We R Hip Hop Festival

Juan I Mora
Published: August 8, 2012

Last Saturday, the “We R Hip Hop Festival” was held for its 7^th year in a row. The festival at Dvorak Park was made possible by Pros Arts Studios, Promos Pros & Event Management Teams, volunteers, artists, and local businesses that made contributions. It included a variety of different artistic genres present in the hip-hop culture, including, DJ-ing, rapping, singing, a graffiti station, break dancing, spoken word, beat-boxing, and a group dancingperformance. The host asked the audience what the four elements of hip hop were and the answer was “the DJ, break-dancing, the MC (rapper), and graffiti”. Each element was represented creating a festival that was not only focused on the music, but also on the other unique elements that make up the hip-hop culture.

At the peak of the festival, there were between 150-200 people present. Although most of the performance were done by teens and young adults, this was a very family friendly event. There were numerous standout performances, including Daryn Alexus, who was a singer; Hector Cash, a Christian rapper; and Esohel, who brought enormous amounts of energy with the combination of rapping and a live band. The purpose of the festival was to promote peace and anti-violence in the community. This festival gave emerging Chicago artists an opportunity to showcase their talents while simultaneously combatting Chicago's growing violence. Festivals, like the “We R Hip Hop Festival”, serve a tremendous purpose to the community and I look forward to seeing what next years festival brings.

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Juan I Mora is majoring in History at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Keywords: hip hop chicago, hip hop in Pilsen