Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Aggies & Poets
On Wednesday,
April 19, the question, “What has happened to hip-hop?” was presented to the
audience at “Aggies & Poets: Respect the Mic.” The biannual event took
place at North Carolina A&T State University in Harrison Auditorium before
a standing room only crowd. It was the headline event for the third day of
Aggie Fest 2012.
Aggies
& Poets was coordinated by two students from A&T, Brandon Brockington
and Whitney Walker. Brockington and Walker are each a junior. Brockington
majors in English while Walker majors in nursing. The hip-hop theme derived
from these two students. “I came up with the theme after really considering
what has not been done on campus and what the students would be interested in,”
said Walker. Brockington added, “I had already had previous ideas for a hip-hop
show from an event that never manifested, so they were incorporated into the
Aggies & Poets event.”
|
“Do you miss me?” – Hip-hop
|
Rhythmic
Manifesto, made up of Keith Nedd, Michael McNeil, Byron Robusky, and Dresean
Williams, dressed and danced as the different eras of hip-hop. They wanted to
show “how hip used to be to how it is now, through dance.”
Other
than dance, there were six spoken word performances, two cyphers, and four
musical selections. Cyphers are lyrical performances to music that are usually
characterized by uninterrupted freestyle verses. UNCG and A&T each had a
video of a cypher projected on a screen.
Other than the
onstage performances, the audience was incorporated into the show through
ticket giveaways and a trending topic on Twitter. Three audience members
participated in a dance competition for a ticket to the All White Party, an
upscale-themed party hosted in Greensboro, N.C. every year. Another ticket was
given out the audience member who replied a correct answer to Mr. A&T’s
Twitter page. The audience was also asked to tweet about the show using the
hashtag, “AggiesandPoets.”
Each
act seemed to have received a favorable reaction from the large audience as
evident from the ovations, clapping, and traditional snapping that accompanies
spoken word performances. This includes the final line from Brockington’s
“Hov,” that got the crowd in an uproar. He finished with, “Great men don’t die
of natural causes.” This received one of the better responses all night, bested
only, perhaps, by Kenny’s birthday dance during the middle of the show. However,
not everyone was happy with the outcome.
“I honestly was
not impressed. I wasn't feeling the hip-hop theme,” said Sejal Chappell, a
junior journalism major. “I listen to hip-hop, but it is not my favorite genre.
I don’t like the way hip-hop has turned. It has become extremely ignorant. I
don’t feel it has had a personal effect on me.”Despite the negative feelings toward this Aggies & Poets show, Chappell has attended them in the past and even aspires to participate next time with an original poem.
The
negativity clearly did not carry over into the performers though. The Aggies
& Poets coordinator, Brandon Brockington, also performed. Although he
considers himself a veteran to stage performing, he said, “It rarely happens
but after my performance it was overwhelming I couldn’t sit. I’ve done several shows like Aggies and Poets
and I don’t get nervous anymore.”
The dancers from
Rhythmic Manifesto compared the Aggies & Poets event to other shows they
have participated in.
“Yes we have
performed in several shows like Aggies & Poets. Some of those performances
were not as organized and upbeat as Aggies & Poets, however,” said Keith
Nedd.
Whitney Walker
helped coordinate the event. “I would not change a thing. The show went well
and everyone in the show was great,” she said.
After
the event had come to an end and the audience had filed out of Harrison
Auditorium, one question remained that had been asked in the second performance
of the night.
“Do you miss me?” Hip-hop
Perhaps
that question will be answered during the next Aggies & Poets during the
Fall semester of 2012.
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