Now, before I had the honor as a playwright to make it to Broadway, which also opened the door for me to work in TV and film, like everybody, I had a dream growing up. Now, before I tell you what that dream was, you have to promise not to laugh.
在我能荣幸地作为编剧进入百老汇, 并由此进入影视业工作之前, 和你一样,孩提时代的我也有个梦想。 不过,在我说出这个梦想前, 你们要保证不会笑我。
(Laughter)
(笑声)
You're going to laugh? Promise? Alright. When I was growing up, I wanted to be ... a superhero.
你们会笑话我?保证不会? 好吧,言归正传。 我长大时, 想成为一个…… 超级英雄。
See, I wanted to be what I saw so vibrantly on the pages of my Marvel and DC comic books. I actually used to sit on a stoop in the projects with my godbrother Johnny, and we would create our own stories, writing and drawing them all. Now I have to confess, years before Miles Morales, we actually made the first Black Spider-Man.
我想成为那些跃然纸上的人物, 那些在漫威和DC漫画书里的形象。 我曾和教兄约翰尼坐在门廊上创作, 又写又画,编出自己的故事。 我得承认,在迈尔斯·莫拉莱斯之前, 我们早已创作了第一个黑蜘蛛侠。
(Laughter)
(笑声)
Two of them. What can I say? We was from Queens.
其实两个。怎么说呢?我们来自皇后区。
(Laughter)
(笑声)
Now, as we know, there's always a moment in a superhero's life where they realize that they have superpowers. Now mine was revealed to me by my arch nemesis, my eighth grade English teacher --
众所周知,超级英雄总会在生命某一刻 忽然意识到自己拥有超能力。 我发现自己有超能力是在 -- 我的死对头,我的八年级英文老师 --
(Laughter)
(笑声)
after he gave the class an assignment to write a poem. What happened after I did that would forever change the course of my life. Because when I turned in that assignment, the poem was so good, my teacher actually thought I plagiarized it. He asked me how did I know what all these literary devices were that I didn't even know had names at the time. Because up until this point, because of my dyslexia, English and writing was always my kryptonite. I didn't even realize that all those years of consuming hip-hop music and culture was actually teaching me how to use literary techniques.
他给全班布置写诗的作业之后。 那之后发生的一切 永远改变了我的人生轨迹。 当我交上我的诗作时,因为写得太好, 老师以为我是抄袭的。 他问我怎么知道所有这些文学手法, 其实我压根没听说过它们。 因为我患有阅读障碍, 英文和写作一直是我的致命弱点。 我没想到常年泡在嘻哈音乐文化中 让我学到如何运用那些文学手法。
Like when Tupac said, "Picture perfect, I paint a perfect picture," I would find out that that was alliteration. Hmm. I wanted to try that. "Pompous politicians pressure people to push towards their God." Hmm.
就像图帕克 (Tupac) 说的, “画作完美,我描绘了一幅完美画作,” 我后来才知道那叫做头韵, 嗯, 我也想尝试那种写法。 “浮夸政客迫使百姓靠近心中的上帝。” 嗯,
Now, right in that moment, a new power was unlocked.
就在那一刻,一股新的力量被释放了。
"We stood by street signs that were slightly slanted in the slums of the city. Then we gradually, geographically graphed the graffiti on granite walls. And this was driven from the rage of the reaction of racism that was --" Alright. Y'all get the point.
“我们站在城市贫民窟微斜的路标旁, 按地理位置逐步在花岗岩墙上涂鸦, 对种族主义的愤怒驱动着这一切--“ 好吧,大家都明白我想讲的。
(Applause)
(掌声)
Thank you.
谢谢。
I would soon find out what a metaphor was. A simile, double entendre, onomatopoeia, end rhyme, internal rhyme and so on. And I felt myself getting stronger with every word and phrase I was putting together. Now a couple of years later, in high school, I would discover the world of slam poetry. I had just recently got cut from my basketball team, so I had a lot of extra time on my hands that I wasn't used to. So what I did was I transformed my competitive energy from the court to the stage.
