Smego’s slam poetry empowers and emboldens students

By Stacie Hueter

​​Poet and rapper Kane Smego flew from California to New Jersey, traveling approximately 2,400 miles to inspire the minds of many.

Holding his second annual Stories for Change event for Rider students in the Mercer Room on Nov. 9, Smego shared his musical talents. 

Smego recited some of his poems behind the microphone with swagger and soulful projection, captivating the audience with his slam style, as cheers followed.

 The poems told the story of his life growing up in a biracial family, and the struggles that come with it. 

Following his performance, Smego held a poetry workshop engaging students’ creativity. 

He gave a short presentation on his experience traveling worldwide in a hip-hop cultural exchange summit. Smego also gave a brief lesson on the incorporation of intersectionality into poetry. 

Afterward, Smego challenged the students to create original list poems, which are poems written in numerical order with a series of phrases or words, and typically include an overarching theme that becomes clearer by the end. He showed a “10 Things You Need To Know” list poem performance from renowned slam poet G Yamazawa, talking about being Asian in the South, and instructed everyone to do the same.

 Smego urged attendees to incorporate aspects of their own identity into one, creating a uniquely distinct poem that would reflect their life experiences.

Everyone wrote their poems in intentional silence, one of pure concentration.

After 20 minutes of drafting, Smego gave attendees an open mic period to read their pieces aloud. Many eager students raised their hands.

Some presenters had effortless confidence, while others had to find their voices. Regardless, the individuals took the first step of being an artist. 

One attendee of the event, junior dance major Alaina Hannah described her thoughts on the workshop. “I like writing poetry. I just haven’t been on it as of recently, but I did enjoy tonight’s                 activity,” Hannah said. 

Through her rough draft, Hannah decided to present her piece to everyone. The students cheered after Hannah voiced her experience as a female gym enthusiast. 

The audience was inspired by her authenticity of dealing with the inevitable sexism of working out as a female. 

Smego encouraged poets to, “Get out into the world … go to open mics, go to slams, go to hip-hop nights” to improve their craft. He emphasized exposure to these settings as the main tool that helped him find his own voice.

As a kid, he enjoyed writing poetry for school assignments and got involved in a poetry club. “An old friend of mine … told me about a club that a former teacher of mine was running around … to go compete in Brave New Voices,” Smego recounted.

He participated in an annual international youth poetry slam, involving a style of acapella rap. This slam inspired Smego to partake in spoken word poetry to dive into sensitive topics. 

Poetry enabled Smego to engage with other creative minds on his journey. In his cultural exchange program, Smego has gone to more than 10 countries twice. 

Even though today Smego is “not living on the road like [he’s] used to,” due to settling down and starting a family, he equally enjoys his work in arts administration and management.

“Start with your own story,” Smego said as one key piece of advice for aspiring poets trying to make it big. “That’s the best way that you can grow.”