Universes wows Kenan Theatre audience with vocals and poetry

For the members of

Universes

, poetry is more than metaphors and words of love.

The group demonstrated this throughout their performance of “The Big Bang” in a packed Kenan Theatre Wednesday night.

Universes, consisting of Steven Sapp, Ninja, Mildred Ruiz and Gamal Chasten, blurred the lines that define poetry with a spoken word performance.

They presented excerpts from many of their past performances, including a piece about life in New York City and the social repercussions of Hurricane Katrina.

The group infused many different styles of music into their performance, including hip-hop, gospel, soul and jazz along with spoken poetry.

Every aspect of the performance, from vocals to beat-making step routines, was in perfect unison.

The performers also created rapid-fire rhythm and rhymes with their words, sometimes bewildering viewers.

For one portion, Sapp used the word “back” as a common refrain while rapidly peppering the audience with information about the group’s history.

The characters portrayed by Universes took the audience to many different places, such as the interior laid-back jazz club, with their vivid descriptions and background melodies.

These scenes were lighthearted, as performers often stopped between pieces to joke with the audience.

For instance, at the beginning of one piece, Ruiz began singing “let me clear my throat” without missing a beat with the others.

Kidding aside, Universes had a more serious message. The topics of their pieces included such subjects as life after Hurricane Katrina, domestic violence, environmental issues and guns.

“Just dial 1-800-JUST-SHOOT,” Ninja said as a narrator of a “commercial” that was making light of the availability of guns in America.

While Universes poked at many social issues in a humorous way, the audience could not ignore the truth in their segments.

A few times, the group’s blunt presentation of certain issues was downright unnerving, even as they presented information in a new way to the viewers.

One member portraying a Katrina victim referred to certain relief organizations as “tragedy vultures,” saying that the groups quickly moved on to the next disaster.

Although the performance covered a range of topics, members said they hoped people could nevertheless relate to some aspect of the show.

“Hopefully you’ll see a little bit of yourself,” Ruiz said. “You might get mad, but take it like a man … even if you’re not a man.”

The only downside to the performance was that because the various segments came from separate shows, they sometimes did not flow together.

But overall, Universes was similar to sitting down with a few talented friends having a deep philosophical conversation, except they sang what they were saying and could kick up some sweet beats.

Contact the Arts Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.