After seeing Wednesday’s performance of “A Sucker Emcee”, I could write so much about the incredible music by the legendary DJ Rich Medina, the lighting, and simplicity of the performance that captivated me during my time at the Bank Street Theater. But I think that these experiences are moments that should be experienced first hand. All I can really say to anyone thinking of seeing “A Sucker Emcee” is that this performance is definitely worth watching. Listening to the sometimes somber, sometimes joyful tone of muMs’ rhymes made me feel completely enthralled in his performance, and genuinely interested in his story. But now, as I sit here writing this post, what I feel most strongly impacted me was the social messages being told throughout “A Sucker Emcee”.

When I first heard the line that muMs started his performance with, “Fear is a warning and I’m scared” I assumed that the performance would be based on his own struggles in his life and how he sought to overcome them. I was right about muMs sharing his personal experiences in life, but what I did not expect was the social and political messages embedded in muMs’ poems. MuMs highlighted the socioeconomic inequalities present in the Bronx, as well as depicting the destructive nature of drugs, particularly in poor communities. Once I began hearing muMs’ commentary on the poverty and economic inequality he grew up in, I appreciated the performance even more. I believe art is one of the most powerful ways of spreading the message of  socioeconomic equality, something I feel so passionately about. Looking around the audience I noticed people from many walks of life, and I remember feeling so grateful that for 90 minutes, they could experience a small sample of what it was like to be a black man living in a crime ridden, violent atmosphere of a poor neighborhood in the Bronx. For those 90 minutes, they could empathize with muMs, someone whose life was probably invariably different than their own. I honestly felt that for those 90 minutes, the story of a black man growing up in the ghetto appealed to everyone listening, no matter where they came from.

MuMs’ usage of analogies and metaphors in his poetry seemed to work best for the performance. It challenged the audience to read between the lines and really think about what was being said. One example of this was a poem called “Kidnap the President’s Wife”, which you can listen to again on the link below. This particular poem was my favorite because it was so rich in social messages. In this poem, muMs speaks about the broken healthcare system, the struggles of raising a family while battling poverty and unemployment, and the temptation of escaping reality with drugs. Some of my favorite lines are when muMs says that once the president’s wife has finally hit her breaking point, he will “introduce her to the crack pipe”, letting her “feel it’s soothing effects” and then finally bring her to the rooftop to “show her all the shit she don’t have”.  I personally thought that harsh tone and language during the performance of this poem was effective because it expressed the anger and frustration of an oppressed set of people. However, I could see how the usage of foul language in some segments of the performance may have been be off-putting or even offensive to some people.

Overall, I think “A Sucker Emcee” was an incredible performance. The music coincided with the tone of muMs’ rhymes, and the lighting similarly reflected the atmosphere being set. As a performer, muMs provided a captivating performance highlighting not only his life, but the lives of so many others who share his story. For expressing the struggles of a underrepresented class of people through his artwork, Craig “muMs” Grant is the farthest thing from a sucker emcee.