Love Vibe

[Presented as hip-hop performance poetry]
Valerie Bermudez, University of Manitoba

It was a clear summer night the breeze was right
Our girl dolled up, our guy was lookin fly
She’s waited all May for that single day
Gave her the ring ring, our guy was on his way

See, she was d&b, jungle, pop & rap
She loved R&b, revival riffs & that
But he was underground, dug those classic sounds
Born in 7-8 ‘round when hiphop came around

Talib’s “Reflections” and DJ Revolution
led to “The 18th Letter,” so there was no confusion
They were into some sames & so they made a date
To a hiphop jam where their tastes could relate

She had never been which gave her all the more reason
To find out for herself all the things that she’d been missin
And though mixin, scratchin, and jugglin were his thing
He wanted her to listen, feel the vibes, & let them in

He wanted her to listen, feel the vibes, & let love in

He wanted her to listen, feel the vibes, & let love in

She grew up in the ‘burbs submersed in Anglo words
Where being ‘Filipino’ was unheard of & absurd
& in the Flip community she simply couldn’t be
Because of the language that she simply couldn’t speak

So she walked through the worlds ‘tween the brown & the white
Not belonging to the left, not a part of the right
‘cuz right both was & was not white
& brown & not brown was her “sugar & spice”

And all of her friends were into white guys
That they couldn’t relate to or say why they liked
Except that their hands fit ‘round their tiny lil waists
In ways that our pino boys could only disgrace

But for her, love meant more than simply hands & skin
& she couldn’t talk about it cuz her lingo didn’t fit in
From her peers to her parents, they just weren’t hearing things
And she wanted them to listen feel her angst & let her in

She wanted them to listen hear the angst in her questions

She wanted them to listen,`xplain the confusion they lived in

He was urban cut, straight from the inner city
Handsome Ukraine/Brit slash Chop community
But he didn’t know his Portuguese culture
So he too felt confusion in the future

Like he knew where he was from but he couldn’t even speak it
So he seeked to fit somewhere he could be it & believe it
And the people all around knew he was vulnerable
Spoke in exploitation ‘cuz he was young & gullible

But he found his place amidst rhymes & breaks
Found how to find him, took the steps it takes
And where he went, there were words & ways
That anyone could speak understand or say

The capacity for love grew large in him
He formed language, art & music form deep within
All this without even being on the in
But cuz he learned to listen, he felt the vibes that love was in

He simply learned to listen, feel the vibes & let love in

He simply learned to listen, feel the vibes & let love in

So now our guy & girl are sharing a world
One where belonging is always assumed
Because there are no blood types, only sample rights
No single message that can’t surpass our sight

So the ‘urbs & the ‘burbs, age & skin colours obscured
Cuz it ain’t where you’re from what you are that gets you heard
And being this or that is no longer absurd
Cuz it’s the diffs in our words that are embraced & observed

And yes our guy’s white, & our girl is Filipino
But it’s not simply that uniting their two pheno-
Types, it was language one they both could speak
One that wasn’t closed, one anyone could reach

And now they have a culture they can pass on to their kids
And even though they’re different, their music writes them in
Gives them equal say, & equal privilege
As long as they can listen, feel the vibes & keep lovin

As long as they can listen, feel the vibes & keep lovin

As long as they can listen, feel the vibes & let love in