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The Toast: An Annotated Bibliography
Jordan Rich

Toasts are a form of African-American folklore. Speculation has been that the form emerged around the turn of the twentieth century. However, collection of toasts has always been sporadic, especially due to the obscene content within. Major scholarship on toasts began with the first printing of Roger Abrahams' Deep Down in the Jungle: Negro Narrative Folklore from the Streets of Philadelphia, which was the first book dedicated to toasts. The author, a white folklorist, collected toasts from a specific neighborhood in Philadelphia. Since then, Bruce Jackson, another white folklorist, collected toasts from the Indiana State Penitentiary and wrote "Get Your Ass in the Water and Swim Like Me": Narrative Poetry from Black Oral Tradition in 1974 (it went out-of-print for a long time, but was republished in March of this year). Also, Dennis Wepman, an ex-convict, collected toasts from New York prisons where he was serving time and together with Ronald B. Newman and Murray B. Binderman, he published a book entitled, The Life: The Lore and Folk Poetry of the Black Hustler in 1976. There have been many arguments between these authors over toasts. More recently, there have been a couple of books of which toasts have been part of the focus, but the fieldwork on toasts for these texts was primarily done years before the books' publishing. The first of these, published in May 2003, is Stagolee Shot Billy, by Cecil Brown, an African-American novelist and folklorist. Onwuchekwa Jemi, an African journalist and scholar, wrote Yo' Mama!: New Raps, Toasts, Dozens, Jokes & Children's Rhymes from Urban Black America, which was published in December 2003. Toasts were already a mature art form when the collecting was done for the primary literature on the subject. Since then, the tradition of toasts has definitely been in decline. Most of the present research related to toasts has shifted to rap.

The primary definition of toasts is African American oral narrative folk rhymed poetry, normally set within the "The Life". This is not all encompassing definition, as there has been much debate (especially via the dialogue between Bruce Jackson and Dennis Wepman, Ron Newman, and Murray Binderman in The Journal of American Folklore in 1974 and 1975) about whether shorter or non-narrative poems and prose stories that do not fit the primary definition are in fact toasts. "The Life," short for "the sporting life", a subculture of a way of life involving drug use and sales, sex for hire (pimping and prostitution), hustling and other means of living that deviate from mainstream society's norms. This is intentional – "The Life" is idealized – many of the tellers of toasts that have been collected are a part of "The Life." However, the content of toasts is not solely limited to the life. Some toasts have been derived directly from hobo tales and other ballads. Toasts also have other African and African American antecedent traditions – as the primary definition of toasts is an epic form, they have been compared to the Griot tradition. The central purpose of toasts is to entertain, usually by African American men with an audience of other African American men. However, given the less than ideal way that toasts have been collected by scholars (especially since most of the prominent collectors have been White), it is difficult to make specific judgments about exactly where toasts are and were told. One of the places they were prominently known to be told was in jails, as prisoners awaiting trial or arraignment did not have a large selection of choices of entertainment. The probable origin of the word toast for the specific genre is derived from the term as used as a salutation prior to drinking.

There has been much analysis (much of it psychological analysis) done on the content of toasts. Toasts contain a great deal of misogynist content. Roger Abrahams speculated that the culture that produced toasts was revolting against the matriarchal family structure and the feminine in general. He even took the use of the term "motherfucker" literally.¹ This analysis was criticized by Geneva Smitherman². Cecil Brown criticizes both Abrahams and Bruce Jackson for their method of analysis and its conclusions.³ Abrahams changed his stance somewhat in the 2^nd edition of his book, and referenced the decline in importance of the "Mammy Family"⁴ in its introduction. "The Life" is usually celebrated in idealized form in toasts. There is rarely a moral to the toasts, but they do tell about the dangers of living by "The Life." The heroes of toasts tend to be two different types: the trickster and the bad man. There have been arguments by scholars over the distinction and psychology between the types: the trickster uses his brain and the bad man brawn. A prominent example of a trickster is "Shine" from "Shine and the Titanic", a black boiler-room worker, who realized the ship is sinking before the captain does, and swims his way to safety. A prominent example of the bad man is "Stagolee" from the toast of the same name – he murders without restraint and in some versions even takes over hell.

