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Howard's Yardfest Was a Curse-fest

By Akiki Kizza
Black College Wire

Homecoming week has come and gone. Depending on your preferences, you either enjoyed the entire week or you might have been disgusted by some events.

Photo credit: Maya Gilliam/The Hilltop Mr. Cheeks performs at Howard's Yardfest.

I should say that maybe I'm not qualified to comment on the Yardfest on the Howard University campus because I don't understand the hip-hop culture. But honestly speaking, the verbal diarrhea that occurred on stage was unthinkable. No wonder the Howard television station, WHUT-32, doesn't do live broadcasts of such events. The Federal Communications Commission would have made a profit through indecency fees.

It was unfortunate that the performers decided to use curse words to spread their messages. In the beginning, I tolerated the first artist because I thought it was hip to listen to such garbage. The crowd screamed its lungs out and everyone enjoyed the show.

However, as different performers came to the stage, I couldn't stand the constant four-letter verbal attack. All of a sudden it was mother-fer!!!! this and f--- that and b---- etc. I felt sad when one rapper said that all b---- should shout out and almost all the ladies in the audience did so with glee.

This was my first live hip-hop show. I realized that I couldn't skip a song simply because it had curse words. Since this was a public show, I thought precautions should have been in place to discourage the unfortunate verbal assault. You might say that I had a choice of leaving if I felt offended, but I couldn't because I simply didn't believe what I heard.

A friend realized that I was concerned about the show, but he told me not to worry because according to him, that was hip-hop culture and it was OK for the artists to call them such obscenities or even to say,"You n----- better f--- vote on Tuesday."

I guess that is one aspect of hip-hop culture I didn't agree with. I kept on imagining what my poor mother would have felt if she came all the way from Uganda on Friday and heard what was said. I'm sure that her perceptions (negative) of the young African-American generation would be solidified by that sick verbal barrage.

Even though good things happened during the show, such as a good MC job by a student from Howard's School of Communications, the bad language overshadowed them. It's obvious that not all Howard students use that kind of language, but it made me sick to realize that some of them enjoy using it and that it appeals to them in various ways.

Akiki Kizza, a student at Howard University, writes for The Hilltop.

Posted Nov. 8, 2004