Arguably he was the first rapper. I know he was the first I ever heard take the rhythms of the streets and the vernacular and and turn those into set pieces that communicated black realities to the whites who were into hip night spots. More than Lenny B. there was Lord Richard Buckley---who took those rhythms and wrote beat poetry with a rap sensibility and, like Oscar Brown, sought to make a living of sorts from presenting it to whites in bars--where the $$$$$$$$ was to be found.

Interestingly, I saw all of these people, along with Roy Inman and Ira Rogers, who were doing Oscars pieces along with their own----I saw them all at the Gate Of Horn folkie nightclub in Chicago in 1958 and '59----when I was still in high-school. They'd let us in and sell us Cokes---until we got a phony draft cards for I.D. purposes.

When a kid, this same year, we'd hang out at the bar at Chicago's SECOND CITY ---when it was at Wisconsin and Clark Streets. I just soaked up the conversations. The bartender would only serve us Cokes. But The Man With The Golden Arm author, Nelson Algren, was the one I really enjoyed listening to there. And it was Nelson Algren who slid his own beer down the bar to me one night---to the consternation of the bartender. So, I guess it is true that Mr. Nelson Algren bought me the first beer I ever had in a bar!!

All of it, fond memories.

Art Thieme