Rafael Casal

Link:http://www.hbo.com/defpoetry/interviews/season5/episode07.html

HBO: How did you get into writing poetry?

Rafael Casal: I got into writing poetry at my high school. I just started writing one day out of frustration of things that were going on in my life, and I needed to get them out somehow. So I picked up a pen and started writing in my school notebook - whatever I was feeling, whatever I felt needed to be said, to a mass of people.

HBO: How would you describe your poetic style?

Rafael Casal: My poetic style is very hip-hop influenced. I push a lot of my words out at once, and my style is very lyrical, very rhyme-based. I came up in Hip Hop, so everything is rhyme scheme, the last word rhymes with this one, and a lot of energy, busting, spitting hard.

HBO: Where's your favorite place to write?

Rafael Casal: There's a place in Berkley, California at the top of the hill - it's called Indian Rock. You can see the whole bay there. So I like to just to sit there with my notepad and write until I can't write anymore. I write for hours there in the middle of the night, two in the morning, that stuff.

HBO: What about the strangest place you've ever written a poem?

Rafael Casal: Strangest place I've ever written a poem... I wrote a poem in the bathroom of an airplane once, just because the guy next to me had earphones on and they were real loud. I couldn't focus, so I went in there and sat down for the whole flight and just wrote probably like two or three pieces, in the stall.

HBO: So how do you know when you've nailed a poem, and what does it feel like when you put that pen down?

Rafael Casal: I know I've nailed a poem when I'm at the end of the page and I put the pen down and I read it back to myself -- and I can hear the audience's reaction a few days later in the show, before I've even performed it. When I finish reading the poem in my room in the mirror, and I'm just like, yeah, this is the one, this is the poem. People are going to feel me on this one.

HBO: Why did you want to be a part of Def Poetry?

Rafael Casal: I want to be a part of Def Poetry because the whole point of spoken word is getting your message and your voice out to as many people as possible, because you feel like you have something you have to say. And Def Poetry gives poets an avenue to put their words out there for everyone to hear.

HBO: What do you think about being among the company of some of the great Def Poets of the past?

Rafael Casal: Man, there are some amazing people in the VIP room of Def Poetry. To be around those kinds of artists, who touch so many people - it's just dope to just be around them, just to get to see them perform, face to face, or in the audience, or get to shake their hand back stage. It's an amazing feeling.

HBO: Tell us about some of the poets you admire.

Rafael Casal: I admire a lot of the poets that I came up around. I came up behind Beau Sia, Mark Mamunte Joseph has always been a favorite of mine. Who else? Saul Williams of course. Dahlak Brathwaite - this is his first time on this season, but he's got to be one of my favorite poets of all time. And of course Mos Def, who's hosting the show. [LAUGHS]

HBO: Can you tell us a little about the piece you read tonight?

Rafael Casal: My piece is about body image. It's about the effect it has on men and women. I feel like every time poems get done about body image, it's always women giving out their message about the effects that it has on them, and men don't ever stand up and talk about it. So my poem is a man's voice saying what's wrong with the media's manipulation of women and body image.

HBO: What do you want the audience to take away from the piece?

Rafael Casal: I want women to leave knowing that even though the poem is not a solution, that men aren't all pretending that it doesn't exist -- that there are men who realize that it is a problem. And it's more just the acknowledgement that it is a problem for everyone. And I want people to leave understanding that the next generation is coming up with this knowledge that there are things that need to be fixed.

HBO: What inspired the piece?

Rafael Casal: What inspired the piece? It's a really weird story, you sure you want me to tell it? [LAUGHS] Okay, I was at a slam in Oakland, and there's a little girl named Zoë who reads there - she's nine years old. And it's Oakland, it's really crazy, so weird stuff goes on over there. She read a poem earlier in the night about how Barbie makes her nine-year-old self insecure about her looks. I ended up winning the slam, and the prize for me winning was a Barbie on a trophy - that she had put a nail through. And I put it on my desk at home. I just thought it was funny, and people kept commenting on it. And I took a lot from her poem, and took a lot from the metaphor that is Barbie. I felt like, this needs to come from me, because I'm onstage all the time. Not enough people are going - HBO

This year, SEED invited Rafael Casal, National Youth Slam Champion and youngest poet, at 18 years old, to appear on HBO's Def Poetry. Hailing from Oakland, California, Casal's poetry focused on issues like conformity and male vulnerability, the latter being something he suggested was very hard to find within to words of most male poets.

He opened his set with the poem he performed during his first appearance on Def Poetry, "Barbie and Ken 101." His words rhythmically discussed the amount of brainwashing done to all women concerning the definition of beauty, saying that so many are fooled into believing that "sex is survival of the thinnest". His poem pleads with his audience to see that there is so much more to being a woman than the flatness of her stomach and the size of her chest. He suggests that figures like Barbie and those who endorse her as the perfect woman, are lending lessons to an oppressive system. He says in his poem, "these teachings are women's decay," calls for a rebellion against the importance of physical standards and begs for people to see what really matters. Casal's hip-hop delivery infused with lyrical consciousness ranging from body image to abortion and back to the definition of manhood, provided a wonderful vibe throughout the Ronj. Whether one was already familiar with slam poetry or thought that Def Poetry implied a hearing deficiency, Rafael Casal's performance was very well received, and left many excited for next year's SEED Lounge.
- NAIMA MURPHY

What happens when a poet decides to get on a track? Everyone better get back- you just might just be struck dumbfounded by how easy the verses will come to demand its place. And rightfully so. Step aside everyone, the stage belongs to Rafael A.D. Casal, and he's here to prove that you're going to want to listen.

Hip-hop artist, rapper, slam champion poet, and Getback Crew member Rafael A.D. Casal is one of those artists that command attention almost immediately. In an era where ring tone music, lyrical deficiency, and dirty words dominantly pollute the airwaves, he offers a clean break by offering a fresh new voice crisp and rich with swagger, style, and craft. This January, our iLL Homie A.D. drops his debut album, "As Good as Your Word", and it promises to be an honest testament to artistic innovation and musical goodness that flexes versatility in lyrical acrobatics, sharp wit, and intelligent comebacks. So if you ready, you better get back, A.D.'s about to bring it like that!

There's something about A.D.'s sly delivery that might charm even the hardest skeptic. Its not just his clever lines, its in his voice. While he's got a voice that finds an easy comfort in spittin' verses, he's got a singing voice that is almost disarmingly hypnotic. Listen to a few tracks, and your hooked. "As Good As Your Word" easily displays his skills in delivery, performance, and most importantly, his undeniable way with words.
Though this is A.D.'s first debut solo album, he is no stranger to the stage or the page. By 19, he has appeared on Seasons 4 and 5 of Russell Simmon's Def Poetry Jam, inked a deal with def jam mobile, and has been featured in numerous publications throughout the nation. A.D. has appeared with the likes of Saul Williams, Common, Floetry, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, and Alanis Morissette, as well as his own talented collective of dope artists that make up the Getback Crew: Adarius Bell, Chinaka Hodge, Daveed Diggs, and our very own Nico Cary. - ill-literacy.com