Miles Hodges and Carvens Lissaint "Strive"

Recorded live at Dean's List 3. The Strivers Row showcase. Miles Hodges and Carvens Lissaint performing "Strive"
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[@rheyanabranch]

Years later and this poem still remains one of my favorite.

[@LAtttiful]

The passion was so thick that both of these men were sweating. It was burning so hot that the Audience (including the KZbin world) felt it. No one is one powering anybody. The fact that one has a deeper and louder voice doesn't mean he has overpowered the other. They both add that their own poetic and passionate flavor into "Strive." Don't misread the passion they projected as tension. :)

[@nate51593]

I love how they worked in all the row's poems at the end.

[@Zuzu-z8u]

"Act like you're a marching band of single mothers and you smelled your kid's dream, so you know you got to make it!" Gave me chills!

[@danielhampton2033]

Geezus this is what I needed to hear

[@onyeka94]

I'm going to need them to come to DC !

[@lininglifesmile]

chills

[@cicelymasden4477]

I will. Thank you

[@sayaya21]

Dam!! I felt this one !!

[@FEEZedit]

Thats was so dope! You leave me speechless!!

[@royalawesomeness1]

"There will be days when heaven doesn't seem so close."

[@dalena25]

THEY KILLED THIS!!!! MY GOD!! I lost stood up and went wild at 2:20 until the end.. This was amazing!

[@DashaeImani]

WHY AM I JUST SEEEEEEEEEING THIS

[@nasssira3008]

oh my god, oh my...

[@joelcchimambo1725]

Still get goose bumps... Uhmmm ummm

[@chrisbarnes1]

Strive.

[@BangIsTheName]

*begins to strive*

[@mzchitowngurl]

2:47 the moment when you realize their talking bout alysia harris "strive like you got bi racial hair your that girl and got 10 thing to say to a black women" :)

[@busiethwala9533]

mzchitowngurl they put together the other strivers row members poems "biracial hair" being Zora howard's poem "that girl" being Alysia and "10 things to say to a black woman" being Joshua Bennet and "Birmingham " being Jasmine mans poem... so they put those titles together they not talking about Alysia Harris

[@kolochisel6826]

This poem still keeps me going in 2020.

[@lexiboo941]

Same

[@miaserrano2951]

There will be days when heaven doesn't seem so close. When there seems to be no hope. Your back is hugging the ropes, and that stomach could use some bread. When the air in your lungs feels like lead, and all the fight in your breath has disappeared and left, Strive. During the tough weeks, the ones where everyday feels like Monday morning, The train ran local and you keep spilling your coffee at the desk of a job that looks nothing like the misspelled poster, pinned to that dreamy first grade call when they asked you, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Anything but a coward. During the long walks to work, your wallet is filled with the lint of last month's bills. Knees weak from dusting your life's problem under the rug of success. There will be times when you're at your lowest point. You are the ash of a Phoenix with clipped wings that will never rise. You are a broken levy, unable to control the drowning of your household, Strive. During the sting and the swallow of the worst beating, the black eye, the bloody lip, the five seconds after you caught her cheating. The unprayable eruption of rage, the millisecond before the body, before the body becomes a landmine trigger ready to burst into smoke. Things will fall apart, break, rapture, rip at the seems. When your spirit is starving and your heart's got plans on becoming a martyr, when the aftermath of blood and battlefield pours itself into the flesh of the universe, and the scars grow so thick there's barely any skin left. When the fog dwindles upward into the empty spaces between the clouds, and the pain rains down, tumbling to the sound of screams and unattainable dreams as they mummy the land, When lust has mangled the spine of love, Strive. May the days you wish you were somebody else never return. May you learn the braille of glory and happiness until the sidewalks sing with everything you truly are, and the street corners cave in your name, and the nightmares are no more. May the faith engulf depression into ash. May the choirs of demons be muffled, silent like the breeze of an explosion. May the hands, the breath, the pulse, the feet, push forward until every doubter quakes with fear, and the buildings beat with the blood of our existence, Strive. May you learn to mend yourself. May the muscle flex in the eye of defeat. May the tears spring from the face of the wounded. May the vulnerable stand monumental and moveless. Strive. Strive. Strive: Like you're a marching band of single mothers who smell your kid's dream so you know you've got to make it. An immigrant worker slaving to feed the belly of your country two oceans away. Strive: Like your heart's the size of a blue whale. Like you're shouting at the edge of your fingertips. Strive: Like Nina Simone is singing at the finish line. Like Toussaint L'Ouverture is picking the locks to my ankles and wrists. Strive: Like you know, prisons are man-made but minds are God-made, So Harlem Shake that gospel out of your bones. Strive: Like you got: Biracial hair in Birmingham, you're that girl, and you've got, ten things you want to say to a black woman. There will be days when heaven doesn't seem so close. When the dust settles, when the smoke clears, only the power of will shall remain. Those who fight shall conquer. During the toughest of weeks, the longest of walks, the days when heaven doesn't seem so close,

[@insegose8091]

The part where they started naming off popular slam poems by the other guys and gals in Strivers Row fuckin' killed me. Strive.

