Yellow Rage is a duo of Philadelphia-based

Asian American Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous people ...

female spoken word poets, made up of Michelle Myers, who holds a PhD from Temple University, and Catzie Vilayphonh, the Fashion Director for two.one.five magazine. Their poems are self-written and are often based on personal experiences, focussing on social and political issues relevant to the Asian American community and aiming to challenge common misconceptions of Asianness. The performances are often aggressive and include frequent swearing, but also include wit and humor.

Career

Formation

The group was originally a trio, along with former member Sapna Shah. Shah is of Indian descent, Vilayphonh is Lao, and Myers is mixed-race Korean American. They met at a writing workshop in Philadelphia in 2000 at the

Asian Arts Initiative The Asian Arts Initiative (AAI) is a nonprofit organization in Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both ...

. Their first group poem, ''I'm a Woman Not a Flava'', about misappropriation of Asian culture as well as sexual stereotypes placed on Asian females, was originally a solo poem written by Mejier. They first performed the piece in September 2000 at the Asian Arts Initiative. They adopted the name ''Black Hair, Brown Eyes, Yellow Rage'' when they performed ''I'm A Woman Not a Flava'' at the

Russell Simmons Russell Wendell Simmons (born October 4, 1957) is an American entrepreneur, writer and record executive. He co-founded the hip-hop label Def Jam Recordings, and created the clothing fashion lines Phat Farm, Argyleculture, and Tantris. Simmons' ...

' Def Poetry Slam in December 2000 in Philadelphia. The group made the semi-finals, and were asked by the Def Poetry producers to audition for another show in New York City, which they won. In February 2001, along with

Taylor Mali Taylor McDowell Mali (born March 28, 1965) is an American slam poet, humorist, teacher, and voiceover artist. Life A 12th-generation native of New York City, Taylor Mali graduated from the Collegiate School, a private school for boys, in 1983 ...

, Jessica Care Moore, Black Ice, and

Steve Colman Steve Colman is an American award-winning poet, playwright, producer, and director. Biography Colman was the inaugural poet on the Peabody Award-winning television series ''Russell Simmons presents Def Poetry Jam'' on HBO. He co-wrote and co- ...

, they performed in Aspen, Colorado at the

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U.S. Comedy Arts Festival, gaining a standing ovation, footage of which was used as the television pilot for the HBO Series Def Poetry. After this, Shah left the group to focus on her medical studies. Myers and Vilayphonh continued as a duo, shortening the name to ''Yellow Rage''. In late summer 2001 they performed for HBO's Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam, the first Asian American women to be filmed on the show. They performed ''Listen Asshole'', remixed into a group poem, based on Vilayphonh's experience speaking Lao in public with her mother and Myers' experience of being mis-identified, which first aired in December 2001.

Performances

Yellow Rage has performed all over the U.S. including at the 2001 APIA Spoken Word Summit in Seattle and the 2001 NY International Fringe Festival in the show ''Asians Misbehavin''. In August 2002, the Leeway Foundation awarded Yellow Rage a Windows of Opportunity Grant which enabled them to travel to Oahu, Hawaii where they performed for the local poetry organization/collective Wordstew and attended the Globalization Research Center's Trafficking of Asian Women and Children Conference. They took part in Philadelphia Ladyfest in March 2003. They have performed alongside many other artists including Ursula Rucker, Pharoahe Monch,

Native Guns Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and entertai ...

The Pacifics ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in E ...

, Chops,

Dave Chappelle David Khari Webber Chappelle ( ; born August 24, 1973) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is best known for his satirical comedy sketch series ''Chappelle's Show'' (2003–2006), which he starred in until quitting in the middle of p ...

Beau Sia Beau Sia (, born 1976) is an American Poetry slam, slam poet. Life and career Sia was born in Ohio. He is of Chinese-Filipino descent. Raised in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Sia discovered spoken word poetry on MTV as a teenager. When not particip ...

, Bao Phi,

I Was Born With Two Tongues I, or i, is the ninth letter and the third vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''i'' (pronounced ), plural ...

, Danny Hoch, and Black Ice.

Discography

They have released two spoken word albums, ''Black Hair, Brown Eyes, Yellow Rage, Vol. 1'' in 2002 and ''Vol. 2 Handle with Care''.

References

External links

Official websiteYellow Rage on MySpace
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Yellow Rage Culture of Philadelphia Poets from Philadelphia American spoken word poets American writers of Laotian descent American poets American writers of Korean descent American writers of Indian descent