Aggie Fest continued with the Student Government Association’s popular program, Aggies and Poets. Students packed Harrison Auditorium to capacity to see the anticipated show.
Aggie Fest continued with the Student Government Association’s popular program, Aggies and Poets. Students packed Harrison Auditorium to capacity to see the anticipated show.
DJ Red October kept the crowd excited before the show began a little after 8 p.m. The mood was set quickly with red and white lights and the setting on the stage. Jordan Brunson, Mr. A&T, opened the show performing his first spoken word piece. He was a little nervous but the crowd gave him a standing ovation. The theme of the night was “Respect the Mic.”
Brunson surprised the crowd as the host of the show with professor Bryan Thurman. To give the show a twist, the poets performed at a miniature stage on the side to give off a more intimate feel. Poets like Shay, B-Rock, JHook and Mark Wells, and Micah spoke their hearts out and received standing ovations.
Projected on the screen was a cypher featuring students from N. C. A&T and UNC Greensboro. They were recorded on top of parking decks spitting their latest flows. It was a great addition to the show even though it was hard to hear what they were rapping about.
There was one dance group, Rhythmic Manifesto, who performed a tribute to Hip Hop and really hyped up the crowd.
Singers and rappers also performed. Among rappers, S.H.E.E.M. stood out with his song “By the Boatload.” He had the crowd dancing and rapping along with the chorus. Another rapper, Cape had break-dancers and performed on the trumpet while performing. Miss Freshman, Amber Woodard, sang a mix of songs that had the crowd singing along.
The last singer and performer of the night was Terra, a native of Alexandria, Va. The junior computer science major sang a tribute to Lauryn Hill. “ I didn’t want to do something that was typical and Lauryn Hill is very influential to the Hip Hop culture.” This was Terra’s second time performing at Aggies and Poets.
The SGA secretary plans Aggies and Poets every year. This year was Whitney Walker’s, a junior nursing major from Durham, N.C., turn to plan the event. “Planning wasn’t hard because once you open up the floor to rappers, singers and poets, they come flooding. The hardest thing was picking who was going to be in the show and who wasn’t because I had so many people to choose from.”
There were some changes she made to the show from last semester’s. She changed the venue from Exhibit Hall in the Memorial Student Union to Harrison, which gave more students the opportunity to attend and made Aggies and Poets more of a production, not a talent show. She also included it during Aggie Fest week.
“I did it during Aggie Fest because Chris Wade, vice president of external affairs, proposed the idea because he wanted to make Aggie Fest bigger and different than it was in the past. He also felt like the one last semester was a success, so he wanted to include it during Aggie Fest.”
Students like Lamont Williams, a junior biology major from West Philadelphia, Pa, had a great time. “I think the show was good. Jordan Brunson really did a great job and everyone else followed suit.” He also loved the crowd participation. “ The crowd was really into it and it displayed the Aggie Pride that was talked about when I transferred here.”
Next year, the show will be a hard one to live up to, but Walker thinks it can be done. “The new SGA secretary should continue to raise the bar. One thing he should consider is to showcase different students and not picking the same people for next year’s show. Making these few changes will make Aggies and Poets hard to beat.”
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- Necole Jackson, Register Reporter