我很快知道了什么是比喻, 明喻,双关语,拟声词,尾韵,内韵等。 我感觉自己日益强大, 力量源于我串起的每一个词语。 两年后,还在高中上学, 我发现了大满贯诗歌的世界。 那时我刚被篮球队裁掉, 一下有了大把空闲时间,很不习惯。 于是我把热衷竞赛的精力 从球场转移到了舞台。
Now this was years before I ended up going to college and studying Chekhov and Meisner and William Shakespeare and August Wilson. Back then I was studying underground battle rap kings like Loaded Lux and Mook, and prophets that called themselves Def Poets. See, those men, they looked and sounded like me. They sounded like the neighborhoods I lived in. They sounded like home.
这都发生在我上大学之前, 那时还没学过契诃夫、迈斯纳、 威廉·莎士比亚和奥古斯特·威尔逊。 那时,我学的是地下战斗说唱王, 如 Loaded Lux 和 Mook, 以及自称 Def 诗人的先知们。 看,那些人, 他们看着听着都很像我, 听起来就像来自我生活过的街区, 听起来就像乡音。
So now, like those poets, Lemon Andersen and Black Ice, I started to look at people different. Stories started coming in and out of my mind just from observing the everyday world around me. Now I can make the regular, most mundane blue collar worker of the middle class sound like a superhero.
所以,如同诗人柠檬安徒生和黑冰等, 我开始用不同的眼光看待他人。 各种故事不停在我脑海里涌现, 源自于我对日常生活的观察。 现在我能将一个最普通的 中产阶级蓝领塑造成超级英雄。
Like I remember there was always this guy on the corner telling stories and reminiscing. We all know this guy, right? And all his stories would start off with, "Y'all, I used to be nice."
记得那个角落总有个家伙 在那讲故事,回忆往昔。 我们都知道他,对吧? 他所有的故事开头都是: “听着,我曾经也很不错的。“
(Laughter)
(笑声)
Most people would write him off. But me, I saw more than a person whose dream was deferred. I saw a person who came alive in those stories. I knew that he was more than those dreams. Whether they knew it ... or not.
多数人会将他一笔勾销, 但我看到的不只是一个梦想迟至者, 我看到他在故事中变得鲜活起来, 我知道他不只是那些梦想, 他们自己也许知道…… 也许不知道。
I used to be nice, yo.
听着,我曾经很棒的,
Nice like Jordan fadeaway nice. When I stepped on the court, stars would align, the world stopped spinning, gravity would cease and I appeared to jump higher. You see, the angle of my form was nothing less than Da Vinci's sketch of the ideal man. Man, I used to be nice.
像乔丹的后仰跳投那么棒。 当我步入球场, 星星会排成行,而世界停止旋转, 重力会消失,我似乎跳得更高。 你看,我形体的角度 不亚于达芬奇那理想男人的素描。 哥们,我曾经很棒的。
I wasn't fast, but I was quick. My defense was well equipped and my assists were crisp. Since birth I was chosen, I used to part defenses like Moses.
我跑不快,但我很灵活敏锐。 我的防守完美到位,助攻也利落干脆。 生来注定,我就像摩西般瓦解防守堡垒。
Due to my vision, I could envision a player's position before they was positioned. I was conditioned. My no-looks were textbook, and scouts even said I was off the hook. Look, my crossover would put my opponent on pause and cause the crowd to go, Oh! Yeah, I used to be nice.
