Over 25 people showed up in 7^th street Underground to participate in the forum “When Did You First Fall in Love With Hip-Hop?”

The hip-hop forum, led by the women of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority members shared opinions and experiences on what the music means in today’s society.

During the night, sorority members asked questions relating to the crowd’s thoughts on hip-hop.

Delta Sigma Theta defined hip-hop as a name for the four elements of the late 70s New York City renaissance which includes break dancing, emceeing (rapping) graffiti and DJing in a PowerPoint presentation.

In the presentation, rap was also defined as a combination of rhyming and poetry to a musical beat. An audience member said that rap is a gene and hip-hop is a culture.

When the audience was asked what they defined hip-hop as, many yelled out, “It’s an art form,” “Hip-hop is a way of expression” and  “It is a way to express yourself and your struggle.”

Ashley Howard, the first vice president for the sorority, said hip-hop is a lifestyle and was ruled a culture in 2001 by the United Nations.

“Culture is something that really brings people together for a common purpose as well as a common goal. Hip–hop has been misconstrued because it has been commercialized within our own American society. It stands with a positive message and I believe it is a culture,” Howard said.

Marquita Anderson, freshman sociology major, defined her definition of the genre of music.

“Hip-hop is emotion, hip-hop is the struggle, hip-hop the up comer, hip-hop is a story,” Anderson said.

According to Kathryn McIntosh, the chapter president for the sorority, Delta Sigma Theta chose the topic of hip-hop for the night because of the movie “Brown Sugar” and they felt people are often influenced by music. They wanted to know peoples opinions of hip-hop music.

“It was interesting to me that people felt that hip-hop was a culture,” McIntosh said. “Hip-hop is feelings, it makes you want to dance, and rap is just rap it is not amusing to people.”

One question asked to the audience was if hip-hop died and when. Howard answered that she thinks it never died; it lost its original meaning in the late 90s and has transitioned into rap.

Howard said that it is obvious that hip-hop influences and changes people.

“I believe an issue occurs when you let those lyrics about shooting drugs, money, objectifying woman, become your self fulfilling prophecy,” Howard said. “When you let those types of lyrics actually sync into your being and control your thoughts, the music really can change someone.

Anderson said it is both societies and the music’s fault that hip-hop died. She said as an artist, it should be about the music and not about the money.

“We are the ones that listen to the music, you can’t fault the music if we listen to it,” Anderson said.

At the end of the forum the sorority members asked for three volunteers to play a game. The game was to listen to a clip of a hip-hop song and guess the name and artist. Some of the songs included: “Boyz in Da Hood,” “I’m Bad,” “I’m Gettin’ Money,” “Push It,” “The Light” and “Suga Suga.”

When asked the message she took from the forum, Anderson just said, “Hip-hop is alive.”

Sara Jaraczewski can be reached ay 581-2812 or [email protected]