The final night of hip hop

Thursday night, an audience saw the culmination of the year with the last hip-hop blow out. Hip Hop Congress hosted a MC battle and DJ battle at Vertigo night club. There was a large and interactive crowd bobbing their heads to the music and cheering as each DJ stepped up to show off his vernacular. \nThe event was true to the IU Hip Hop Congress chapter president Aaron Brekowitz's prediction of a large audience of hip hoppers enjoying music. \nBerkowitz said in 2000, IU student Ron Gubitz founded the IU chapter of Hip Hop Congress, the second of 18 chapters of the national organization which was originally founded in 1993 by Reali Robinson IV. The chapters are based in colleges, universities and high school communities. \nHip Hop started in the 1970's as a way for the black New York City community to express its struggles and pleasures in life. Derived from the traditions of slave spirituals, jazz and blues, hip hop expands beyond music into four avenues -- music, poetry, art and dancing. Today, the Hip Hop Congress strives to battle the negative aura of modern hip hop -- glorifying poverty, gang violence, drug addiction, promiscuity and misogeny. Hip hop promotes creative self expression and activism. Community programs include awareness festivals and community action, canned food drives and beach clean-ups, said Berkowitz. \nThe music started at 10:30 p.m. with DJs spinning records with funk, R&B and rap music, warming the eager crowd to the upcoming battles. The crowd was up and dancing off and on starting at around 11 p.m. and continuing until the Master of Ceremony or MC battle commenced at 11:30 p.m. The battle consisted of 16 rappers facing off -- two at a time -- each with the opportunity to show off his lyrical skill for 30 seconds. After two MC's competed, the promoters from Feed The Kids asked the crowd to cheer for their opinion of who won. This format continued until the final round, for which there was a suspense building break with a disc jockey and MC Pugsley Adams, all the way from Chicago, entertaining the crowd.\nThe final round was won by Senior Andrew Mclelland -- Shaw. Shaw survived a barrage of jokes about being white, having a beard and resembling Jesus in Mel Gibson's new movie "Passion of The Christ" only to emerge victorious and win $75 from Hip Hop Congress. Shaw said he was satisfied with the how it turned out. \n"This win makes me overwhelmed, finally there is a crowd understanding skill," said Shaw. "Most battles are all about the punchlines, but this victory wasn't."\nShaw and another rapper from Indianapolis worked with an anonymous DJ to produce the upcoming album "Anticipated Distraction" which is currently being mastered in California. The album, which was exposed and supported by radio stations in Indianapolis and WIUS, will be available at live shows. He and a friend are currently looking for live musicians to play for the shows. \nThe audience payed careful attention to the MC battle but socialized more during the following DJ battle. \nSenior Marc Newman said he felt the DJ battle did not gain as much of the audience's attention because of it's difference. \n"The DJ battle isn't as exciting as the MC battle," said Newman.\nThe DJ battle consisted of five DJs with three to five-minute sets spinning records. Victorious Top Speed, the professional Indianapolis DJ, was mildly pleased because of the lack of competition and attention from the crowd.\n"Hip Hop's back bone is the DJ. It is everything to the party." DJ Top Speed said. Feed the Kids, a non-profit organization which sells its humorous and political uncensored talk show on a CD to raise funds for hungry Indianapolis youth, turned out for the event.\n"It was nice to see such support for hip hop in Bloomington," said Berkowitz.\nThe next big event for IU Hip Hip Congress will be called Bombing Bloomington -- a display of legal graffiti planned for the upcoming Fall semester. Hip Hop congress will also be working hard to promote voter registration in the upcoming Fall semester.