It was a full moon in the middle of June


Hustlers Convention is recorded by Lightnin’ Rod, the pseudonym of Jalal Nuriddin, a member of militant proto-rappers the Last Poets. The album narrates the story of Sport and Spoon – two young hustlers who attend the eponymous convention, only to get tangled up in a financial disagreement that leads to a shootout, police chase and finishes with Sport on Death Row, weighing up what it all means.

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The poem caught the interest of Alan Douglas, producer of Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis and the first two Last Poets albums. Having signed a deal with United Artists, Douglas recorded Nuriddin reciting the toast to a metronome, then set about animating the words with a jazz-funk soundtrack.

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Hustlers Convention truly came together when he stumbled on Kool & the Gang while the band were recording in New York in 1973, on the cusp of their breakthrough success. Kool & the Gang were signed to another label, and within a couple of months of the release of Hustlers Convention, United Artists was faced with a lawsuit. It 
promptly withdrew the record. Without sales or radio play, Hustlers Convention sank commercially, but its reputation grew via word of mouth.

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