[@KayLa-bh3qg]

"May the faith engulf depression into ash"

[@KenitaRenee25]

Still here in 2019! :-) Whose with me?

[@lexislibrary923]

I get chills evertime I listen to this poem

[@livelovelaughlife199]

"During the sting and swallow of the worst beating the black eye the bloody lip the five seconds after you caught her cheating" Amazing. Also a beautiful rhyme.:)

[@Agape-Kay]

a yr later and these words literally saved my life. 🙏

[@AFROcentricFLO]

my God... strive... when your spirit is starving. ... strive... may you learn to mend your soul. ... strive.... like you know prisons are man made and minds are God made... strive

[@janelow5144]

I always come back time to time, this video has been w me during the good and bad

[@onalennanchupetsang7895]

It's 2024 and I still can't stop watching this. I hope more people get to watch this incredible performance. Everyone should have a chance to feel what I felt when I watched this for the first time. The words, the emotion, and the delivery are all flawless. What a duo. 🥺🙌

[@SuperArnesha]

Thumbs up if you're still listening to this in 2017!!!

[@beautimoniously]

they name one of the poems of every poet in Striver's Row. Bi-Racial Hair: Zora Howard Birmingham: Jasmine Mans That Girl: Alysia Harris 10 Things I Wanna Say To A Black Woman: Joshua Bennett I'm sure they mention Jennah Bell as well, but I'm not as familiar with her work.

[@TheCr8iveBrand]

Carvens is my motivation to become a stronger poet.

[@livelovelaughlife199]

Beautiful. Amazing. I wanted to break down. This is the essence of life and joy and the essence of striving. My favorite line is prisons are man made but minds are god made. So true everything about this poem is amazing.

[@sulibreaks]

Best of the night!!!

[@Nyizable]

Strive like you are "That Girl" with "Bi-racial Hair" in "Birmingham". I have listened to two out out those three poems and this sent chills down the column of my spine. Thank-you

[@gabrielmambo5436]

When they start referencing the other poems of Strivers...the crowd lost it.

[@mariavilla9917]

"those who fight shall conquer"

[@amberlynn2109]

Well, I guess i can see where you'd get that. consider..this is spoken word. It isn't scripted. These poets (in strivers row) intricately and thoughtfully choose each and every word they say to evoke the most passion. The "screaming" is passion. Also, They have two TOTALLY different delivery styles..often times you'll find Miles really mellow and he builds excitement through his hands and eyes,Carvens is a more visible poet. Don't judge poetry though..just listen, and let them be.

[@Agape-Kay]

My heart just left my chest and is sittin next to me on this bed... Lml the most AMAZING thing i have heard in forever. Man yall make me love this!!!!! Nothing like spoken word. Nothing like it at all

[@levi1941]

My teacher played this poem for our class and all the kids loved it and I can help but love this poem its honestly what some people need to here

[@smokesomelissy]

That guy needs to stop yelling, you're never supposed to overpower your "co-star" so to say. I've noticed that a lot with strivers row. The performers are always competing with one another, you can see the tension in their stage presence on so many of these videos.

[@dawgyv72]

I'm not exactly sure what they meant by "smelled your kids dreams". Can some one explain? My best guess is that, they're so aware of their kids dreams that they feel as if they have been in them, so close they can smell them. Maybe I dont know haha

[@ibreathebliss]

strive-like you're a marching band of single mothers and you smell your kids dreams so you know you gotta make it. an immigrant worker slaving to feed the belly of your country two oceans away

[@jcanthony16]

"...The days when Heaven doesn't seem so close, STRIVE "

[@DJonesDixon]

Yeah, basically that. Like she knows that her kids can be some great, so has to do what she can now to open up that pathway for them. A beautiful self-sacrifice. :)

[@sisdeeloveslife]

They are all good friends, no one is competing. The passion can sometime take over them so theyget loud. This is all because there words is coming from a deep place.

[@kbre94]

this is an awsome poem...ive been wondering could the whole strivers row come out and perform at my school ...it would be super awsome!!!

[@goodwillmathema765]

Who's here during the 2020 pandemic? "Sthrive"

[@kandicejohnson9340]

Am I the only person that looked at the transcript and realized that the words are nowhere close to what they are saying?

[@phillipl638]

Strive, like you're a marching band of single mothers, and you smelled your kids dreams, so you know you gotta make it.