There has been some research done on the commercial popular music recordings made from traditional toasts. Some of the more well-known recordings of toasts are as follows:

"For Adults Only" by Snatch and the Poontangs (an alias for Johnny Otis), an album released in 1969, containing black toasts set to music such as "The Signifying Monkey", "The Great Stack A Lee", and "Hey Shine."

"King Heroin" on the album "There It Is" by James Brown released in 1972.

"Doriella Du Fontaine" a CD single of a collaboration by Lightnin' Rod (an alias for Jalal Mansur Nuriddin, a founding member of the Last Poets) backed by Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Miles. This was recorded in November 1969, but I am unaware of a release prior to 1992. Lightnin' Rod further released an album "The Hustler's Convention" which is a narrative with music and sound effects based on the toast model.

"Reflections" by Iceberg Slim, an album of four toasts, "The Fall", "Broadway Slim", "Durealla" and "Mama Debt" set to a jazz quartet background, originally released in 1976.

However, there has been very little research done on the reciprocal relationship. The most notable performer of black toasts is Rudy Ray Moore. Toasts are a central part of his comedic performances and he even goes by the stage name of "Dolemite", which is the title and main character of a traditional toast. He has issued a number of albums of black toasts, beginning with "Eat Out More Often" released in 1970. He also has incorporated black toasts into his movies, in particular "Dolemite" released in 1975, "The Human Tornado" released in 1976 and "The Devil's Son-In Law" in 1977. His movies and black toasts themselves fit in with the content and style of 1970s popular Blaxploitation films. However, as "The Life" stereotypically glamorized in such movies fell out of fashion, black toasts also fell out of fashion. The extent to which Moore's and other recordings and performances helped spread the toast tradition has been little explored. There still have been recordings of black toasts issued, but most of them are reissues of recordings made during the 1960s and 1970s. There have been a few exceptions. Lawrence Fishburne plays a policeman undercover posing as a drug dealer in the film "Deep Cover," released in 1992. His character recites what could be defined as black toasts, but not by the primary definition. Also, as recently as April 1998, George Clinton (of P-funk fame) and Bill Laswell, released a single, "Get Yo Ass in the Water and Swim Like Me!", a brand new recording of the traditional toast commonly known as "Shine and the Titanic." It is fascinating that as recently as 1998 that a commercial artist would release a toast track, even though it probably relates to the commercial success of the Titanic film.⁵

The tradition of toasts has fallen into decline. The positive portrayal of the "The Life" fell out of favor. In addition, the advent of the transistor radio and other new forms of entertainment, have largely served to make the genre obsolete. However, toasts helped to spawn a new tradition: rap. Toasts were prior African American form of recited poetry, much as rap now is. Some of the most famous proponents of the toast tradition have been idolized and sampled by current rappers. Iceberg Slim was the author of novels and non-fiction books set in "The Life" and included toasts in them and issued an album of toasts. The rappers Ice-T and Ice Cube both created their stage names in homage to Iceberg Slim. Both Rudy Ray Moore and Jalal Mansur Nuriddin like to call themselves the "Godfather of Rap". Moore was celebrated in the film "The Legend of Dolemite" and featured on a track "Big Daddy vs. Dolemite" with Big Daddy Kane on Kane's album "Taste of Chocolate", which was released in 1990. The truth is that there are many antecedents of rap, of which toasts are one.⁶ However, gangster rap in particular has been heavily influence by toasts, not just in terms of the development of a recited poetry art form, but in terms of specific content as well. There has been some scholarship done on this specific topic⁷, but there is a lot more to be done. In addition, Glenn Hinson has done work on an African American oral poetry tradition that parallels that of toasts. This parallel tradition is in first person form and is autobiographical. There has been very little scholarship done in this regard.⁸ While the current research that was focused on toasts is now focused on rap, there is a lot more to be done in terms of specifically linking rap and rappers to the toast tradition in specifics.

Appendix A

Toast Examples

Annotated Bibliography

Abrahams, Roger D., "The Toast: a Neglected Form of Folk Narrative" in Beck, Horace P. (Editor), Folklore in Action: Essays for Discussion in Honor of MacEdward Leach (Philadelphia: The American Folklore Society, Inc., 1962): 1-11.

