Poets bust out the rhymes

    The heavy rain and rolling thunder made for the perfect, cozy and inviting atmosphere for all those who attended the poetry performance by Steve Connell and Sekou (Tha Misfit) on Wednesday, Nov. 15 in Magnolia Ballroom.
    The dramatic weather however, did not upstage the incredible poets whose passionate words carried the audience through an amazing roller coaster of emotions and left many with a new interest in their form of poetry called “spoken word”.
    “The show was wonderful,” said Odinaka Ezeokoli, a senior chemistry major. “I really enjoyed when they spoke of other poets such as Maya Angelou and Toni Morrison, that was interesting. Overall they did a great job.”
    The duo performed several poems together and individually through spoken word, a form of poetry that combines elements of theater, hip-hop and stand-up comedy.
    “I think spoken word is where rap was 20 or 30 years ago, where people were like ‘Oh this is just a fad, its not a real art form, it’s a trend that will die out,’” Connell said. “And now rap is known all around the world, so I think spoken word is where rap started. We are just trying to make people realize that poetry is not boring, its real, we are bringing it to life through this hybrid art form.”
    Steve and Sekou have definitely gotten people’s attention; they each have resumes with amazing accomplishments, making them the celebrities of the spoken word style. They have performed for Oprah Winfrey, Maya Angelou, P-Diddy and Quincy Jones. They have also been featured on HBO’s Def Comedy Jam, Good Morning America, and MTV’s Battlegrounds. Between them, they have won two National and two Regional Poetry Slam championships and they each have their own CD’s for sale.
    With all their notability it is easy to be intimidated by these poets, but after experiencing their performance it is obvious how they have come so far. They are surprisingly humble, with a gift for expressing themselves with words in a manner that everyone can relate to. They performed on array of topics from love to politics, everyday joys and struggles.
    “There is not one source that we pull from, it’s lots of things, it’s life, it’s living, it’s everything that we are going through,” said Sekou. “ It’s about a current campaign situation or a girlfriend that we broke up with. All life experiences are extracted at various times and its put out there and whatever frequency the antenna is picking up at that particular moment is what inspires us and hits the page.”
    Much of the appeal for these two artists comes from realizing that they are not in the business just so they can be on MTV’s Cribs someday. They are true pioneers of the spoken word art form and just because they have performed for audiences of thousands, does not mean that they won’t put on a show for an audience of 50.
Steve and Sekou continue to convert people to spoken word in a grass roots way by performing at colleges and universities across the nation for anyone who will listen. They are teaching a new generation to express themselves through the renovation of an art form that’s thousands of years old.
    To learn more about Steve and Sekou visit www.blindfaithrecords.com/thaduo.html.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Dec 1 2006. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry