![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/DSC01750-1-1024x769.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Performer at The Signature Lounge. (Jace Hopkins\/FAMUAN)<\/p>\n
When the call rings out \u2014 \u201cBack talk!\u201d \u2014 the crowd answers in unison: \u201cTalk back!\u201d The room hums before the first word is spoken.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Inside The Signature Lounge in Tallahassee on Feb. 6, poets, singers and listeners pack into dim lighting, incense curling through the air as anticipation builds.\u00a0A community open mic reflects the spirit of the Harlem Renaissance, highlighting Black creative expression transitioning from struggle to storytelling.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
This is Black on Black Rhyme, a community open mic held every first and third Friday of the month, where spoken word becomes both performance and release. During the 100-year anniversary of Black History Month, the event feels especially rooted in history,\u00a0echoing a tradition that stretches back to the Harlem Renaissance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
During the 1920s, Black artists used poetry,\u00a0music\u00a0and performance to define themselves on their own terms amid systemic racism and social constraint. A century later, Black on Black Rhyme carries that same purpose forward, offering a space where Black voices are centered,\u00a0affirmed\u00a0and heard.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Keith Rodgers, founder and creator of\u00a0Black-on-Black\u00a0Rhyme, said the name itself reflects that mission.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBack in the day, there was this thing called \u2018Black-on-Black crime,\u2019\u201d Rodgers said. \u201cSo\u00a0we took a negative and made a positive out of it. Instead of crime, we say \u2018see the rhyme.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rodgers, a U.S. Army veteran, began the event in the late 1990s in his apartment, inviting poets to gather with little more than notebooks,\u00a0incense\u00a0and shared food. What\u00a0started as an informal creative outlet grew into a movement with chapters across the South\u00a0and\u00a0internationally.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t start this intentionally as a business,\u201d Rodgers said. \u201cIt became a need. People needed a place to say what they had\u00a0inside.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
That\u00a0need\u00a0remains\u00a0evident\u00a0today.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The\u00a0event\u2019s\u00a0audience included a mixture of generations bound by shared experience, ranging from students at Florida A&M University and Florida State University to high schoolers and longtime community leaders.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For\u00a0artists\u00a0like\u00a0Lunchbox,\u00a0who perform under a stage name,\u00a0the space\u00a0is about freedom.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important for people to express themselves,\u201d Lunchbox said. \u201cTo speak\u00a0what\u2019s\u00a0on their mind and express their experiences. I love being able to tell my story to people\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0never met and know\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0hearing each other.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Another performer,\u00a0who goes by the stage name\u00a0Outspoken, described Black on Black Rhyme as \u201csoulful,\u201d crediting the space for giving him a voice.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt gave me a pen and a pad,\u201d he said. \u201cA lot of times we have things to say, but\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0know how to say them. This gives you that\u00a0option.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rodgers sees spoken\u00a0word\u00a0performance\u00a0as timeless. Not a continuation, but a constant.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the beginning, it was the word,\u201d he said. \u201cAs long as you can talk, poetry is going to be here.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
As the night winds down, applause fills the room after one final performance. A poet steps offstage, embraced by cheers instead of silence. The crowd lingers, still talking, still listening.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Like the Harlem Renaissance before it,\u00a0Black on Black\u00a0Rhyme proves that\u00a0Black creativity\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0fade with time, but instead adapts, survives, and speaks back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Performer at The Signature Lounge. (Jace Hopkins\/FAMUAN) When the call rings out \u2014 \u201cBack talk!\u201d \u2014 the crowd…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":178294,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[232,234,233],"class_list":["post-179861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}