我预见力超好,能够预视 其他球员即将定位的位置。 是的,我已练就。 我不看人传球很爆表, 球探都夸我棒得出人意料。 看,我的交叉传球令对手停滯不前, 观众也不禁惊叹, 噢! 是啊,我曾经很棒的。
I used to pin shots on the backboard, never bored, and when I scored, I transformed into something that wasn't even human. But who knew I would be ruined by a guy so envious of my game, his aim was me. So when I heard the snap of my knee ... everything went silent. I no longer heard the crowd or my team. My years of dedication deteriorated with my dream. So I lay there on the floor, four minutes left, fourth quarter. No water, just a jersey drenched in sweat. Regrets of trying to dunk on him. No need to ask why. This is the hand I was dealt. No sleeves. I couldn't cheat. Defeat didn't taste good.
我常把投篮钉在篮板上,很来劲, 得分时,我像变成一个超人。 谁知妒火攻心的家伙 攻击目标竟然是我。 当听到我的膝盖啪的一声, 一切归于静默。 我听不见观众、或是球队的声音。 多年的付出 将随我的梦想逝去。 我躺在地上,比赛第四节,还剩四分钟, 没有水,只有汗湿的运动衫。 后悔试图灌篮胜那家伙。 无需问为什么,这就是我拿到的牌。 没有袖子,我不能欺瞒。 失败的滋味真不好受。
But I used to be nice, yo. Nice like Jordan fadeaway nice. When I stepped on the court, the stars would align, the world stopped spinning, gravity would cease, and I appeared to jump higher. Yeah, I used to be nice.
但我曾经很棒的啊,哥们, 像乔丹的后仰跳投那么棒。 当我步入球场, 星星会排成行,而世界停止旋转, 重力会消失,我似乎跳得更高。 是啊,我曾经很棒的。
(Applause)
(掌声)
Now I found myself becoming obsessed with words and how they sounded. I started absorbing and paying attention more to speech patterns when people would speak, when I was on a train going through the city. I also fell in love with jazz, because I realized that the style that I was creating for myself had elements of improvisation, like jazz greats: Gil Scott-Heron, Miles Davis, Thelonious. I also went and discovered new poets that I didn’t know. That's when I discovered Langston Hughes and Jean Toomer.
而今我发现自己 迷上文字 和它们的声韵。 我开始吸收和关注 周围人们的交谈方式, 坐火车穿越城市时也不放过机会。 我也爱上爵士乐, 因为我的创作风格 含有即兴元素, 就像爵士乐大师一样: 吉尔·斯科特-赫伦、 迈尔斯·戴维斯、塞洛尼斯。 我还发现了一些新诗人, 如兰斯顿·休斯和吉恩·托莫。
Now like every story, everyone has a love interest. And mine was Nikki Giovanni. And I actually fell in love with her.
每一个故事里, 中心人物都有个心上人, 我的是妮基·乔瓦尼(Nikki Giovanni), 我真的爱上她了。
I found an Afrocentric descended angel ... sitting by herself. And she is beautiful. Certain moments are precious, I was told. And when you get to see into someone's soul, you see heaven. So if that's true, heaven is where I am. She painted her finger across the sky like she was painting the stars. And the world fell silent as I listened to the internal instrumental that my heartbeat made.
我发现一个非裔天使 ...... 独自坐在那里, 优雅美丽。 我听说,有些时刻珍贵无比, 当你看到他人的灵魂,你看到天堂。 若真是这样,我此刻正在天堂。 她用纤指轻划过垠空,如同涂染星星, 世界陷入沉静, 让我聆听我心跳演奏的乐曲。
I walked up behind her and touched her shoulder like the wind. And she looked at me like that familiar image she sees in her dreams. She is like the perfect use of assonance in just the right amount of lines.
我跟随其后,如风般轻触她的细肩, 她回头看我,如同凝视梦中熟悉的身影。 她恰似完美诗行中完美运用的谐音。
(Laughter)
(笑声)
Her pupils looked lost, and I wanted to teach her to love what she sees. Through pictures I have pieced together her figure like a mosaic, and I have her on the walls of my mind like graffiti on the cathedrals of the ghetto called apartments. I sat down with her. And I grabbed my Moon easel. And cloud palette. And I started to add stars to her masterpiece. I found an Afrocentric descended angel that reminded me of Aphrodite, and I wondered what would be her aphrodisiac.
