Hip Hop Awareness Festival week aims to change views

A festival this week is using hip-hop as a way to change stereotypes on campus. It will bring people together and transcend gender, age and race, said junior Alex Pyatetsky, president of IU's chapter of Hip Hop Congress. He said hip-hop is a form where different perspectives can come together. \nThe sixth annual Hip Hop Awareness Festival includes events all week and one event next week, according to their Web site. All events are free. Presented by Hip Hop Congress, an international grassroots network which uses hip-hop to educate, empower and unite people, the festival has already sponsored two events this week. \nPyatetsky said members of HHC are motivated to change stereotypes about hip-hop on campus.\n"A lot of people lose sight of what hip-hop is and what it means," he said. "Hip-hop was started as a culture to give urban youth an outlet other than violence. That energy and positivity of making something good out of the worst: that's what hip-hop is to me."\nAt 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Indiana Memorial Union Gallery, students can attend a poetry slam. According to the Web site, as many as 16 poets will compete for a $150 prize and an opportunity to open for and have dinner with performer Saul Williams at an event the following Tuesday. Participants are encouraged to pre-register but can also sign up when they arrive. DJ and hip-hop journalist MetroGnome will be providing the soundtrack for the event.\nThursday night A Sound of Africa, co-presented by the African Student Association, is showcasing the phenomenon of hip-hop, Pyatetsky said. It will show the African influence of hip-hop through a lineup of several artists, according to the Web site. The event will be at 8 p.m. in the Grand Hall of the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center.\nFriday's event will feature the Evil Pih-Poh Tour at 7 p.m. in IMUG, which is live hip-hop spelled backwards to show the event's goal to turn stereotypes around. According to the Web site, its goal is to "burn down the stereotypes that hover over our form of musical expression." Several musical groups will be performing.\nSaturday features The Big Day, a food drive held from noon to 10 p.m. in the Willkie Auditorium that will feature break dancing, emcee and DJ battles. Donations of canned food are suggested and will benefit Hoosier Hills Food Bank, Pyatetsky said. He said last year between 1,000 and 2,000 people attended the more than 10 hours of events, and he is expecting at least that many this year.\n"When you come to our Big Day, you're not going to be sitting in an auditorium. There's dancing and an open dance floor. You walk around. And you'll see how that works," Pyatetsky said.\nThe end of the festival will culminate in a spoken-word performance by Saul Williams at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 18 in Alumni Hall of the IMU.\n"Saul Williams has pretty strong convictions and is looking to make a change with his poetry and to affect people and the way they see things," said graduate student Steve Backhus, a Hip Hop Congress member. "We want the opportunity to put strong personalities out there and initiate some kind of change in the way that they think. The whole week is just exciting in itself."\nBackhus expressed his ideas on what he hopes Hip Hop Congress will accomplish.\n"The organization does have an agenda for creating some sort of societal change, whether it's making the campus more racially inclusive or making it less divided."\nFor more information on Hip Hop awareness week and events, visit mypage.iu.edu/~iuhhc/.