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The Black Student Alliance hosted a night acknowledging liberation through education and culture as fashion, hip-hop, and Talib Kweli etched the message into the many minds at CEC on Saturday night.Kweli, renowned in hip-hop circles for his heedful and socially conscious rhymes put down the microphone usually reserved for spit swaddled mad flows and instead engaged the audience in a Q & A session. He addressed the preexistent dilemmas and modern place of African Americans.

“What is negative?” asked the casually attired Kweli as he followed his words, “who is given the right to distinguish what is considered right and what is to be viewed as wrong?”

Challenging the conceptions that there is line that distinguishes absolutes, Kweli opened up the crowd to question whether or not such practice and ideologies have any truth in their blueprint.

Kweli picked from the audience questions concerning a blighted black culture and the icons that fueled movements looking to uplift the community out of that perpetual state of abysmal being.

Saying that the privilege of progressing social awareness and unifying the black community had befallen unto artists that have otherwise muddled the works of their noted leaders and predecessors, Kweli answered the concerns of the audience.

“Real icons and leaders come from the universities, not the person wanting to be on TV If you are in a position of influence, you must be accountable for your image if the public has picked you to be their voice,” said Kweli.

Kweli is cautious, however, as he stressed that to use divisive language is ultimately detrimental to any movement towards solidarity.

He warns to consider that the artists themselves may simply be reflecting what they know and that the real issue is the environment that creates their lurid styles.

“If an artist has a message that I can listen to, I do and then I look beyond the derogatory and recognize what is really meant,” said Kweli. “Art is the voice of the people.but art has to be honest unto itself as well.”

The sobering words of Kweli were a shift from the relentless display of featured clothing, music and b-boyin’ that preceded the forum headed by the hip-hop star.

BSA debuted various types of clothing (thanks in part to a collection of sponsors) that, “were meant to match up with some of these timelines – black power and everything until now – clothing that dealt with some of the issues presented during the night,” said Psychology Professor Jennifer Noble.

Noble was responsible for setting up the clippings that laced the night with a political overtone.
The fashion show was segmented into separate installments, each purporting to a different feel that was accentuated by the music spun by the sly fingers of the event DJ.

The first line of models adorned wear that followed the lead of “Dangerous Negro,” clothing that drew no attention to itself but highlighted the mood and bodily expression of the models.

The second line came via Sunway Clothing, a local non-brand retailer catering to independent designers, the style progressing to more intricate and elegant pieces, but still with the lacing of hip-hop sown into each strand.

Finally wrapping up with heeled and finely suited models dubbed ‘Hollywood,’ the mood escaped the raw rhythms of urban virtues and became lackadaisical in their approach to image and influence.

The entire runway showing was under the subhead of ‘Elements of style Under the Influence of Dance Crew.’
The dance crew consisted of a grouping of varied b-boys and girls who filled the elongated platform when the models retreated to the dressing room.

Their thumping twists and spins seemed to have nearly broken the stage while the music worked on everyone under the roof.
Coinciding with the dance, clippings of iconic speakers such as Malcolm X and Tupac Shakur condensed the abundant energy into a tangible and focused medium.

“As far as their (BSA) philosophies behind the event.I think they wanted to show a lot of negative views and the struggles that people went through, and the images and misconceptions they had to fight through,” said Noble.

The night concluded with Kweli holding the forum.

“It feels good that everyone came together,” said event emcee John Michael on the little over a week deadline given to the BSA to organize the event.

“[Kweli] had so much to say, he’s so profound..his music is his person,” he said.

Digging through the sift of traditional assumptions that African American culture belongs in the basement of other ethnologies, the BSA used all tools to dispel that belief. Even a culture rooted in negative or skeptical connotation can run away with those stereotypes and embrace the message beneath the surface.

Kweli finished: “The change that people look for comes from their campus and their communities. If they find that change, it becomes the music for new change.

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