The African Student Association and Black Student Union joined forces to host “Rhyme it Out” on February 23, an event that promoted creativity through rap. It was a battle rap improv that consisted of two teams, a red and black team. In the first round, the theme was unlimited and the contestants were free to play.

After the first round of improvisation successfully raised the atmosphere of the event, it was time for the second round of “pick up and kill it”. In the third round “Get Em’ Out the Classroom”, players from both teams played freely during the the allotted three minutes. If a team member got stuck, sang the wrong children’s song, or said something the previous team member said in this round, that team member was kicked out of the classroom. The team with the most players left at their desks when time was up won in the round of competition. Each player tried their best to avoid being thrown out of the classroom.

In the fourth round, which was called “Toss or Loss,” each member of both teams had to rap with the words given to them by the DJ, and if they couldn’t rap on the beat, stuttered, or didn’t flow, everyone threw paper balls at them. This was a fun round, as each person rapped while the others listened more carefully to that person’s rap and if any mistakes were made everyone threw a paper ball at that person.

 At the end of each round, the moderator decided whether a participant was disqualified or not.

At the beginning of each round, the DJ would announce a specific theme – one person from each team would rap about that theme and the opposing rapper would have to pick up the last bar of the previous round when he started rapping.  At the end of each round, the moderator decided whether a participant was disqualified or not.

One of the participants, Michael Pepprah, felt that the event gave him the opportunity to meet new people and expressed a desire to come back if the event was held again.

Elijah Davis, the president of the Black Student Union, said he wanted to make sure that more black people knew about their community and fit in comfortably. Anyone, regardless of race, is welcome to join the Black Student Union.

Anyone interested in joining the Black Student Union and reach out for Elijah Davis for more information.