Some of my favorite people are poets and today’s Hip Hop Pops is a prime example.
As host of the longest running poetry open mic in the game, A Mic and Dim Lights, Bess Kepp has provided generations of Los Angeles wordsmiths opportunities to hone their craft and launch their careers.
Peep our interview with teacher, coach, husband and Hip Hop Pops, Bess Kepp.
But first, a poem:
1. What’s your first hip hop memory?
Double Dutch Bus around 1982, I was 7 years old. There was a verse , “I miss the bus, I know I’m late, I gotta do something I know I hate I gotta walk to work 15 blocks I already got a hole in my socks…” I thought that was hella funny. I memorized it and would say it like it was mine. Didn’t realize it was hip hop at the time. To me, it was just a middle aged black man telling his story like my uncles would.
2. What was your parents’ relationship with hip hop?
Did they think it was cool? Dangerous?I guess they were cool with it. Like any parents they quick to compare it to what they listened to back in the day. My brother was part of a bboy crew called Soul City Crew. Moms would drive him around to practices and shows. So I guess she was with it. She’d be in the front row cheering lol…Super loud!
3. Tell me about your kids and how you decided on their names.
We just loved how the name Jaelyn sounded. Her middle name is Chantel….we love that too. I wanted to name Elijah, Kane (King Asiatic Nobodies Equal) but his mom wouldn’t let me. I love calling him Eli for short. His middle name is Louis, after my father and brother. Lil Cory, yeah we had to have a junior. I just hope in the future they don’t mix our credit up We named the little one Quinn because we wanted a strong one Syllable name. Her middle name Diane is from her mom and grandma.
4. Do you have any poems that address the issue of fatherhood?
I feel the issue of fatherhood is embedded in my poems. One of my most memorable lines regarding fatherhood was a poem about my late step-dad, Odell Austin. -Never would I put him in the place of my dad But at times he was the only father-figure I had Yes, I know that he made mistakes But now that i’m grown, I can better relate
5 . Whose your kids’ favorite poets?
Chance the Rapper, YBN Cordae, Drake, William Shakespeare, Jhene Aiko and me 🙂 *note-i grouped text them, and these were their responses.
6. How do you teach your kids about creativity? Have they started writing poetry?
I just try to create/provide a space where they can be creative. My oldest daughter journals. The others just write when they have to for class, but when they do, they go in hard. Cause they know
7. Tell me about your poetry teaching project.
I teach poetry to International students in the summer as a way of documenting their experience here in the States. I also have a poetry club at the school I teach at. We meet once a week.
8. Whose your favorite TV dad?
James Evans Sr. from Good Times. He worked hard to support his family. You’d feel the sorrow when he lost a job, and the happiness when he got a new one. He was a no nonsense dad who even punked the pimps and the drug dealers!
Check out our most recent round of Hip Hop Pops interviews here.