This essay psychologically analyzes the content of toasts and includes examples.

Abrahams, Roger D., "Playing the Dozens", in The Journal of American Folklore, 75:297, Symposium on Obscenity in Folklore (1962): 209-220.

This is an article analyzing the dozens and signifying with many examples. There is discussion as to the relevance to toasts, particularly the toast "Signifying Monkey."

Abrahams, Roger D., Deep Down in the Jungle: Negro Narrative Folklore from the Streets of Philadelphia (New York: Aldine De Gruyter, 1970).

This second edition contains a self-criticism for the original edition's psychology and pathology. The book is organized into two parts: analysis and texts. The texts include toasts (this is the first book devoted specifically to toasts) as well as jokes. The toasts were collected by the author from the Camingerly neighborhood in Philadelphia in 1958-1959.

Abrahams, Roger D., Positively Black (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1970).

This is a collection of African-American folklore with analysis - including toasts and the dozens.

Agar, Michael H, "Folklore of the Heroin Addict: Two Examples" in The Journal of American Folklore, 84:332 (1971): 175-185.

This article contains two toasts with an analysis as to their relevance to the subculture of the heroin addict.

Beck, Robert (aka Iceberg Slim), Pimp: The Story of My Life (Los Angeles: Holloway House Publishing, 1987).

This is an autobiography of a pimp-turned writer. It includes a great detail of information on the subculture that produces toasts as well as examples of toasts.

Brown, Cecil Morris, Stagolee: From Shack Bully to Culture Hero (Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Berkeley, 1993).

This is an analysis of the Stagolee bad man figure in various forms including the toast and the factual basis behind the story. It contains a detailed critique of the psychological theories about the content of toasts by prior folklorists (particularly Abrahams and Jackson).

p. 45,82, 174, 246 – criticizes psychology

Brown, Cecil Morris, Stagolee Shot Billy (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003).

This is a much revised re-write of his doctoral dissertation. In particular the specific details of the real life figure Stagolee and his political activity are elucidated. The trope of the "bad nigger" figure is discussed in detail.

Brown, H. Rap, Die, Nigger Die! (New York, Dial Press, 1969).

This is his autobiography. It contains brief discussions on his use of signifying, dozens and toasts as he grew up.

Bryant, Jerry H., "Born in a Mighty Bad Land": The Violent Man in African American Folklore and Fiction (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2003).

This book describes the types of African-American bad man archetypes reflected in various genres of fiction and folklore, as well as the changes in archetypes over time. It contains a chapter on toasts that details how the "bad man" figures within them are viewed.

Buehler, Richard E., "Stacker Lee: A Partial Investigation into the Historicity of a Negro Murder Ballad" in Keystone Folklore Quarterly 12 (1967): 187-191.

This short article traces the origins of the historical figure Stacker Lee, subject of toasts and other genres.

Cross, Brian, It's Not About a Salary…: Rap, Race, and Resistance in Los Angeles (New York: Verso, 1993).

This is a study of rap in Los Angeles. In the historical background, there is a discussion on Toasts.

Dance, Daryl Cumber, Shuckin' and Jivin': Folklore from Contemporary Black Americans (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1978).

This is a collection of black folktales. It is light on analysis, but each tale, including some toasts, is annotated with specific citations.

Dundes, Alan (Editor), Mother Wit from the Laughing Barrel: Readings in the Interpretation of Afro-American Folklore (Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 1981).

This is a collection of reprinted essays on African American folklore, arranged by content. One of the essays is specifically on toasts, with a content and linguistic analysis. There are additional related essays in the verbal art and folk humor sections.

Edwards, Viv and Thomas J. Sienkewicz, Oral Cultures Past and Present: Rappin' and Homer (Cambridge, MA: B. Blackwell, 1991).

This is an overview of oral cultures and their characteristics. It contains some discussion of toasts – how they are learned and passed on and stylistic characteristics are important.

Evans, David, "The Toast in Context" ", in The Journal of American Folklore, 90:356 (1977): 129-148.

This article is an excellent critique of the previous research on toasts, including methodology used and definitions of toasts.

Fiddle, Seymour, Portraits from a Shooting Gallery: Life Styles from the Drug Addict World (New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1967).

This is an analysis and description of the world of drugs addicts collected from staff and clientele of the Exodus House (Exodus House was a rehabilitation center for heroin addicts).

Fiddle, Seymour, Toasts: Images of a Victim Society (New York: Exodus House, February 1972).

This is a detailed sociological analysis of the meaning behind toasts; much of the analysis relates to drug addicts and their lives (Exodus House was a rehabilitation center for heroin addicts). Full texts of the toasts analyzed are contained in the appendix.

Hughes, Langston, Shine and the Titanic, the Signifying Monkey, Stackolee:

and Other Stories from Down Home (The More Publishing Company, 1970).

This is simply a collection of toasts.

Jackson, Bruce, "Prison Folklore" in The Journal of American Folklore 78:310 (1965): 317-329.

This article is on the prison subculture and the folklore indigenous to it. It discusses the dozens and toasts and includes examples. It also discusses some of the bad man characters that appear in toasts.

Jackson, Bruce, "Stagolee Stories: a Badman Goes Gentle" in Southern Folklore Quarterly 29 (1965): 188-194.

This brief article discusses a re-perceived image of Stagolee, a hero of toasts, in three stories told to the author by Mississippi John Hurt.

Jackson, Bruce, "What Happened to Jody" in The Journal of American Folklore 80:318 (1967): 387-396.

This is an article on the character "Jody the Grinder" and the toasts and songs he is featured in, including examples.

Jackson, Bruce, "The Titanic Toast" in Levin, Harry (Editor), Veins of Humor (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1972): 205-223.

This essay analyzes and provides examples of the traditional toast, "Shine and the Titanic."

Jackson, Bruce, "Circus and Street: Psychosocial Aspects of the Black Toast" in in The Journal of American Folklore 85:336 (1972): 123-139.

This article is a psychological examination of the content of toasts and compares it to the world of the circus.

Jackson, Bruce, "Get Your Ass in the Water and Swim Like Me": Narrative Poetry from Black Oral Tradition (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1974).

This is a collection of toasts, including those that do not fit the primary definition. It contains a detailed analysis at the beginning, which details the subculture that produces toasts and progress of the tradition. It also has an accompanying album of the same title, which has been reissued on CD by Rounder in 1998. The 2004 edition, published by Routledge, is sold together with the CD. I am unaware if the new edition of the book has different content than the first edition.

Jackson, Bruce, "A Response to 'Toasts: The Black Urban Folk Poetry'" in The Journal of American Folklore 88:348 (1975): 178-182.

This is the author's rebuttal to the Dennis Wepman, etc. article (see below). He criticizes some of their conclusions, methodology and critiques.

Jackson, Bruce, "Reply to Wepman, Newman, and Binderman" in The Journal of American Folklore 88:348 (1975): 185-187.

This is the author's response to the above-mentioned authors' rebuttal to the article above. It responds directly to their critique of the article above.

Jackson, Bruce, "The Afro-American Toast and Worksong: Two Dead Genres" in Lenz, Günter H. (Editor), History and Tradition in Afro-American Culture (New York: Campus Verlag, 1984): 244-255.

This essay begins with a discussion as to the reasons for the difficulty in tracing the history of oral folklore. It then discusses why toasts are dying as a tradition.

James, Darius, That's Blaxploitation!: Roots of the Baadasssss 'Tude (Rated X by an All-Whyte Jury) (New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 1995).

This book discusses Blaxploitation and related films and culture. It discusses Rudy Ray Moore's use of the toast tradition in his films.

Jemie, Onwuchekwa (Editor), Yo' Mama!: New Raps, Toasts, Dozens, Jokes & Children's Rhymes from Urban Black America (Philadelphia, Temple University Press, 2003).

The author collected many oral genres that make up this book. The beginning is an analysis – it analyzes the content and style of toasts and other oral genres. There are many toasts included in the transcriptions in the text section.

Kelley, Robin D.G., "Chapter 8: Kickin' Reality, Kickin' Ballistics: 'Gangsta Rap' and Postindustrial Los Angeles", in Race Rebels: Culture, Politics, and the Black Working Class (New York: Free Press, 1994).

