Renita Walls - There is No Soul in Soul Plane

 

So, when I was like way younger and way more open with my art, I was a slam poet. You know, I was allowing people to critique my art. And so, I was probably about 24 or so, and I decided to enter this SLAM. So, if you don't know what a SLAM poetry thing is, you perform a poem, you get some prize. So, this prize was for $500. And then it went on to like $2,500, because it was a promotional thing for this movie, Soul Plane. Have y'all seen this movie? Okay. So, if you have not seen this movie, imagine every stereotypical thing you have ever heard or seen or said or thought about a black person and put it together and thinking about it for an hour and a half, and that's the whole movie. [audience laughter] So, I'm like, “Okay.” 

 

So, the thing was to write a poem about soul, right? Okay. So, Atlanta is really known for poetry. If you don't know that, Atlanta is big on the scene. So, I'm sure the promoters were thinking, “Atlanta's going to have some hot ass poems.” This is going to be fantastic, right? So, I joined the SLAM, and it's some big hitters. and I'm really young in the game. I'm so nervous, but I make it through to the finals. Okay, here we go. It's going well. Night before the SLAM, sitting at home, I'm looking at the promo for the movie. I'm like, “This is some bullshit.” [audience laughter] Like, “Am I really about to write a poem or listen to people do poems about soul and their spirit and black history? But this shit, no, I can't do it.” 

 

So, my friend calls me, he's like, “Yeah, Nita, you getting ready for the SLAM?” I said, “I'm about to rewrite my poem.” [audience laughter] He said, “Hold on. The poem SLAM is tomorrow. That is a bad idea.” “No, it's not a bad idea. I'm going to rewrite the poem and I'm going to do an anti-soul plane poem tomorrow.” He's like, “This is a bad idea, Nita.” “Okay, bye.” Hang up the phone [audience laughter] Write the poem, memorize the poem, do the poem all night, don't sleep, go to work, do the poem all day. In the bathroom, in the mirror, I'm doing the poem all the way there. I get there, I feel like I'm going to pass out. [audience laughter] I'm so nervous. 

 

So, a friend of mine sees me, she's like, “Yeah, you got your poem ready?” I'm like, “Yup, I wrote it yesterday.” She said, “What? This is going to be bad. Let me hear it.” Did it for her. She said, “Let's run it. Okay, let's do it.” I said, “Okay.” So, now I'm feeling a little hyped up. I stand up there. All my friends go. They are great. Everything is going well. It's my turn. I'm like, “Oh, this is going to be bad. But I'm going to do it because I rode it. I will stand on my moral high horse. I will not let this damn SLAM go awry. I'm here to represent the black people.” [audience laughter] So, I get up there and the first line is, “It is clear. There is no soul in Soul Plane. Only souls, souls for very low payment.” I look and I see my friend who is the promoter's face, and it just says, “Oh, shit.” [audience laughter] 

 

I don't let that stop me. I just keep running head on, like I'm going to say what I got to say. “We've been bamboozled, led astray, run amok.” I really actually said these things. [audience laughter] I was quoting Malcolm X. I was on the high horse, the biggest soapbox you have ever seen. I was on it. Everybody started cheering. It was like, I was representing the people. Everybody felt this way, but nobody said it. They were all thinking about this $500. [audience laughter] I put people's names in the poem that were in the SLAM. It was so relevant. People were losing it. Everybody's on top of their chairs. And I got hyped. I felt like a poetry rockstar. I wanted to crowd surf [audience laughter] and I'm like, “It's like 50 people in here. So, that's going to be an epic fail. Don't do it. You're crazy.” So, I just did my poem. Everything was great. 

 

I got off the stage, everybody's shaking my hand. People are like, “I don't even want to go up next behind her.” People on this stage right now, I won't mention no names, but they did not [audience laughter] want to go up behind me- [audience cheers and applause] -because it was so epic. It was fantastic until they sent the footage to LA. And they saw nothing, but my angry black ass going off about this movie. And they were like, “We are not cutting the check.” And I'm like, “Are you serious?” So, my friend who was the promoter was like, “Look, she might can't go on for the big prize. I get it. You don't want her representing the movie. But she didn't break the rules. She wrote a poem about soul, about how she won't sell her soul for this trash movie [audience laughter] and you got to pay her.” They felt bamboozled. Let astray, run amok, but the check cleared.