她的眼神迷失,我想教她热爱眼前所视。 她的形象如马赛克一样已拼凑固定 在我的心墙, 如同名为公寓之贫民窟大教堂上的涂鸦。 我坐到她身边, 拿出我的月亮画架 和云彩调色盘, 开始为她的杰作添加繁星点点。 我发现一个非裔天使, 让我想起爱神阿芙罗狄蒂, 我想知道什么是她的催欲剂。
(Laughter)
(笑声)
She was sitting by herself. And now I sit with her. And she is ... so ... beautiful.
她曾独自坐在那里, 现在我和她坐在了一起。 她是 如此 美丽。
(Applause)
(掌声)
Years would pass. And unfortunately, I started to lose a lot of my friends to violence and/or jail. And it was hard for me not to feel a sense of survivor's remorse. So ... it would keep me up at night on how could I honor them. And I realized that I can honor them by not only telling my stories but telling their stories as well. So they could live on the page. Forever.
经年之后, 不幸接踵而至,我失去许多友人, 他们或遭受暴力,或锒铛入狱。 我感受到一种幸存者的痛悔, 常常 ... 我夜不能寐,不知该如何纪念他们。 然后,我想到一种方式 -- 讲故事, 不仅讲出我的故事, 也讲出他们的故事, 他们由此活在书中, 直到永恒。
I’m from a place with there’s big houses and spouses. No, I'm really from a place where single moms commute two hours to work in pencil skirts and nice blouses. I'm from a place where dudes stand in front of the bodega, trying to hold their jeans. I'm from a place where there's hustlers and fiends. Cops may intervene, some unseen.
我来自一个有豪宅和像样配偶的地方; 开玩笑的,我来自一个 单身妈妈得穿着短裙和衬衫 通勤两小时去上班的地方; 那地方常有家伙站在便利店前, 时不时拉拉松垮的牛仔裤; 那地方充满老千和瘾君子, 警察也许介入,但通常视而不见。
I'm from a place where boys raise boys, men are nonexistent and mothers are young. So how y'all expect us to turn out? Looking up to hustlers was our worth. We were told that our awards were skirts.
那地方男孩抚养男孩, 男人不存在,年轻母亲独自承担。 那你们还能指望我们变成啥样? 仰视皮条客是我们的价值。 我们被告知奖品是裙子。
See in the hood, fingers get contorted, rhetoric retorted, shots ring out by orphans. Now RIP shirts are worn in front of coffins and this happens all too often because we’re taught to do that with no regret, rep your set. We’re throwing up signs, and we ain’t even deaf. Kin to death. It's like our lives are as long as that Bible verse: "Jesus wept."
邻里相见,扭曲的手指暗号, 言辞反驳,孤儿们的枪声响起。 穿着“请安息”衬衫站在棺材前, 这种事发生太频繁, 因为我们被教导无怨无悔,为了同伴。 虽然并非聋子,我们用手势表达身份。 死亡至亲,我们的生命长度如圣经短句: “耶稣哭泣了。”
See, that’s why I can’t wait till the day when my skin isn’t a novelty. And our stories aren’t synonymous with poverty. Because honestly, it’s hard to deal in modesty when we have to deal with this identity dichotomy. Like, why do I have to say I'm human, too? When DNA proves I'm deep buried in you. We made the pyramids so you could see a beautiful view. We made statues with wide noses. We were just making the truth. So imagine someone saying it wasn't you. And whoever did those great things must have been much lighter than you. But how, when you discovered the tombs, mummy's hair was even woven down to the root?
所以我不能等到我的皮肤不再新奇, 我们的故事不再等同于贫瘠。 实说吧,很难低调处理 这种身份二分法。 比如,为何我得强调我也是人? 基因已证实你我水乳交融,深不可分。 我们建筑金字塔,让你见识奇观美景; 我们塑造宽鼻雕像,我们打造真实; 想象一下有人说那不是你所造, 无论谁创下这些伟大业绩, 反正不是黑人的你。 但坟墓里, 木乃伊的头发怎会一直编织到根部?
