Rock Steady

The fifth annual Hip-Hop Awareness Festival kicked off Feb. 22 in full force as hip-hoppers from across the nation flooded Bloomington to take advantage of a week of hip-hop culture. "The Art of Rhyme," a documentary film on the art of freestyling and battle rapping, began the week Feb. 22. A lecture by Afeni Shakur, activist and rapper Tupac Shakur's mother, and actress Jasmine Guy attracted a packed IU Auditorium Feb. 23. The event foreshadowed the success of the weeklong event, which included a poetry slam with guest poets Psalm One and Thaione Davis from Chicago.\n"Just for the record, the total attendance for all events was well over 2,000, over 200 canned food goods were donated on Saturday, and there wasn't one incident of violence or weapons," said Aaron Berkowitz, senior and president of Hip-Hop Congress.\nGuests were able to learn more about hip-hop and society with Ron Gubitz, former Hip-Hop Congress president, Jordan Bromley and Shamako Noble answering questions about hip-hop in the classroom and the future of hip-hop in the community. The weekend continued with an MC, DJ and breakdancer, or B-boy, battle Saturday at Willkie Auditorium.\nThe biggest upset of the MC battle came when an Indianapolis woman, who calls herself NaunSynce, won $1,000. Motion Disorder from Chicago won $500 in the B-boy battle while IU's DJ Sleeper won the DJ battle. The festivities ended with performances at the 9th Street Bar by IU's own Abstraction, Twilight Sentinels and MC Versatile.\nHip-hoppers can still get a piece of the action viewing the work of nationally known graffiti artists on the back wall of Steve Sheldon Photography, 311 S. Swain Ave. All canned food collected at the festival was donated to Hoosier Hills Food Bank.