-to-infinite amount of man, woman and child
124
398877
2315
06:57
you can fit in there only so I can push them
125
401192
2178
06:59
to the back of the wall with my experience.
126
403370
2791
07:02
People have bought tickets to my experience
127
406161
2079
07:04
and used them as refrigerator magnets to let them know
128
408240
2705
07:06
that the revolution is near, so stock up.
129
410945
2180
07:09
I'm so experienced that when you went
130
413125
2380
07:11
to a privileged school to learn a Shakespearean sonnet,
131
415505
2643
07:14
I was getting those beats kicked and shoved into me.
132
418148
2565
07:16
I can master shock of "The Crying Game" with the awe
133
420713
2800
07:19
of a child being called an AIDS victim by a bully who didn't know
134
423513
3936
07:23
that it was his father who gave it to my mother,
135
427449
2993
07:26
and that's a double entendre.
136
430442
1852
07:28
I'm so experienced that when you went to the Fell School
137
432294
3243
07:31
and all the rich little fairy boys decided to sponsor a child
138
435537
2371
07:33
in it, that was me, but kicked me out when I was caught
139
437908
2324
07:36
teaching the fairy boys how to rob the PATS off a pair of Lee Jeans
140
440232
3676
07:39
and bring them to VIM. Let me see Chekhov pull that off.
141
443908
3344
07:43
Sanford Meisner was my Uncle Artie yelling silently to himself,
142
447252
3054
07:46
"Something's always wrong when nothing's always right."
143
450306
2298
07:48
Method acting is nothing but a mixture
144
452604
2664
07:51
of multiple personalities, believing your own lies are reality,
145
455268
2936
07:54
like in high school cool Kenny telling me he wanted to be a cop.
146
458204
3088
07:57
Dude, you go to Riker's Island Academy.
147
461292
2096
07:59
I could make David Mamet
148
463388
1467
08:00
psychoanalyze my attack on dialogue,
149
464855
2441
08:03
Stanislavski be as if he were Bruce Lee
150
467296
3599
08:06
kicking your roster of talentless students up and down Crenshaw.
151
470895
3307
08:10
So what, your actors studied guerrilla theater at the London Rep?
152
474202
2989
08:13
Let me tell you an ancient Chinese Saturday afternoon
153
477191
2744
08:15
kung fu secret.
154
479935
2464
08:18
Boards don't hit back.
155
482399
1837
08:20
You think black entertainers have it hard finding work
156
484236
2238
08:22
in this business? I'm a suspicious mulatto,
157
486474
2363
08:24
which means I'm too black to be white and too white to be doing it right.
158
488837
3066
08:27
Forget the American ghetto. I've cracked stages in Soweto,
159
491903
2896
08:30
buried abortion babies in potter's field and still managed to keep a smile on my face,
160
494799
4144
08:34
so whatever you curse at me to your caddyshack
161
498943
2415
08:37
go-for-this, go-for-that assistant when I walk out that door,
162
501358
2665
08:39
whatever slander you send my way,
163
504023
3704
08:43
your mother.
164
507727
2120
08:45
Thank you. (Applause)
165
509847
4200
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Lemon Andersen - Poet and actorLemon Andersen is a wordsmith who thinks deeply about the sounds of syllables.
Why you should listen
Lemon Andersen is a poet, spoken word artist and actor. He first garnered national attention appearing in Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam on Broadway in 2002, which won a Tony Award for Best Special Theatrical Event and netted Andersen a Drama Desk nomination for his writing. Andersen also appeared in eight episodes of HBO’s ode to spoken word, Def Poetry.
Over the past decade, he has performed in venues across the country, from New York’s Nuyorican Poets Café to Hollywood’s Kodak Theater. He has appeared in four Spike Lee films and was the subject of the documentary Lemon, a look at his journey from two-time felon to bold-faced name -- and how leaving one’s past behind just isn’t that simple.
Most recently, Spike Lee produced Andersen’s one-man play County of Kings at The Public Theater in New York City. Since its premiere in 2009, the play has been staged on three continents, to rave reviews. The script was awarded the New York Book Festival’s Grand Prize.
Anderson's newest work, ToasT, was commissioned by the Sundance Institute and will be staged at The Public Theater in 2013.
Lemon Andersen | Speaker | TED.com