Product Description

Experience the passion and fire of the hottest musicians, comedians and contemporary poets in each installment of Russell Simmons' Presents Def Poetry Season 5. Taped in front of a live audience at The Super Club in New York City, Season 5 of the improvisational, uninhibited series features the hottest talent lineup like DAVE CHAPPELLE (The Chappelle Show), WYCLEF JEAN (Member of The Fugees, The Carnival), ALICIA KEYS (Grammy Award-winner), and KANYE WEST (Grammy Award-winner). Each episode is hosted by the highly regarded hip-hop artist and actor MOS DEF (hit album Black on Both Sides).

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #34770 in DVD
• Brand: HBO HOME VIDEO
• Released on: 2007-05-01
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: .40 pounds
• Running time: 300 minutes

Features

• Experience the passion and fire of the hottest musicians, comedians and contemporary poets in each installment of Russell Simmons' Presents Def Poetry Season 5. Taped in front of a live audience at The Super Club in New York City, Season 5 of the improvisational, uninhibited series features the hottest talent lineup like DAVE CHAPPELLE (The Chappelle Show), WYCLEF JEAN (Member of The Fugees, The C

Customer Reviews

Pure power...pure poetry!
If you're looking for a powerful show, something that hits your heart and lets your soul fly free...you can stop right here! You have found what you're looking for in the Def Poetry DVD Collection. Poets have forever been everything from prophets to teachers in this world, and now, it's been brought to light once again by Russell Simmons and the rest of his HBO staff in this series that makes you explore every emotion you've experienced and some that you didn't even know about. I challenge every fan of poetry...come enjoy this, live this and love this...there's no other option in this.

Great to watch alone, great to share with others
I originally bought this DVD because I had a hard time getting my students interested in poetry. Words on pages were boring to them, or emotionless, or archaic. When I first showed them a few pieces from the first couple of episodes, they were immediately sucked in. They were hearing people speak eloquently and beautifully about the realities my students often faced in their own lives. Many of the poems are funny, which I think surprised my class as much as anything else. Now we regularly return to the series to watch new poems and then compose our own. It's a life-saver for a class that needs a little creative passion. [A word of warning: often the most powerful poems on the show are also the most explicit, in themes or language or both. Choose carefully before showing them to students or any younger people.]

As for personal enjoyment, I think this collection beats out all the poetry books I have. Even though I can appreciate Frost and Shakespeare and other canonical poets, the passion that the Def Poets bring to the stage adds a new dimension to spoken word that I find really enjoyable. I highly recommend this DVD (and the other seasons) for anyone who appreciates spoken word and poetry, even if hip-hop isn't your thing.

Not the best season but still . . .
Spread out over two dvds, this fifth season of Def Poetry is not necessarily the best of the bunch. There are some wonderful moments (Alicia Keys and Nikki Giovanni) and some unsurprisingly good moments (Suheir Hammad and Beau Sia both returning along with some others) but over all the "big name" guests left me wondering what was the point? Personally, I would have rather seen some younger unknown artists than clutter the stage with someone's fame.