Poetic Soul

For 30 years, Linton Kwesi Johnson has been the most prominent figure in dub poetry, a radical combination of Jamaican patois, reggae rhythms and social activism. But his groundbreaking dub poetry albums of the ’70s and ’80s are only a small part of his life’s work. His best writing from the last three decades, featuring many of the poems made famous on albums like Bass Culture and Making History, is collected for the first time in Mi Revalueshanary Fren (Ausable Press). LKJ’s work speaks deeply to the black experience in Britain from the mid-’70s onwards, especially the early Thatcher years that so inflamed tensions in Brixton and beyond. In the last decade and a half, his insight has taken on more global topics. Ausable gets bonus points for including a CD of a cappella readings with the book: look out for illegal remixes in months to come.