Universes brought a whole new world of urban culture and musical poetry to the Joegies stage during a poetry slam as part of Friday night's Late Night Penn State.

Consisting of five members primarily from the Bronx, Universes is an ensemble of performers who combine song, poetry and rhythm into a lively, hip-hop experience.

Universes members Steven Sapp, Mildred Ruiz, Marlyn Matias, Gamal Abdel Chasten and Ninji opened the show with one of their pieces but soon turned the stage over to students to share their own work.

"It's kind of like an open mic night," Late Night Penn State Director John Harlow said. "Poetry slams have been pretty popular with students."

Shortly before the show was scheduled to begin, there were very few students in the audience. However, by the end of the event, about 50 people had trickled into the dimly lit room.

"Students wait until the last minute to come," Harlow said. "We never know with students who's going to show up."

Before the event started, Ruiz tried to get more students to sign up and perform.

"We got one person signed up, but I see all you people with notebooks," she said. "Come on now."

Sapp emceed the event.

"Penn State! Where's the liquor?" Sapp said with a laugh as he started the slam and introduced the first act. "We'll give respect to the poetry, yes? Let's have some poetic fun."

The co-founders of Audio Imagery Inc., Penn State graduate George Webster and Jason Browne (senior-mechanical engineering) opened the student set with their rap-poetry collaboration.

Webster and Brown were followed by Meredith Levine (sophomore-biobehavioral health) and Monica Russell (junior-communication arts and disorders and African and African-American studies).

Russell said she had not been to a Late Night event in three years, but was excited to see Universes perform. Before the performance began, she said she was unsure if she would perform herself.

"I saw them at Def Poetry Jam," Russell said. "[Mildred Ruiz] has a very good voice, and I just love spoken word. I want to be published one day."

Sapp said it is always inspiring to see young poets and was excited to be at Penn State. As each student performer got on stage, Sapp tried to put the artists at ease.

"It can start this small and blossom into something that's bigger," he said to the crowd. "We used to play on little tiny stages like this, and now this is my job."

Harlow said Universes was at Penn State as part of a residency, which makes them available to various departments across campus. Universes also performed Slanguage at 8 p.m. Saturday in Schwab Auditorium.

Amy Vashaw, director of audience and program development for the Center for the Performing Arts, said although it was not planned this way, it was great timing for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

"These guys are so incredible that I wanted to expose the students in a more intimate way," Vashaw said. "What Universes does is a very authentic voice for contemporary urban culture."

The group came to State College from Minneapolis on Friday, and Matias said they were leaving for the Bronx yesterday.

"I loved them," Michael Holz (freshman-English) said. "I want them to come back."

The slam ended at 12:30 a.m. with another performance by Universes.

"It was hot. It was hot on a very cold night," Ruiz said. "I had a good time."