{"id":5327,"date":"2011-05-18T00:01:23","date_gmt":"2011-05-18T07:01:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dvan.org\/?p=5327"},"modified":"2018-10-14T22:02:30","modified_gmt":"2018-10-15T05:02:30","slug":"a-voice-that-sings-spoken-word-artist-bao-phi-performs-at-usc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dvan.org\/2011\/05\/a-voice-that-sings-spoken-word-artist-bao-phi-performs-at-usc\/","title":{"rendered":"Jade Hidle: A Voice that Sings: Spoken Word Artist Bao Phi Performs at USC"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Bao Phi steps on stage, he is in command of the audience’s experience in every aspect. \u00a0He instructs listeners exactly what they need to learn. \u00a0He projects exactly what they need to feel. \u00a0He even induces exactly what their reaction should be. \u00a0Jade Hidle learned this first-hand.<\/em><\/p>\n

[before we begin: have you heard about our\u00a0subscriber drive<\/a>? win an iPod and other prizes!]<\/em><\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

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From left to right: Kelly Tsai, Bao Phi, and D'Lo performed at State of the Word, a spoken word event put on by USC's Visions and Voices<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nine shots fired. Nine stanzas written.\u00a0In his poem \u201c8, 9\u201d Bao Phi\u2014acclaimed Vietnamese American spoken word artist who has appeared on\u00a0Russell Simmons’\u00a0Def Poetry Jam<\/a><\/em>\u2014remembers Hmong American teenager Fong Lee, who was murdered by Minneapolis police office Jason Anderson last fall. The title of Phi\u2019s piece represents the number of bullets that hit Lee\u2019s body (five of which entered after he was on the ground) of the total number of shots fired.\u00a0Performed in April at State of the Word<\/em>, an Asian American spoken word event organized by USC\u2019s Visions and Voices\u00a0<\/a> and hosted by diaCRITICS\u2019 editor-in-chief Viet Nguyen, Phi\u2019s \u201c8, 9\u201d sharpens the focus on continued violence perpetrated against Asian Americans and the discourses that attempt to justify such state-sponsored racism. As you can see in the video below, Phi called upon Kelly Tsai<\/a>, who also gave an engaging performance at the event, to\u00a0illustrate and critique\u00a0these discourses that, in the courtroom and mainstream media coverage, declared Lee a \u201cgang member\u201d and Anderson a \u201chero.\u201d<\/p>\n