Def Poet Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai performs “Kindness over Genius” as part of Beau Sia’s Presents: I Miss You – The First Annual show featuring “the folks i miss” at The Bowery Poetry Club New York back in September 2010. In your twenties, you’re more captivated by genius. In your thirties, authentic kindness means much more. This piece is dedicated to workaholics and perfectionists.
Be sure to check out her latest album Further She Wrote.
Kindness over Genius by Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai
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Beau Sia, two time National Poetry Slam Champion, performs his spoken word poem “Bound by a line aka Asian Girls” at the Bowery Poetry Club back on October 2010. He breaks down the description of Asian Girls used in today’s society. Also see his other spoken word piece Asians, Asians Everywhere.
Bound by a line aka Asian Girls by Beau Sia (contains profanity)
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HBO Def Poet Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai has released her sophomore spoken word album, ‘Further She Wrote.’ A continued evolution from her debut ‘Infinity Breaks’ (2007), this album marks Kelly’s second collaboration with international touring artist and producer Black Cracker, whose beat-making has been featured in VIBE, The New Yorker, Dazed & Confused, Playboy, and XLR8R. Recorded at Liquor Laughter Studios 3.0 in Brooklyn, NY, ‘Further She Wrote’ features eleven of Kelly’s original spoken word poems, re-imagined with Black Cracker’s spacey, sexy, electro-flavored hip hop beats. Kelly says of their collaboration: “We wanted to up the game of what’s happening in the world of music and spoken word.”
Here’s the track listing:
1. Real Women I Know
2. Self-Centered
3. The Ballad of a Maybe Gentrifier
4. Beto, Bed-Stuy Sketch #1
5. The Confessions of Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai
6. Letter to Lauryn Hill
7. A Decade in Haiku
8. Weapons of Mass Creation
9. Black, White, Whatever…
10. Kindness over Genius
11. Resolve
Listen to cuts of Further She Wrote below:
The album is “Name Your Own Price” for the rest of December 2010 and January 2011.
‘Further She Wrote’ is available via digital download here. Physical CD’s will be available in January 2011 via her Bandcamp and website here. Kelly’s seventh consecutive Move This Earth National Spoken Word Tour is continuing to book tour leg dates that include the East Coast, South, Midwest, and West Coast in 2011.
Find out what Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai is all about
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More about Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai
An innovator and veteran of the spoken word stage, Kelly has performed at over 450 venues worldwide including three seasons of “Russell Simmons Preasents HBO Def Poetry” and on the same bill as Mos Def, KRS-One, Sonia Sanchez, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Talib Kweli, DMX, Wyclef Jean, Tracy Morgan, Amiri Baraka, Abiodun Oyewele of the Last Poets, Harry Belafonte, and many more. The daughter of Chinese and Taiwanese immigrants, Kelly describes growing up within the culture of spoken word: “I’ve been doing it since I was a teen, so it’s a crucial part of who I am and how I’ve come to have an artistic voice and a global audience, despite stereotypes that distort Asian females as being silent without anything powerful, passionate, or important to say.”
channelAPA.com‘s Steve Nguyen talks with actor/slam poet Beau Sia about the trials and tribulations of being a spoken word activist and graces the stage with his original piece titled “Chasing Bruce Lee.” Here’s more from Steve:
Every now and then, we often come across certain events in our lives that define who we are now.
These moments appear to be simple on the surface, but for individuals like Beau Sia, he can recall every vivid detail of how he came to be the famous slam poet that we all know and love to this day. Beau and I discovered each other through our mutual connections and throughout the last year, we found that we had more in common than we thought. As two small town kids with big city dreams, our interests kept us passionate about our respective art forms and our lives revolved around utilizing our voices for the world to hear. Because I consider Beau to be a well-traveled veteran in the APA circle, I’ve always admired his opinions and continue to follow his work wherever I may be. This segment was not filmed solely for the purpose of collaborating, but to embrace Beau Sia as someone I’ve respected since I’ve started this wonderful journey into the entertainment scene.
In the slam piece titled “Chasing Bruce Lee”, which many of you might have heard from the album Beau Sia: Dope & Wack back in 2001, Beau attempts to redefine what Bruce Lee is to him by today’s standards. In struggling to identify what we perceived to be the Asian American role model, Beau realizes that Bruce Lee embodied so much more/less than what we saw of him in film and television. We often question what it is to live up to certain standards as artists, but until we come to terms and establish our true identities, we will always be chasing Bruce Lee.
I also suggest that you listen carefully to the introductory segment that Beau reads that was addressed by his mother. Definitely some powerful stuff right there.
Beau Sia x Steve Nguyen
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Singer Sue Jin released an artistic video combining images, poetry, and music. In her poem, she talks about finding special moments in life. Her song speaks of her desire for peace. Listen to this solemn piece of work.
Moments/Peace by Sue Jin
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MOMENTS (poem)
I live life in search of moments
And it is in these moments that I remember I am alive
Fervently I strive to make them last
Splitting seconds like hairs into finer denominations of time
Prolonging their instantaneous transference into memories
But elusively, they evade my efforts
To catch the blackest of stallions on the darkest of night
To find them amidst the convolutions of life
To hold tightly to their reins
To harness momentary and force its permanence
Will be my greatest accomplishment
And subsequently, my greatest failure
I live life in search of moments
And it is in these moments that I live and die
_________________
PEACE (song)
I fall again
Won’t say when I’ll hit the ground
So I’ll pretend
That I’m flying for a little while
I drift away
Nothing but faith to hold on to
Memories they fade
As you come in and take their place
All I want is peace
I have no fear
As I hold on to your hand
You disappear
But in your shadow I still stand
All I want is peace
All I want is peace
Back during Asian American Heritage Month in May, HBO released the short documentary “East of Main Street : Asians Aloud“. If you missed it, you can see this clip of Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai. The three time HBO Def Jam Poet talks about race and culture through her spoken word poetry.
See some of her other works: Today, Real women I Know, and Black White Whatever.
Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai Clip from East of Main Street: Asians Aloud
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