Italy Ja’rae Lee, 19, is a proud student at New York University, in her second year. She’s majoring in acting and during the week she’s focused on her studies and school work. But on the weekends and in the summer months, she’s lighting up poetry stages and making a name for herself as one of the brightest upcoming spoken word talents in the tri-state area.
This past summer, Italy came in first place in the Parle Endeavors Teen Poetry Slam Series, a New York City wide competition which spans three rounds and features teens from all over the city competing for up to $1,000 in prize money. Her knack for wordplay and storytelling is that of a veteran, but she has only been doing poetry about a year. The opportunities are endless for her and while education is still a priority, you can catch her putting in this work with a busy calendar on her off days from school.
I’m basically planning to either become a teacher or just kind of freelance. There’s not necessarily a defined box of plan. There’s plans. I want to write a book. I’m writing a spoken word album. I want to be in a movie. I have too many rooms to put in one box. – Italy Lee
We caught up with Italy Lee to talk about her path into poetry and much more. Check out the full interview below:
ParleNY: How did you get into poetry?
Italy Lee: Italy Ja’rae Lee I got into poetry through this competition done at my high school during my junior year. It’s called Poetry Out Loud. Through that, it was like a school-wide competition. I went on to the regionals, and then I won state, which was crazy, and this was all during Covid. So it was like everything was virtual. I didn’t with nationals, but I got a lot of big opportunities to perform my own work. The first opportunity I got to perform my actual own work was for Dr. Cornel West. It was at one of his talk backs. It was really cool, because I got to open up the talk back with one of my first pieces. From there, it all conveniently happened towards the end of my high school journey. So then coming here for school, I was just like naturally thrown into the poetry scene.
ParleNY: What’s your favorite performance piece?
Italy Lee: Wait, that’s hard. My favorite one is probably my grandma poem “Cheryl’s Wish,” because I feel the most connected when I’m doing that piece. It also just speaks to a lot of people. It’s the poem that when after I sit down and I’m done shaking and all that stuff, a lot of people come to me afterwards and they’re like, “that was so amazing, thank you!” And it makes me feel good about what I do, and it doesn’t feel as extremely vulnerable. It feels like an exchange.
Watch Italy perform “Cheryl’s Wish” below:
ParleNY: Who is your biggest inspiration?
Italy Lee: This is gonna be a very niche answer. I feel like nobody’s probably going to know them because I’m a theater nerd, currently probably Amber Iman, she’s a Broadway’s star. She actually just got nominated for Tony. She was in the recent musical Lempicka. I saw her performing it twice, life changing, literally like, Oh my God. She’s so amazing and so talented, just great, and she’s not even a poet. I feel like I get inspired by artists of all genres. It always informs my work.
ParleNY: You’re also an actress, what’s the hardest role you’ve had to do?
Italy Lee: Last semester, I did Doubt: A Parable, and I played Sister Aloysius, which was really cool. Basically, I had to play a nun, which was a whole character in itself, besides just lines. First of all, there’s the outfit, so you have a black gown, and then there was a cross, and then you have the little habit, on top of that, I’m playing somebody who’s three times my age, so then it’s like, you have to physically put on a whole physical kind of situation. It was really dope, though. I feel like it really taught me a lot about my range as an actress. It was a little bit weird because it was so out of my comfort zone, but that’s why I like it a lot.
ParleNY: How do you believe poetry and the arts will and are influencing today’s soci0-political climate?
Italy Lee: I’ve always said this, but I feel like poetry is like the one art form where people’s voices are like a straight shot. I think that a lot of people’s voices and what they have to say, especially in terms of the political climate, whether it’s through a song, a dance, a lot of it could get lost inside of the esthetics of the piece, and it could just be about how the piece sounds or how it visually looks, and the message gets lost in between that, but with poetry, it’s very confrontational. Especially where our world is going. I think that poetry has a big big foot in the door in terms of opening people’s eyes and waking people up. That is definitely what’s needed, especially now.
ParleNY: Who is your biggest supporter?
Italy Lee: That’s hard. I feel like my entire family, I’m very blessed to have a family that’s not very critical of the arts, I feel like it’s not even just a stigma, but also like a reality, especially for Black families, because we’re not really put inside of the spaces to actually flourish inside of this type of career form. The beauty of having words of affirmation towards me, and just like always instilling like these positive vibes into me. They’re like you’re on to something. So I feel like they’re definitely my biggest supporters.
ParleNY: Switching gears here, in your opinion, what is the greatest album of all time?
Italy Lee: Whoa, hold on. I gotta think, I just forgot the name of the album, Lauryn Hill, “Miseducation” Um, but, yeah, definitely Miseducation of Lauryn Hill herself but I also love Cleo Sol. I forget the name of her recent album, but it’s the one with the baby picture. [Heaven] But she’s amazing as well. But Lauryn Hill is at the top.
ParleNY: Is it because you’re from Jersey?
Italy Lee: I must say, Maybe a little bit.
ParleNY: We asked all interviewees to conduct their interviews at the most influential place in NY. Why did you choose The Apollo Theater?
Italy Lee: I love this place. If I Could I just say Harlem as one borough and it’s crazy because I performed here once, but it wasn’t here. It was at their new theater. But I think the Apollo has definitely shown me as like a Black woman how much influence we have and our communal spaces, and how our involvement with the arts has literally changed the entire trajectory of what American culture and African American culture looks like, and I think that this is like the epitome of that.
ParleNY: Closing remarks?
Italy Lee: Thank you Parle for having me again. You guys can follow me on Instagram, and I’m also on YouTube now. @Italysblur. I also have recent videos uploaded, so if you want to check those out too, that would be nice. Thank you for having me.
