Hip-Hop Awareness Week closed Friday with the Ohio State of Mind concert.
Shoulders bounced and feet tapped to the beat provided by DJ Smit while people anxiously awaited the beginning of the Ohio State of Mind Concert hosted by Hip Hop Congress.
The show, Friday night in Baker Ballroom B, was a part of Hip-Hop Awareness Week and focused on the element of emcees, a generic term for anyone who speaks over a beat.
The night consisted of performers statewide coming to showcase their skills in front of a crowd of about 50.
“It’s amazing just because it’s hard for artists that aren’t established, basically, to get booked at venues like that. … This situation was amazing just because people who normally don’t get to do shows or anything like that get the opportunity to show what they can do,” said Bills Cardinal, an emcee from Cleveland.
The goal of the night was to get the audience on its feet and to enjoy the show. Again and again, performers urged the crowd to enjoy themselves and to get into the music.
“Get up. It’s hip-hop show,” said the duo Bad Influence.
The winner of The Battle of the Emcees hosted by BSCPB, Charles Yimbo, a senior studying psychology who got to open for Waka Flocka Flame, also performed at the show.
After showcasing a slow song, Yimbo wanted to “hype” up the crowd and keep the night going, but he asked something in return of his fans before he began.
“I need y’all to stand up, though,” he shouted.
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Other performers tried to engage the crowd, such as Dayton Ohio emcee “Sarob.” He jumped down from the stage and asked a man in the crowd a favor — to serenade the girl sitting next to him.
“You’ve got this beautiful woman right here, and no one’s going to sing to her?” he asked the crowd.
Sarob continued the show from the floor and captivated the attention of the girls in the front row while singing the slower verse of the song.
And as the show continued, Joseph “Joey Aich” Holbert said the chairs were useless and soon had the crowd on its feet chanting “OU” and “Joey Aich.” Before leaving, he thanked the crowd for the experience.
Cardinal and Ramone “Ryyo” Petite performed as a duo with the intention to get the crowd “turned up,” which left the floor shaking as the crowd started to “bounce” with the duo.
Another performer, Terry Tertiary joined the crowd sitting when he climbed on stage. He jumped up when the beat started and tried to appeal to the crowd.
“This is OU, so I know you know how to party weekend to weekend,” he said before beginning a fast paced song.
The final performer of the night, Jean P the MC, caused many people sitting to jump up and run to the stage.
With crowd members holding peace signs in the air, Jean P left the stage as DJ Smit continued the beat for moments longer.
Throughout the night, acts continued to thank the audience for coming out to hear them perform.
“(The event) is important because you have a lot of up and coming artists that need to get their name out and it's really hard, especially in a time when there is so much music on the Internet,” said Olivia Busby, a sophomore studying integrated media and African American Studies and the vice president of Hip Hop Congress.
@liz_backo
eb823313@ohio.edu
