Michelle Myers and Catzie Vilayphonh are founding members of the spoken word group Yellow Rage, a dynamic duo of Philly-based Asian American female spoken word poets. Yellow Rage gained international attention when they performed critically-acclaimed HBO television series Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry.
Celebrated for their high energy and engaging performances, Catzie and Michelle have gone on several national tours and performed at hundreds of colleges and other venues around the U.S. from Honolulu to Chicago to Atlanta to New York City. Yellow Rage has made a positive impact through their poetry. Drawing from their own unique experiences, individual political ideologies, and personal life philosophies as Asian American women, Michelle and Catzie’s group and solo poems address issues which explore the intersections of race, culture, gender, community, and self.
In May 2021, their signature poem “Listen Asshole” was reimagined as a response to the escalation in anti-Asian violence during the COVID-19 pandemic through a video performance directed by Masahiro Sugano and produced by Anida Yoeu Ali of Studio Revolt. Their work on this video was featured in USA Today’s Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month edition. The video can be viewed on Studio Revolt’s YouTube channel. The text of “Listen Asshole” is also going to be published in the forthcoming Asian in America: Thoughts on Growing Up Asian American, edited by the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment and published by MTV Books and Simon & Schuster.
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