[@IamStrength94]

Like you're a marching band of single mothers and you smell your kid'd dreams, so you know you got to make it.......

[@DancesWithPen]

I took one look at Carvens and just knew he was Haitian. I mean, yeah, his name is a huge indicator too.

[@afermin94]

you guys are awsome.. the reason why i love poetry .... you need to come to jersey city..#striversrow

[@levertdc]

this poen is something too serious love how they refrence other peoples poems at the end

[@modupeadebowale5132]

The end when they formed sentences out of the names of other poems !!!!!!!!

[@abduldavinci]

@Holly B They also quote Balaenoptera " heart the size of a blue whale"

[@monkeymia4]

Got chills? Naw felt like a cold bucket of water was dumped on me :D

[@cocopuff6342]

... Even on the days when heaven doesnt seem so close. :)

[@mrnoodles9035]

Here because of a quora post!

[@OhSoDisrespectful]

Because of the Strivers Row I started writing again.

[@DarcyLewis1]

Thank You!!! I was looking for this song created from the words of Abdu'l-Baha and I found your inspiring rap as well. Here is the other writing, in case you feel inspired to do something with it: Strive that your actions day by day may be beautiful Prayers. Turn towards God and seek always to do that which is right and noble. Enrich the poor, raise the fallen, comfort the sorrowful. Bring healing to the sick, reassure the fearful, rescue the oppressed, bring hope to the hopeless, shelter the destitute.

[@zapzip9633]

Hold up hold up . . . speechless im dead lol

[@Qveenshay]

Thank You For Keeping Me Alive In 2019 🫶🏽

[@ddpetersen2011]

They delivered. omg i want them at my school.

[@chris722722]

i love miles and carvens poetry ! and im 14

[@CloudDanceking]

why doesn't this have 1,000,000 views or more

[@MrRobAtchison]

Dope...

[@MrBenBarzilai]

Somewhere, Lord Alfred Tennyson is smiling

[@4.d.y.w]

My life and so many others in 3:20. Thanks

[@Fortheloveofbutter]

This was the reason I started writing.

[@Worldboy3321]

They killed it. And this was inspiring.

[@yakiisuperstar]

CAN I PLEASEEEE FALL INTO MILES ARMS.

[@ApologyWithoutRegret]

"10 things to say to a black woman"

[@beatlessbeauty1106]

💜

[@inspirationfolder]

SNAAAAAAAAAAAAAPS

[@xd_freshbot7042]

This speech means a lot to me

[@pewcgaming5204]

i miss the old kanye

[@pearlythobz]

killed it.freakin killed it.

[@__mickeyyy__]

oh my God that was so deep

[@iKiaRene]

Striver's Row! Strive.

[@keese124]

I needed this tonight.

[@Brit112191]

Cant get enough of it!

[@nikkidwms]

“There will be days when heaven doesn’t seem so close. When the dust settles, the smoke clears, only the power of will shall remain. Those who fight shall conquer. During the toughest of weeks, during the longest of days, the days when heaven doesn’t feel so close, strive”

[@lexiboo941]

This poem is getting me through the hardest parts of this period and that's saying a lot coz I've been using it since I first heard it. Everytime I'm having a rough time I end up here

[@carmella1o1]

I got chills

[@AngelAmyMarie]

good stuff man !!

[@lovewellmwiinga-mystic]

Been listening to this poem since 2013, 6 years and still speaks to me

[@LorettaRaee]

i needed this!

[@iceanda407]

preach!!!!!

[@Iamthespecialk1]

I'm 14 and I've been a fan of Miles since he performed Harlem at Brave New Voices and Carven's words just crawl deep down in your skin

[@LowkeyBRExoxo]

Omg! Yes!

[@mzchitowngurl]

zora did

[@KrystinaJames024]

Amazing!

[@amberlynn2109]

i..LITERALLY..got up out of my bed and burst into tears while watching this video. My heart CANNOT handle this.. this was purely amazing.. damn.

[@KiaJaikaran]

OH GOD I SCREAMED FOR THIS!!!!! YESSSSSSSS! This is what spoken-word is supposed to sound like. I gotta play this AGAIN!

[@royalawesomeness1]

"Like you're a marching band of single mothers and you've smelt your kids dreams so you know you gotta make it." That^^

[@lovemachine225]

OH MY GOSH THIS IS SOOOOO GOOOOOD LIKE EVERY SINGLE TIME I HEAR IT IT INSPIRES ME!!! lol yea I'm slightly excited lol :)

[@GracefullyKaren]

Wowwww powerful. Heartfelt

[@mercado21aa]

wow the passion within this just gave me chills and reminded me why life is a beautiful struggle

[@elliottrae9355]

Ah, takes my breath away! So many chills from this!