Yellow Rage
Yellow Rage is a duo of Philadelphia-based Asian American female spoken word poets, made up of Michelle Myers, who holds a PhD from Temple University, and Catzie Vilayphonh, the Fashion Director for two.one.five magazine. Their poems are self-written and are often based on personal experiences, focussing on social and political issues relevant to the Asian American community and aiming to challenge common misconceptions of Asianness. The performances are often aggressive and include frequent swearing, but also include wit and humor.
Career
Formation
The group was originally a trio, along with former member Sapna Shah. Shah is of Indian descent, Vilayphonh is Lao, and Myers is mixed-race Korean American. They met at a writing workshop in Philadelphia in 2000 at the Asian Arts Initiative. Their first group poem, I'm a Woman Not a Flava, about misappropriation of Asian culture as well as sexual stereotypes placed on Asian females, was originally a solo poem written by Myers. They first performed the piece in September 2000 at the Asian Arts Initiative.They adopted the name Black Hair, Brown Eyes, Yellow Rage when they performed I'm A Woman Not a Flava at the Russell Simmons' Def Poetry Slam in December 2000 in Philadelphia. The group made the semi-finals, and were asked by the Def Poetry producers to audition for another show in New York City, which they won.
In February 2001, along with Taylor Mali, Jessica Care Moore, Black Ice, and Steve Colman, they performed in Aspen, Colorado at the HBO U.S. Comedy Arts Festival, gaining a standing ovation, footage of which was used as the television pilot for the HBO Series Def Poetry. After this, Shah left the group to focus on her medical studies.
Myers and Vilayphonh continued as a duo, shortening the name to Yellow Rage. In late summer 2001 they performed for HBO's Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam, the first Asian American women to be filmed on the show. They performed Listen Asshole, remixed into a group poem, based on Vilayphonh's experience speaking Lao in public with her mother and Myers' experience of being mis-identified, which first aired in December 2001.