{"id":1444,"date":"2010-11-11T00:01:08","date_gmt":"2010-11-11T08:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dvan.org\/?p=1444"},"modified":"2018-10-14T22:17:50","modified_gmt":"2018-10-15T05:17:50","slug":"bao-phi-on-a-decade-of-asian-am-spoken-word-a-personal-history-and-my-favorite-asian-am-recordings-of-the-decade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dvan.org\/2010\/11\/bao-phi-on-a-decade-of-asian-am-spoken-word-a-personal-history-and-my-favorite-asian-am-recordings-of-the-decade\/","title":{"rendered":"Bao Phi on a Decade of Asian Am Spoken Word"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Bao Phi<\/a> has been a\u00a0visionary performance poet since 1991, and is the best Vietnamese spoken word artist out there, period. Heck, he’s in the running for the best Asian American spoken word artist right now. Here we share some videos of his performances–you have to see “You Bring Out the Vietnamese in Me”–and his thoughts on Asian American spoken word.\u00a0He\u00a0was born in Viet Nam and raised in the Phillips neighborhood of South Minneapolis. A spoken-word artist and activist for the past 15 years, he has performed and taught at venues and schools across the nation, including the Nuyorican Poets Caf\u00e9 and the Asian American Writers Workshop in New York City, several National Poetry Slams, the University of Pennsylvania, Amherst College, the Kennedy Center, and Stanford University.\u00a0Phi has appeared on HBO Presents Russell Simmons Def Poetry, and his poem appeared in the 2006 Best American Poetry<\/em> anthology.\u00a0He has issued two CDs of his work,\u00a0Refugeography<\/a><\/em> and\u00a0Flares,<\/em> as well as a book,\u00a0Surviving the Translation: Collected Poems from 1993-2002.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Bao Phi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Asian Americans are often denied our place in history, especially those of us who are engaged in cultural art forms that take us off the beaten, mainstream path. \u00a0In the rare cases where we are remembered, we are seen as \u2018also-rans,\u2019 people whose sole purpose was to diversify a scene rather than help create and define it – or curious tokens whom were able to find a way to be successful despite our race. \u00a0Seldom are we seen or considered as a collective movement, or a group of people who have a shared history.<\/p>\n

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In this entry on my little blog, I\u2019m hoping create a space where we remember how important Asian American spoken word artists have been to this decade, and how it in turn has impacted us \u2013 at least, through my own very personal lens. A lot has happened in the last ten years. \u00a0The challenge was, how to begin? \u00a0This is my blog, and it\u2019s not like I get paid to do research and archiving \u2013 people would forgive me for being personal. \u00a0I could write about some of the formative moments for me: meeting legendary community activist and poet Giles Li for lunch at Peking Garden before this decade even began. \u00a0He is now one of my best friends. \u00a0I\u2019ve had the great privileges of sharing a mic with him many times across the country, and though he\u2019s younger than me, he\u2019s someone I look up to as a role model.<\/p>\n