Hip-hop is one of the most popular styles of music today, but many students fail to recognize the genre’s history. Black Student Union (BSU) held their annual Black History Month assembly on Feb. 29 in the main gym. The assembly highlighted the past 50 years of hip-hop and different Black artists who contributed to the rich culture. 

BSU students worked with their sponsors Davone Robinson and Kia Pickett to plan the assembly. The assembly included a series of poetry readings, spotlights on influential artists, and even dance battles between the “old-school” and “new-school” generations of hip hop. 

“The dance battle for me was the highlight because that gave me an opportunity to showcase some old-school dance moves,” Robinson said.

Students faced staff members in a dance battle, featuring Assistant Principal Marlon Felton. 

“It [was] a good way to participate,” Felton said. “Motivate the kids to be fired up about this Black History Month assembly that we’re going to do in front of the entire school. It was just a fun way to just let our hair down and enjoy ourselves and share our culture.”

The assembly opened and closed with quotes read by BSU members about the importance of art and music. Students also reenacted interviews with famous Black artists like DJ Kool Herc in the 70s and Tupac in the 90s. BSU worked with the art teachers to create graffiti pieces that decorated the gym.

Senior Kalilah Henry is a leader in BSU and hosted the assembly. She thinks it’s particularly important for students to recognize the meanings behind the songs they listen to and who made them. 

“The songs that we listen to– there’s hidden messages in those songs,” Henry said. “There’s more meaning to them behind what we think it is, it’s not just music… [It’s important to celebrate] black culture, in general, just kind of where it originated from. Why [artists] talk about what they talk about in their songs. And like the more influential black artists and people that came up with those songs or that piece of art, yeah.”

Pickett hopes students were able to take something away from the assembly.

“I just hope that with this assembly, students and faculty kind of opened up to see how it all started, and appreciate it more now that they know the history of hip-hop and how it started,” Pickett said. 

BSU looks to spread unity further by collaborating with other clubs for the rest of the year.

“BSU is always down to collaborate with other clubs and do activities,” Robinson said. “I think that’s a part of it too, as far as unity goes, we want to be a little bit more connected with other clubs and do activities and things even at the end of the year. We do things together [as a] group but it would be really nice if we could connect with some other clubs.”