7NMS | Marjani Forté-Saunders and Everett Saunders, Prophet: The Order of the Lyricist

About the Performance

A multi-genre storytelling project about the life journey of a lyricist, Prophet: The Order of the Lyricist illuminates the distinctive practices, systems, philosophies, and political ideologies that have shaped hip-hop’s emcees and lyricists. Combining craft, prose, oration, and exposé, the work presents the coming-of-age story of an emcee, immersing audiences in a world of courage, self-determination, and devotion. Using text, sound, film, and performance, Prophet stands as a critical and embodied offering to the scholarly, civic, and ancient bodies of radical Black expression.

The MCA’s presentation of Prophet, represents the culmination of a year of relationship-building with organizations, artists, and archives. It features audio clips from the Sun Ra Archive within the Experimental Sound Studio.

This performance is part of On Stage: Resonance, organized by Tara Aisha Willis, former Curator in Performance, with Laura Paige Kyber, Assistant Curator of Performance.

Run time: 60 min.

Stay after the May 11 performance for a conversation and Q&A with the artists, moderated by Tara Aisha Willis, Former MCA Curator of Performance.