Artists express heritage
Lauren Paulauskas
Issue date: 10/26/07 Section: News
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Three talented spoken-word and hip-hop artists filled a packed Cape Florida Ballroom with words and music Wednesday.
The Beats, Rhymes and Rice Tour, starring Giles Li, Bao Phi and Kiwi Illafonte, breezed into UCF.
"They're traveling from school to school," said Cuong Le, chair of the Asian Awareness Council of the Multicultural Student Center at UCF. "This is the first school they're stopping at."
Members of the Asian Awareness Council, who put on the show, were really excited for their arrival and performances, he said.
"We asked one person, and they told us about this tour," Le said, "so we jumped right on it."
The three Asian men, all of different Asian heritages, emphasized their origins through their conversations with the audience and their descriptive pieces. They've known each other for a while and said their paths have crossed several times.
"We're all community artists," Phi said. "We've shared a lot of stages."
The three men performed in a rotation because they said they didn't want the audience to get bored. The audience's response throughout the show proved that their plan worked.
Illafonte kicked off the show and pumped the room full of energy. He rapped a song with hip-hop music in the background and involved the audience.
Li, who performed during Asian-American Heritage Month in April, said he was nervous about coming back because he hasn't performed since then. He talked about issues relating to his Chinese heritage and his family.
Phi, a Vietnamese-American, performed pieces that addressed issues in Asian-American and, specifically, Vietnamese communities.
The first thing he talked about was the Vietnamese last name "Nguyen," joking about how many people pronounce it incorrectly or assume that everyone with that last name is related.
His first piece was about Vietnamese people with different occupations. He said it was "to show that it's fun and interesting that our community is different."
The Beats, Rhymes and Rice Tour, starring Giles Li, Bao Phi and Kiwi Illafonte, breezed into UCF.
"They're traveling from school to school," said Cuong Le, chair of the Asian Awareness Council of the Multicultural Student Center at UCF. "This is the first school they're stopping at."
Members of the Asian Awareness Council, who put on the show, were really excited for their arrival and performances, he said.
"We asked one person, and they told us about this tour," Le said, "so we jumped right on it."
The three Asian men, all of different Asian heritages, emphasized their origins through their conversations with the audience and their descriptive pieces. They've known each other for a while and said their paths have crossed several times.
"We're all community artists," Phi said. "We've shared a lot of stages."
The three men performed in a rotation because they said they didn't want the audience to get bored. The audience's response throughout the show proved that their plan worked.
Illafonte kicked off the show and pumped the room full of energy. He rapped a song with hip-hop music in the background and involved the audience.
Li, who performed during Asian-American Heritage Month in April, said he was nervous about coming back because he hasn't performed since then. He talked about issues relating to his Chinese heritage and his family.
Phi, a Vietnamese-American, performed pieces that addressed issues in Asian-American and, specifically, Vietnamese communities.
The first thing he talked about was the Vietnamese last name "Nguyen," joking about how many people pronounce it incorrectly or assume that everyone with that last name is related.
His first piece was about Vietnamese people with different occupations. He said it was "to show that it's fun and interesting that our community is different."