This chapter is an analysis of gangsta rap. It includes historical analysis, such as how the violent imagery and language are a continuation of the toast tradition.

Kochman, Thomas (Editor), Rappin' and Stylin' Out: Communication in Urban Black America (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1972).

This is a collection of essays on the urban black environment. It contains a great deal of background material on many stylistic conventions in the subculture that produces toasts.

Levine, Lawrence W., Black Culture and Black Consciousness: Afro-American Folk Thought from Slavery to Freedom (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977).

This is a study of the history of African-American folk culture. It contains some discussion of black toasts and the dozens.

Paredes, Américo and Ellen J. Stekert (Editors), The Urban Experience and Folk Tradition (Austin, TX: Published for the American Folklore Society by the University of Texas Press, 1971). A reprint of a special edition of the Journal of American Folklore 83: 238 (1970): 115-270.

This is a printing of a symposium on the relation of urban life to folklore. There is a brief discussion of black toasts.

Reynolds, Anthony M., "Urban Negro Toasts: a Hustler's View from L.A." in Western Folklore 33 (1974): 267-300.

This article is a narrative describing the how the author heard black toasts. There is an analysis and many examples of black toasts.

Roberts, John W., "Stackolee and the Development of a Black Heroic Idea", in Western Folklore 42:3 (1983): 179-190.

This article is an in-depth analysis of the process of the figure Stackolee (featured in black toasts) becoming an African-American folk hero.

Roberts, John W., From Trickster to Badman: The Black Folk Hero in Slavery and Freedom (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1989).

This is a study of African-American folk archetypes, including those featured in black toasts. However, some of his distinctions between archetypes have been criticized.

Shabazz, David L. and Julian L.D. Shabazz, The Story of Rudy Ray Moore: The World's Greatest X-Rated Comedian (Clinton, SC: Awesome Records, 1996).

This is a brief biography of Rudy Ray Moore, a comedian who features black toasts as a core element in his act and his movies. This also contains some examples of black toasts.

Smitherman, Geneva, Talkin and Testifyin: The Language of Black America (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1977).

This is a linguistic analysis of African-American Vernacular English. It (indirectly) criticizes some of the psychology that Abrahams uses. It also discusses the stylistic conventions in black toasts.

p.52, 60-2,82,103,147,157-161,224

Spiller, Hortense, Review of Jackson, Bruce, "Get Your Ass in the Water and Swim Like Me": Narrative Poetry from Black Oral Tradition in CLA Journal 19 (1975): 105-107.

This review of Jackson's book criticizes his psychological method of analysis of black toasts.

Toop, David, Rap Attack #3: African Rap to Global Hip Hop (Expanded Third Edition) (London: Serpent's Tail, 2000).

This is a historical analysis of rap and its antecedents. It briefly discusses black toasts, signifying and the dozens.

Walle, Alf H., "Two Possible Origins for the Term 'Toast'" in The Journal of American Folklore 88:350 (1975): 418-419.

This brief article discusses two possible origins for the term toast.

Wepman, Dennis, Ronald B. Newman, and Murray B. Binderman, "Toasts: The Black Urban Folk Poetry" in The Journal of American Folklore 87:345 (1974): 208-224.

This is an in-depth analysis of the toast. It includes a survey of previous research and critiques of pre-existing definitions and theories. It also contains many examples of black toasts.

Wepman, Dennis, Ronald B. Newman, and Murray B. Binderman "Rejoinder to Jackson" in The Journal of American Folklore 88:348 (1975): 182-185.

This is a specific rebuttal to Bruce Jackson's response to "Toasts: The Black Urban Folk Poetry". It contains more details on definition and methodology.

Wepman, Dennis, Ronald B. Newman, and Murray B. Binderman, "A Portrait of 'The Life'" in Urban Life 4 (1975): 213-225.

This is a detailed description of the subculture that is the subject of black toasts.

Wepman, Dennis, Ronald B. Newman, and Murray B. Binderman; The Life: The Lore and Folk Poetry of the Black Hustler (Los Angeles: Holloway House Publishing, 1976).

This is a collection of black toasts heard by Dennis Wepman in New York prisons. It contains some analysis in the introduction and provides details to understand each toast. There is a glossary at the end and an annotated bibliography.