Sponsored by the
2013-2014
WG Hip Hop Club
and
the Drama Department
Cedric and Zach hosted the show!
It started in the early part of the semester...
...with an Independent Study class Wes Ragland ('14) took with Mr. Schaefer to explore the world of Hip Hop, to start a plan for working in the St. Louis music scene and of course to write some lyrics and make some good music.
Wes Ragland (aka C@$per) has been writing and performing on our campus and around town for the last several years.
Off campus he has worked at the Gramaphone, in Forest Park at festivals, and also in the Webster Art and Air side stage. He is performing orginal solo work and he is also working with a group. His group is slated to release an album. Subtle Aggression (who also appeared in the concert) will be appearing in Dec 2013 and they are opening for Jonezy at the Blindspot.
On campus...Wes has performed in the MLK assembly for the last couple of years and he has also made it on the FOX stage in the annual Teen Talent Showcase in front of 2000 people. Wes was fortunate enough to walk with away with the "I-Award" for most imaginative (a $1000 prize) for a anti-bullying song called "No Incident". It was a huge opportunity and he has been working hard on keeping up the momentum ever since.
The Hip Hop Showcase was a collaborative effort that utilized the Hip Hop Club's weekly meetings to eventually generate a whole show. The students in the club were meeting to blow off steam and bust rhymes after school in Dr. Schuester's Physics room. However, the group needed a purpose for the work they were doing and because their were so many kids showing up they needed to find some sense of order to get their work finished.
The guys sit around before the show and practice
some group work.
Mr. Schaefer and Wes worked on securing the date of the concert and then hit up the club to see if they were interested in getting work done by that deadline. Once they got a good response for the show and there were people interested in performing they started required lyrics to be submitted at various times over a mont-long period.
The show started to take shape!
Marquis Houston on the drama steps getting focused!The club had a bit of revolving door during the planning months. Some members of the club wouldn't always be there week after week so Wes had to do constant check-ins to make sure the acts were getting prepared and that they would be ready by show night for the paying crowd.
The STEP group practiced in the Drama room before the show
and it turned into a pre-show dance paray!
The rappers all got their songs ready, the STEP group got a routine together, we even had some singers get some music memorized, and of course we had Nigel prepare a dance for us!
Waiting for the show to start!
THE SHOW
The show was a huge success. Sold out crowd, and people sitting in the aisles! It was a party that went 20 minutes past the time we planned and the audience still stuck around for the whole show!
The tickets were kept cheap at $2 a person and we didn't plan for an intermission in hopes to keep the show moving!
Timothy Cunningham sings for the ladies! Nigel Scott wows the crowd!
The cypher group is amazing...Chris beat boxes like non-other!
Dorian shows off his complex lyrics
The ladies, Alicia and Donnelle sing some accapella harmony
Steven turns up the heat and gets the audience pumped up!
Wil Berkowitz shows off his bars! Subtle Aggression takes on the tough topics!
Octavia sings it proud!
"Rookie of the year" Hamise Che Askew takes the stage and wows the crowd each time!
Nigel joins him and provides the beats!
Introducing...
THE 2013-2014 STEP Team
The girls brought it that night! They had everyone so hyped up in anticipation! They rocked it out and were the best closing act an audience could ask for!
Special thanks to everyone
(even those not pictured here)
who participated in making this very cool first-time event at WGHS come to the stage.
We are hoping that the success of this show inspires another one in the Spring.
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