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Guest blogger Dandiggity in New York City hosting a showcase at the
2007 APIA Spoken Word & Poetry Summit on 8.04.2007. Photo by An Xiao.

From the events that transpired last week all I have to say is, I’m glad to be back home in Bay Area weather! Nothing against you New York, it’s just I couldn’t stand sweating so much while doing so little, anymore. Okay, now that I got that out of the way, my thoughts about the Summit.Big ups to Hanalei (and her hustle) and the organizers for putting in two years worth of work in less than two months. Without your efforts fam, we would have no summit and I feel that would have caused us as a community to suffer. This summit is important; it is a “space” for us. “Us” meaning the poets, emcees, writers, activists who all have tried to find something different, a place that oozed of familiarity and love. That spoke to the inner core of our souls. That spoke to the creased corners of our eyes. That spoke to the yellow and brown on our surface. That spoke to the philosophies of our cultures. That spoke to “us.” This space is important and to have that taken away from us, we who are still trying to define our voice, would be leaving us without a home to go to.

When I began writing creatively the only influences I had back in high school were Biggie, Tupac, ATCQ, and a shitload of other 90’s Hip Hop acts. Poetry was that to me. It wasn’t flowery or deep in the sense that deep meant confusing the crap out of a teenage boy. Deep was being blunt and straight to the point, an outpour of truth and emotion for all to see. Emcees did that for me, and so I rhymed like them and wrote everything in poetic rhyme. Love poems, political poems, and emo poems, all in rhyme.

Fast forward to 2000, fresh out of high school and on my way to the Academy of Arts in San Francisco, thinking art was something to pursue. I was the eldest of my siblings, so I fucked up a lot. And I disobeyed a lot. I did everything unlike other “Vietnamese children.” I was fat and had no self-confidence with the girls (because they all considered me “a friend”) and did not want to be a doctor of any sort. So I moved to San Francisco and permed my hair. Yes, I said I PERMED MY PAIR. I had a real “Asian afro.” So I am legit.

During this time I was on Asian Avenue, a precursor to Myspace, Friendster, Livejournal and many other blogs. Here I met (virtually) the community that I would soon get to know and befriend in the future. Geologic, Mountain Brothers, 2Tongues, Hanalei, Stephen Bor, Bao Phi, Yellow Rage, members of Feedback, The whole Propaganda Movement, and many, many others. Here, they were my heroes because they had a face like mine. Here their words empowered me. They changed the way I wanted to write. They helped me explore who I was.

So during this time a friend of mine, Miki, was studying at Stanford and she was putting on a show for Asian Avenue’s Yellow Techno Color Tour featuring none other than I Was Born With 2 Tongues and The PACIFICS. I was certainly geeked out and wanted to desperately meet them in person. So I arrived early and waited with the other throngs of fans who wanted a glimpse of these giants of the APIA world. It’s funny how you can be recognized just by your user name. When I saw Qpropaganda he was holding a camera with KP (of The PACIFICS) telling people to say something into the cam. All I said was, “This is Dandiggity from the Horny Lots!” (Horny Lots was an inside joke with some folks in Asian Avenue). Instantly they roped me in and I was accepted like an old friend. Just like that. No fake celebrity. No egotistical fronting. I was befriended, just like that.

Okay so to stop from boring you anymore, I watched the showcased and was moved beyond words. I did not know what to make of it. The anger from Anida’s voice, the fast paced delivery of Dennis’s words, the love soaked memory from Emily, and the humor and pain that Marlon brought, it all shook me up.

I stopped writing the way I did before. I bought Broken Speak and listened to it non-stop for a year. I started going back to San Jose and hitting up the local open mics. I always read last, with only one of two people left to listen to what I had to say. But they listened. They listened to the stories I had about family, love, and the state of the world. Like a drug I became addicted and wrote more and more. A lot of it was crap, hot steamy piles of it, but I did not give a fu*k, I just had to write. I won’t lie, for a second I loved the whole appeal of performing and getting noticed for it. Believe me, if you were unnoticed and ignored for so long you would take all they gave you too.

So after a year of spiritual turmoil and growth, I lost 50 pounds and was invited by Miki to be apart of a showcase she was putting together at Stanford in 2001. Believe me, I was scared when she asked. I never preformed outside of my town, no less the small open mic realm I felt safe in. But something tugged at me to do it. So I accepted the challenge.

And I was glad I did.

Because my audience was my own peers and heroes: Bao Phi, 8th Wonder, Taiyo Na, Ishle Park, 2Tongues, Kontrast, Geologic and many others. I entered into a new world. This was my place in the universe. I was no longer lost in it.

For the next six years because of these poets, organizers, and their voices for a new Asian America I have traveled and gigged all around the nation. I became apart of my own collective of poets with the 101 crew (Hanalei, Stephen, Hang, Chaz, Asia, and Sarah). I have been to three summits (missing out on the first one! FU*K!). I have grown as a leader, writer, and human being. I have loved and been shown love, over and over.

So this rant is meant to do several things. One, to show you where I came from. Two, to let you know who influenced me in my self-discovery as a poet. And three, why this community and the summit are important to the world.

This past summit I have seen so many youth involved and participating. That would mean we as poets (in my age bracket) are growing up and the youth are now in the same positions we were in, way back when.

The stories are spreading, the voices are finding themselves. “Pass it around” the mantra of the summit is being realized. We are no longer searching for a space. We have it and it’s now talking shape on its own.

We hustle for our people and work hard for those who care about our progression as artist and organizers in our respective communities. For me to see so many more Vietnamese poets emerging shows that Bao was influential in bringing many others, and me up.

You deserve that much bro.

And to see us, poets and artist, get up on national television, Broadway, and in stores (via books and CD’s) in the last few years has improved my understanding that America cannot shut us down any longer. Our voice is being heard, and it is changing the state of Asian America forever.

The “talk stories” are returning. The bards and songstresses are returning. The warriors are returning. The love and healing is returning.

We are returning.

I don’t know what to make of this rant. I don’t want to edit a thing. This is my testament to what I have seen and what I am proud to be apart of. The visual literal movement of our collective peoples.

“First there was the word, then there was the fist.”

God bless us.

Danny “Dandiggity” Le is a 25-year-old Vietnamese American poet hailing from San Jose, California. He has performed for crowds all over the nation at different colleges and venues for the last seven years. With his unique brand of storytelling and humor he hopes to build a bridge of words from California to Vietnam. A friend once told him he was “a jack of all trades” and he lives up to that title very well. He is also an artist, designer, event promoter, community organizer, industry networker, music reviewer for Onecypher.com, freestyle dancer, and lead singer in a Christian band, just to name a few. When he is not busy juggling a million projects Diggity enjoys hanging out with old friends and making new ones to share in his laughter. He is a Libra and knows life is truly beautiful. Contact him at www.myspace.com/dandiggity or dandiggity(AT)gmail.com

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