Russell Simmons Introduces Brave New Voices on HBO

The DuSable Museum of African American History in Chicago welcomed guests to check out the Young Chicago Authors and an HBO private screening of the upcoming show "Russell Simmons Presents Brave New Voices." Young Chicago Authors and poetry legends mingled together to celebrate spoken word with supporters expectantly waiting for the two-hour show to start.

A couple hundred people of different age ranges and cultures mingled in the DuSable Museum lobby, snacking on catered fruit, pastry, and vegetables while servers circled with glasses of different liquor. Photos of African American inventors like Madame C.J. Walker and George Washington Carver lined the stairwells and walls inviting visitors to read about American history while waiting on the lights to dim when the theater doors opened.

When host Avery R. Young hit the stage to announce to the crowd the activities for the evening, shouts of glee and claps rang out. First up, an announcement by 4-month-old Executive Director, C.C. Carter, who boasted about how there were 500 kids who tried out for "Brave New Voices" and not one fight broke out. Carter was proud of Young Chicago Authors for showing how peaceful Chicago youngsters can be when inspired by word.

Alderman Burnett, Chairman of Special Events, came up onstage to introduce himself and say, "The arts are very important to our culture and our city." Chicago native Camilla Forbes from HBO boasted about how well the Young Chicago Authors did during tryouts and how happy she was to be back home. Thank yous went out to the sponsors of the show and then the program started.

HBO's "Brave New Voices" was narrated by hip hop pioneer Queen Latifah and chronicled the lives of teenage poets from seven cities headed to the annual "Brave New Voices" festival. The first set of poets from Brooklyn, New York introduced the audience to some heavy topics. B. Yung talked about how stressed out he was about teen violence. Jasmine spit about her unfortunate first time having sex. Britney Wilson remarked on how hard it is to be taken seriously as a teenager with Cerebral Palsy and what it was like to hear her grandmother tell her she could not be president but she could clean the White House.

The competition went on to Ft. Lauderdale with a poet named Jasmine narrating her life with sickle cell and how after her mother died when she was seven, she chose to write instead of talk for three months. Another poet spoke to the audience about having Tourette Syndrome while the next Florida native rhymed about how sorry she was to not introduce her parents to friends because of a language barrier. When the first episode was over, there was thunderous applause before a second episode showed the tryouts for Young Chicago Authors making it to "Brand New Voices," with actor Idris Elba as the host.

A few sniffles filled the audience during the last poem, "Last Count: A Love Story" from Chicago poets Nate Marshall and Demetrius Aparan who talked about the recent crimes of Chicago teenagers killing each other. The saddest part was that during the time they were creating this poem, they had to add more names to the piece because young Chicagoans continued to be killed by each other and by police. The poets compared Chicago to Virginia Tech.

Afterwards, an introduction to a 4-year project from Greg Jacobs and John Siskel documenting Chicago poets previewed and is set to tentatively release in 2010.

Next up were Young Chicago Authors live, some of whom were performing the next day for the finals but were so dedicated that they came to the DuSable Museum anyway. George performed "Stalker by Midnight" about chasing love. The audience demanded that the next poet, Demetrius (one of two poets from "Last Count: A Love Story"), do a piece called "Different" and agreed to recite the apparently popular poem about being biracial, living poor, socialism, and racism. Deja Taylor also took on the topic of love through song in her poem, "That Ish is for the Birds." Erika Dickerson, The Truth (real name Lamar), Kuumba Lynks, and Teens from Lane of Lane Tech College Prep High School also performed.

The night ended with one of HBO's Def Poets Kevin Coval performing for the audience with other spoken word legends, Alix Olson; Beau Sia; Jessica Kare Moore; and Regie Gibson. Goodie bags were passed out to guests afterwards with sports water bottles, journals, a black knit bag, a free copy of "The Mash" newspaper, and a literary journal called "Now and Then: The Journal of Ordinary Thought."

The HBO special "Brave New Voices" will air its first episode on April 5, 2009, and "Brave New Voices" will be in Chicago on July 19, 2009. To give donations and for more information on Young Chicago Authors, visit www.youngchicagoauthors.org.