Boston University sophomore Paul Yi had no reservations about performing freestyle rap in front of an audience. He knows a lot about that particular genre -- but in some very unexpected ways.
"I watch a lot of YouTube [videos] and follow a lot of battles," Yi, a College of Arts and Sciences student, said. "It's not necessarily who's the best rapper, or best technically, or has the best flow, but it's really how you work the audience. It comes down to the punch lines and how clever you are."
Yi was among a group of amateur and seasoned emcee's who fired nouns, verbs and beats at one another in the first-ever "Battle of the Lyricists" at BU Central on Friday night.
The first half of the hip-hip competition was freestyle, providing students the opportunity to perform up to 10 minutes of original material.
"I'm from the suburbs. Honestly, my parents don't even know that I rap," Yi said. "It's a great testament of how universal hip-hop is, and how many different types of people it can reach regardless of where you're from, regardless of your background and regardless of your ethnicity."
An audience of about 150 members selected Yi, local hip-hop artist Konsept, CAS senior Gregg Dagget and Dorian -- who showed up on a whim and had enough talent to advance -- to move into the second round, which will be April 17.
"Hopefully I don't have to work too hard at the freestyle part, but if I have to, I'll try my best to at least prove that I deserve the spot" Konsept said after advancing.
Yi wrote an ode to Commonwealth Avenue, in which he portrayed common sights across campus, including the "Comm. Ave. Runner" and the '80s-inspired student fashion. He said the media has saturated hip-hop with negativity, and his message was that the genre is not all about "guns and drugs."
Despite technical difficulties at the start of the evening, Student Activities Office student coordinator Rachel Richmond said she thought the evening was a success.
"To actually know that there is a committed and excited fan base that loves hip-hop in its true form, there's nothing better than knowing that they came out to support us," Richmond said. "Hip-hop is a really underserved genre, especially on campus."
Richmond said there are only a few hip-hop performance venues for students in the BU area.
"It's not like they can do it at an acoustic cafe," she said.
John Davitt, a sophomore in the College of Communication, said he thought the night was a "huge success" for SAO.
"There was some amazing talent from BU students -- and even a guy not from BU," he said. "[It was] a really incredible show for a student production."
Be the first to comment on this article!