IN-Q performs the art of the spoken word
USU hosted beat poetry Friday night, featuring performances by USU student poets, as well as slam poet and hip-hop artist IN-Q.
“When I first heard IN-Q, I was really impressed with how real he was and how well his poems related to the human experience,” said Marie Squyres, Arts and Lectures director at USU. “Some poets get their messages lost in flowery and abstract language, but he’s not.”
The annual event has been a tradition at USU since 2007, Squyres said, and was the final event in CHaSS Week, held by the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences.
The event was held in the TSC Ballroom, which was set up in cabaret-style seating with tables covered in butcher paper so attendees could write or draw while watching the performances. Attendees were also given tea and coffee provided by Caffé Ibis, as well as handmade mugs crafted by the Ceramics Guild.
After three student-poet readings, IN-Q took the stage and began by telling students his show was going to be “interactive,” and asked them connect with each other by introducing themselves to three people around them who they didn’t know. Then he told the audience to massage the shoulders of someone sitting near them. He wanted the audience to feel connected both with each other and with him before he started.
“We’re going to be family tonight,” he said.
IN-Q is a Los Angeles-based poet and rapper whose body of work includes slam poetry features on HBO’s Def-Jam Poetry and raps for the Disney Channel and the Selena Gomez song, “Love You Like a Love Song.”
One of his first pieces, which he introduced as being a poem about positivity, featured profanity that sparked a mass exodus from the ballroom. Almost half the audience left in response to the strong language. However, the choice to keep beat night uncensored was a deliberate one made by the committee that organized the event.
“If an artist has made a deliberate choice to include profanity, it means something in their work,” Squyres said. “We didn’t want to censor that.”
“I actually thought the profanity was a nice change from what we usually have at USU,” said Harrison Davis, a junior majoring in physics education and one of the chairs for the event. “It felt very purposeful, so I didn’t think it was offensive.”
IN-Q was not fazed by the departure of a large section of his audience. “(Event organizers) told me when I came (I should) be myself and not censor myself,” he said. “They brought me to be me. I don’t cuss just to cuss. I use that sort of language because it means something to the piece.”
The performer also did not use the stage or a microphone for his performance; he wandered between tables, putting his hand on students’ shoulders and sitting in empty chairs.
Between pieces, he encouraged students to interact with him by raising their hands and saying “What?” when they felt the power of his words. When he read a poem about falling in love, called “When it’s Right,” he told students to say “Aww,” which created a dialogue between performer and audience.
“I really felt connected with him through the whole show,” said Cade Robinson, a junior majoring in international business. “All of his pieces felt so real and personal.”
IN-Q’s poetry, which was a rhythmic blend of hip-hop and spoken word, featured a variety of uplifting themes from the power of thinking positive to patriotism and love. He offered messages about not judging peers and learning to take people on a “a case-by-case basis.”
Between poems, IN-Q shared anecdotes about being recognized as an artist while trying to keep a low profile at a Planned Parenthood clinic and watching his nephews lose respect for him “in real time” as they listened to his Disney Channel raps.
“I felt good tonight,” IN-Q said, following his performance. “Seventy percent of what I did was new stuff, which made it really fresh, and I was really connected to it.”
Throughout his show, IN-Q asked audience members if they “felt good,” to which the response always seemed enthusiastic. His performance was well received by students who stayed until the end, and they offered him a standing ovation.
“I left feeling so positive,” said Emily Ozmun, a junior. “I didn’t expect to be so affected by it.”
At the end of the evening, IN-Q remained to talk to students, and encouraged them to find their voices as a writer. “It’s important to be part of a community that supports you. Let yourself be around people that inspire you,” he told students.
Though poorly attended, Davis, Squyres, and IN-Q were all pleased with the event.
“It brought out people who really connected with the art,” said Davis. “I thought it was a great night of art and expression that everyone who came really connected with.”
– m.van911@aggiemail.usu.edu