With finals on the horizon, most students are probably getting a little nervous, but for the students in Africana Studies 289D: Hip-Hop, nervous doesn’t even begin to describe it.
A large crowd gathered in the Old University Union’s Undergrounds Caf√É.√© on Thursday evening to see students perform for their Hip Hop final. The presentations included rap and hip-hop songs with original lyrics and choreographed dances.
Erin Lee, a student in the class this semester, said she was nervous all day.
“I was about to throw up,” Lee said. “But it was awesome.”
The hip-hop course has been offered to Binghamton students every fall semester for the past three years, offering general education credit for oral communication and writing.
“Most of the people that take the class have never been on stage before,” said Brillian Muhonja, the class instructor. “Some of them like the music and some people come to fulfill requirements.”
The objective of the class, Muhonja said, is to “study hip-hop as a culture and performance art.”
Students learned about mc’ing, cipher circles, rhyming, freestyling, rapping and songwriting. They also had to monitor current events in hip-hop and write journal entries and papers about issues discussed in the class.
“(The class) definitely makes you step out of your boundaries,” Lee said.
A large part of the course is based on group work and presentations, with the students forming into groups early in the semester and working within them for the majority of the class.
“We became like brothers over the semester,” said Ben Spier, whose performance group titled themselves Def Poets Society. “We don’t do anything outside of the groups.”
Every week the groups had to come up with original hip-hop songs and perform them in front of the class.
“It made me face my fear of performing,” said David Lias, a student enrolled in the course. “This class was a big help and for that I’m extremely grateful.”
The biggest challenge for the students, however, was the final examination.
“The whole semester was preparation for this final,” Lee said.
The students were required to perform original hip-hop pieces and interact with the audience. Performers talked to the viewers and encouraged them to sing along.
The presentations were diverse, with some groups rapping about individuality and the differences of the members, and others choosing a main theme.
E.F.D.M., which stands for the names of the group members, presented their act as an argument over hip-hop. Their performance focused on the differences between the “old-school” and the “new-school” approach to the music genre.
Melting Pots, a different group, focused on unity and tolerance. The group used the diversity of its membership to its advantage by staging a faux battle between a Russian and an Indian student and decorating the stage with their respective flags.
Many groups brought unique elements to their presentations, with the hope of standing out from their competition.
The Def Poets Society rapped to a guitar melody that was played by one of the members, Melting Pots invited Indian students to perform traditional Indian dance and E.F.D.M. asked Nervous Breakdown, a student break dancing group, to show off their talent during the group’s performance.
The audience responded warmly to the presentations. The viewers often raised their hands in the air and bobbed their heads to the beat.
“I liked the fact that everyone had to come up with their own lyrics,” said Shavonne Pettus.
Many performers said that they enjoyed their final and would recommend the class to other students.
“It’s definitely the best class that I took so far in Binghamton,” Lee said.