'The rebellion came': Watts Prophet Otis O'Solomon on race, revolution and rap

Fifty years since the Watts riots kickstarted his experimental spoken word group, poet and proto-rapper Otis O’Solomon reflects on the anger that drove thousands to the streets – and whether anything has changed

“The truth never spoils,” says Otis O’Solomon. You wouldn’t immediately assume this bushy haired, wily looking man who has just turned 76 has anything to do with hip-hop, but as a poet and artist, he is the forefather of NWA, Public Enemy and Kendrick Lamar.

O’Solomon sits in the Watts Coffee House, a popular meeting place in LA’s historic black enclave. A vinyl copy of When the 90s Came, the 1997 music and spoken-word album he recorded as part of the Watts Prophets, is proudly displayed at the front of the restaurant. It was in this neighbourhood, in the wake of a major riot, that he forged poetry that created the template for the rap phenomenon that was to follow.