If you were to look this category up in the dictionary, you would get something that might appear at first to be quite simplistic. Which I guess it is, when reduced to the guts of the style: a word that is spoken aloud(dictionary.com).It is a power to behold, however, the spoken word. It is performance art where the lyrics, the poetry or an opinion or social commentary is delivered with the word, sans melody. Yes, it's true, there is often music backing up the poet, oftentimes the musicality comes from the rhythm spoken by the poet, but the emphasis is certainly on the one speaking, all done with a more artistic approach than simply via speech. Spoken word artists are storytellers, history orators, word weavers and beat makers, oftimes politically-minded commentators.