Harlem Renaissance writer James Baldwin once said, “Negro speech is not a question of dropping s’s or n’s or g’s, but a question of the beat.”

The unique beats of speech laid with the authentic heat of the streets will be preached at Def Poetry Jam Oct. 9 at 8 p.m. in Hill Hall at Chapel Hill. The performance is sponsored by the Carolina Union Performing Arts Series.

The 2003 Tony award-winning performance for best special theatrical event combines a play, a concert and cipher — all laced with live music from DJ Doria Roberts.

“Audiences in general are hungry for entertainment that is new and vital,” said Russell Simmons, hip-hop mogul and co-producer.

The original HBO cable series “Def Poetry Jam” was hosted by lyricist Mos Def. The program debuted some of the best spoken word artists in the country.

The HBO televised broadcast was then formatted into a live stage production on Broadway in Manhattan, where 9 poets join to express complex, electric, and spine-tingling verses.

Many veteran spoken word supporters have questioned how authentic the program was in the context of the freestyle culture of spoken word that’s now being sold to mainstream America.

Three poets will be featured from the original HBO series:

A native Trinidadian, Roger Bonair Agard, has been featured on “60 Minutes.” Bonar Agard has made his mark at slams in New York City’s Nuyorican Poet Café’s Championships where he was named Fresh Poet of the Year.

Korean American Ishle Yi Park has also been featured on broadcast programs like the NAACP Image Awards. Her work has appeared nationally in over 20 publications.

And Stacyann Chin, a native Jamaican, has performed internationally and has had work published in the New York Times, Washington Post and the Pittsburgh Daily. She also has her own one-woman show Off-Broadway.

Chin will hold poetry workshops on UNC’s campus the day of the show. One workshop participant will be selected to perform a poem on stage with the Def Poetry Jam professionals.

UNC’s Black Student Movement EROT — a poetry/spoken word performance group will hold a Curtain Talk at 7 p.m.

Spoken word has played an important role in social change and raising political consciousness. The poetry is a fantasy of reality, and when spoken it can be used as a collective voice to the masses that refuse to remain voiceless.

At the Feb. 15 world wide rally against the war, Def Poets stood on stage in NYC with historical legends such as Civil Rights activist Angela Davis to the Reverend Desmond Tutu.

During the 1960s, radical poetry was spoken to keep activists motivated. Some of the revolutionary icon wordsmiths of the time were Sonia Sanchez, The Last Poets (Umar Bin Hassan and Abiodun Oyewole), Nikki Giovanni and Amiri Baraka.

In the 1970s Caribbean, another very popular style of spoken word emerging was Dub Poetry; a genre of “chantin’,” “chattin’,” or “ragga” of reggae music introduced by Jamaican Linton Kwest Johnson.

In dub poetry, the instrumental “dub” of a reggae beat was lowered for the first time and the message through poetry was emphasized.

Dub Poetry, a parent to the Dancehall culture, is often seen as the equal sibling to Rap music, the parent of Hip-Hop culture.

The Def Poetry Jam performance is not candle lit, coffee house, finger snapping poetry. It’s brilliant, hilarious, honest and provocative.