Among the common spoken word performances is called the performance poetry.  It is when a poet reads aloud poems from any source, such as previously published entries.  A spoken word is usually done with background music, but still, giving much emphasis on the speaker.  Another form of spoken word that continues to gain popularity all through the years is the social and political commentary.  Commentaries are done in a way that is more artistic, rather than the accustomed speech. 

More often than not, spoken word performers or artists are musicians and poets. It was labeled as notorious around the later part of the 80’s and the early years of the 90’s because of the birth of poetry slams, when artists got involved in cabaret-style duels.  Despite such incidents then, poetry arena in the United States saw an interest in spoken words poetry by the 1990’s.  However, it was not the pioneering appearance of spoken word.  For it was during the times of storytellers and troubadours that spoken word was given birth, as they recited their poetry pieces aloud for the purpose of gaining recognition.

By the time printing press was invented, performance poetry took a shift to publishing, which paved the way of increased work availability for performers and artists alike.  And again, by the 50’s and the 60’s, spoken word was brought around.  The Beats, a community of all-white male poets and writers began to use spoken words in expressing their anti-academic beliefs and antagonism of societal norms, until spoken word again, slipped beneath the mainstream and resurface in the 1990’s.

The frank, strong and aggressive approach to poetry in the 90’s served as the primary reasons for spoken word to be back on the limelight again.  Dissimilar to The Beats, the emergence of the spoken word that time was not politically driven.  Rather, it focused more on enhancing diversity among the performers, as they reached out to inspire amateur and beginner practitioners by sending various messages of tolerance and positive influences.  In other words, it was all about bringing the art of poetry again to the masses.

Renowned poets and spoken word artists like the names of Henry Rollins, Maggie Estrep, John S. Hall, Dana Bryant and Reg E. Gaines were all recipients of world-class recognition as spoken word made its way to the boob tube.  In fact, MTV noticed the demand for spoken word as a form of entertainment in the middle of the 90’s and came up with its own segment of “Spoken Word Unplugged.”  The show aimed to showcase deserving talents in this particular field of delivering poetry.        

However, in the later part, may of the performers eventually shifted into other branches particularly in novel writing.  By that period, there was a confounding issue that affected artists that dealt between rap and spoken word.  Some artists even strongly argued that rap is musical instead of being poetic, and that spoken word was the reverse.  John S. Hall released a statement attesting that a spoken word is highly related to poetry and rap is more of a song.  Since each person has his or her opinion on things, some artists claimed that spoken word is just an encompassing term that is used to differentiate oral performances.  Besides the argument between artists with regards to the distinction of spoken word, in general, the public acceded that rap and spoken word are certainly two disparate manners of expression.

Since argument had started to break loose, it was not surprising when scholars joined in and let-off academic criticism.  Spoken word then was drastically commercialized.  And because of the unstoppable critics, MTV supported the negative claims and pulled off interests to the movement as the years progressed.  And so, by the end of the 90’s, spoken word once again was beneath the prevailing public attention.