Truth. So if you really want to help us young brothers out, stop making our schools look like prisons. Stop determining how many jails you're going to build off our third grade reading scores. Scores, false cause. Give Black boy ball and watch him score. Give Black boy good beat, then put him on tour. Give Black boy big chain because he loves the law. The crowd just screams because he never bores. But then watch Black people get confused because a couple of Black boys are up in "Forbes." Five mic in “Source.” Then be biased and make him law. Send Black boy to jail, feed him well because he’s a Moor. Now he’s locked down. Now who miss his amore.
如果你真想帮助我们年轻的兄弟, 就别让我们学校变得像监狱; 停止决定建造多少监狱, 取决于我们三年级阅读成绩。 分数,从来不是起因。 给黑男孩一个球,看他精彩得分; 给黑男孩好乐奏,他能巡回演出; 给黑男孩大金链,他值得奢华享受。 观众为他狂呼,他沉醉于功名利禄。 然后,等着瞧黑人们深陷困惑, 因为几个黑男孩登上“福布斯”, 专辑获“来源” 5 分麦克风评级。 然后却遭偏见所害,法律制裁, 黑男孩锒铛入狱; 好好照料他,他是自豪摩尔人。 如今他被禁锢,谁会想念他的爱人。
Now he gets angry. He wants more. He screams at the top of his lungs. His voice gets hoarse. Because he remembers when he used to rock polo with man on horse. But of course, this is not what Black boys cause. He just stares, his look is coarse.
如今他感到愤怒,渴望更深。 他高声喊叫,声嘶力竭, 忆起那些与人玩马球的日子。 当然,这并非黑男孩的过错。 他瞪眼看,目光粗鲁。
They made his God look nothing like him, but made him say "Lord." Black boy fights in yard as guards watching us like Ali and Foreman all over again with the same broken jaw. Now he saw society clips his wings, then asks him to soar. Now another Black boy dead, but nobody saw.
他们将他的上帝变得面目全非, 却逼他称其为“主”。 看守们巡察,却漠视黑孩们在院里打斗, 就像阿里和福尔曼再次对决, 同样是颌骨折裂。 他终于明白社会剪了他的翅膀, 然后却要求他翱翔。 如今又一个黑孩子离世, 却无人知晓。
Now another Black mother crying in the streets, emotions raw. Now she prays to that same God, saying, "Why, Lord, why did you have to take my little Black boy? He had so much in store, but now he's just another young, dead Black boy."
如今又一个黑人母亲 在街头哭泣,痛彻心肺。 她向同一个上帝祈问: “为什么,主啊, 为什么你带走我的小黑孩? 他还有一生的日子,无尽的梦想, 但现在只是另一个死去的黑男孩。”
You see, I'm from a place where boys raise boys, men are nonexistent and mothers are young. So I pray for the Black boy.
我来自一个男孩抚养男孩的地方, 男人不存在,年轻母亲独自承担。 所以,我为所有黑男孩祷告。
(Applause)
(掌声)
As you see, that little boy that has dyslexia, that's spent half of his educational journey in special education and remedial classes, that always struggled with English and writing eventually found his way academically and actually started to thrive. And that same little boy made it to Broadway. To the mountaintop of writing.
如你所见, 那个患有阅读障碍的小男孩, 他一半的教育历程, 花在特殊教育和补习班。 他常常在英文和写作上 挣扎不断, 最终却寻到自己的学术方向, 并开始茁壮成长。 小男孩后来步入百老汇, 登上写作的峰巅。
See, by telling stories and being authentic to who I am, I became the superhero I wanted to be as a kid.
看,讲故事,忠于真实的自己, 我最终成为了童年时向往的超级英雄。
Thank you.
谢谢。
(Applause)
(掌声)