On Wednesday, April 20th, I attended a formal concert at Webster Hall. It was Hunter College’s annual USG Spring Fling event. Last year featured a performance by Fetty Wap, a currently popular hip-hop artist. This year, Hunter students had the pleasure of watching Oxymorons, the opening acts, and Waka Flaka Flame perform. Waka Flaka Flame is a hip-hop artist active in the hip-hop scene since 2008. He’s known for his popular hits “No hands”, “Round of Applause” and “Hard in the Paint”. Waka Flaka Flame is from Atlanta, Georgia where the ‘Dirty South’ style of Hip Hop was established. One of the many characteristics of Dirty South hip-hop includes straightforward lyrics with a heavy use of slang, exuberant beats that are overly exciting and …show more content…
As soon as Waka Flaka came on to the stage, his presence, energy, and his music exemplified what Black Music was all about. It was about engaging your audience; it was about making people feel a part of the music and the culture. It was about sharing who he was and what his culture is with everyone. It was unique and full of life. His energy stayed at the same momentum until the performance ended, never skipping a beat or forgetting what he was there for. Waka Flaka Flame engaged the audience the whole time he was performing and made sure that everyone was having a great time. During his first few songs, a lot of call and response were used. He would begin the first few lyrics of the song and then let the audience finish, also adding in the repeat after me aesthetic that is used in Black music (letting the audience yell out ‘Brick Squad’ after him, which represented his team). He began his set with a few of his more recent songs that weren’t of the EDM genre. Apparently, Waka Flaka Flame had begun producing EDM music, which took a lot of the audience members by surprise. During his non-EDM set, the crowd was extremely energetic. Everyone was dancing, singing along to the music, jumping up and down, and was fully zoned into the