Artists Ignite Flames at Spit Fire: Round II

More than 70 people flocked to the already packed Punch Out last Friday night to witness the second coming of the spirit-filled poetry cipher titled Spit Fire: Round II.

The dim lighting, anxious poets, topped off with the added aroma of fried foods created the atmosphere for the extraordinary event that was to take place. The cipher was hosted by Olu Burrell and the featured poet of the night was Komplex.

Divine lyrics and testimonies are some of the key elements that make Spit Fire stand out from some of the other ciphers on campus. Spit Fire is the creation of the Tom Skinner Campus Ministry.

Headed by senior finance major Carlous Price, who is also the assistant chaplain, Spit Fire was something that this ministry thought was very much needed on campus.

"We believe that people have some politically correct and politically incorrect views about what's going on in our society," Price said. "Students have a passion about their spirituality, a passion about life and that fire represents the passion." Unlike other open mics, poets who perform at Spit Fire must keep it clean.

"We provide them with a venue to express themselves," Price said.

The first lyricist to take the stage was the singer/poet Lisa Gilliam. Words of a love lost danced off her tongue with a cadence so strong that her piece could have been mistaken for a rap track. Her poem depicts the journey of a broken heart that is turned around by her faith in God. She soulfully sang, "I'm running back to you/ I see you standing there for me/ your arms are open wide."

This hook was incorporated with her spoken piece. Gilliam said it is her past experiences that inspire her to write.

"I've seen a lot of people get hurt by different situations...I want to let them know that there is still hope out there." Gilliam said. She further explores the heart and other topics on her CD titled Past to Present.

The featured poet of the evening, Komplex, performed several pieces with strong social and political themes. The crowd snapped their fingers and cheered as he recited the hook to his opening poem, "Heaven In View," which audience members later discover was talking about the HIV virus.

Komplex is a full time spoken word and hip-hop artist from Brooklyn, N.Y. During a brief interview, Komplex spoke about the importance of the spoken word movement among our generation.

"The spoken word movement is to return people to intelligent art," Komplex said. "Spoken word as an art form does not reach out and grab you; it's something that you have to reach for to understand."

Other poets that graced the microphone included the very energetic and animated, Broke Baller a.k.a. Snoopy, who is a familiar face on the poetry scene here at Howard University.

Snoopy is a Howard graduate and was also the host of the Illpoets.com poetry cipher that was held in the Blackburn reading lounge at the end of the fall semester. Ill Poets consists of mostly all Howard graduates. They have recently released a spoken word album.

Out of the many student poets who performed among the seasoned artists like Gilliam, Snoopy and Komplex, there were two students in particular that held their own on the mic: junior music voice major Rhonda Taylor and junior television production major Omari DeGruy, better known as DeGroove. Taylor performed a powerful piece on the very controversial topic of abortion.

DeGroove is a member of Suni Tribe who also held an open mic on campus last Tuesday titled "Suni Tribe Presents..." DeGroove performed a piece that deals with different social injustices that we encounter everyday.

Students agree that Spit Fire was a success and are looking ahead to part three.

"I've really enjoyed Spit Fire thus far," said Steven Hughes, a sophomore finance major.

Komplex offered this explanation for the prevalence of poetry ciphers on Howard's campus.

"Anyone can do it. You don't have to be pretty, tall, thin or big to write or perform your poetry.... it's very accessible anyone."