In Austin, Zell Miller III is the only spoken word /hip-hop artist listed in the four-day SXSW festival,which draws scores of mostly-rock musicians fromaround the world. A 5’8” black man with an easysmile, Miller’s poetic topics vary broadly. As hetakes the stage, he launches into a piece aboutchildren with ADD. His pace starts rapid-fire, atop ajazzy layer of hip-hop samples played at moderatevolume.
An Atlanta video production records it all, dumbfounded.
“Instead of shoving pharmaceuticals downtheir mouths, maybe we should give them– a nap,”Miller punctuates the suggestion. “Say word,” hecalls from the stage. “Word!” responds the crowd ofmostly young white listeners.