At the And What?! fundraiser this past Sunday, money wasn’t the only thing raised. Dance troupe And What!? got fans jumping while battling MCs got the crowd’s hands up. The fundraiser was organized by And What?! Head of Funds junior Morgan Shelton and lead choreographer junior Alesha Washington. And What?! organized a handful of Oberlin talents to perform at their fundraiser. In addition to performances by And What!?, the show featured MC, dance and DJ battles.

DJ Vinyl Fiend kicked off the night with a solid set. Students filled the ’Sco and by 11 o’clock there was a considerable crowd. This is rare in Oberlin, especially on a Sunday night the week before finals. These students were gathering to witness Oberlin history, the first time that MCs, dancers and DJs would battle it out simultaneously on Oberlin turf.

Fiend cut the music and And What?! pushed the crowd back off the dance floor. They opened the night dancing to the classic Tribe Called Quest jam, Scenario. Their clean and synchronized movements and their vibrant dance steps got the crowd going.

Next on the night’s list of events were two talented spoken word artists, Vita Vasquez and Nabila Talib. Their delivery was powerful, succinct and strong. After performing, Talib announced the MC battle and briefly stated the basic rules.

An MC battle is a competition in which MCs, who are lyrical artists or rappers, verbally battle for crowd appreciation. They compete to see who has the best rhyme skills. Usually, as was the case on Sunday, the contestants are judged based on the volume of the applause they receive. Basic MC battle tactics include insulting the other performers appearance, reputation and personality. However, in Oberlin’s hyper-PC atmosphere, this can be a double-edged sword, which one must wield with caution.

The first round featured two non-campus participants with Ghotti battling MC Bane. Ghotti, an experienced rapper who also hosts the weekly hip-hop event Beat Street at in Cleveland’s Hi-Fi Club, quickly disposed of MC Bane.

Next to battle were B. Smith and Hybrid. B. Smith appeared nervous and jittery while Hybrid conveyed confidence and focus. B. Smith’s lines included, “You need some Rogaine inside your Afro/ My bad flows straight up inside your asshole.” Even at Oberlin, it doesn’t really pay to portray oneself as a homoerotic MC. Insulting an MC’s Afro is equally unwise, especially if you’re white. Hybrid quickly put B. Smith in his place off the stage.

The third round of the MC battle featured MCs Majestic and Cypher. Cypher is a Jazz pianist in the Con who is blind. Cypher went first and quickly won the crowd’s favor with his style and flow. When Majestic took the mike, his fate was all too clear. He dug his own grave further by immediately insulting Cypher’s blindness in a distasteful manner saying, “Damn, you wack/ the judges don’t even need to give you a handicap.” One just can’t say things like that around Oberlin, especially to a crowd favorite like Cypher. Majestic was booed off the stage.

Next, AYEM battled Catalyst. Catalyst seemed a little nervous, but quickly gained confidence when Vinyl Fiend put on the well-known “Oh No” track off of Lyricist Lounge. He insulted AYEM’s “faghate-shit,” his “jeans faded-away,” and his “scuffed boots.” Keep in mind that this is Oberlin. In a normal battle the word fag is used every other line, but in Oberlin that’s a big problem. What Catalyst didn’t realize was that his insults were giving AYEM ammunition to turn insults back on Catalyst.

AYEM won the crowd with lines such as, “Oops, there goes your skirt/Plus your girlfriend is treating me like she’s a flirt/all right it’s no-wonder/ that I can take her number/ and then go back on stage and tear your face asunder.” At that point, Catalyst was already walking off stage. But AYEM put the icing on the cake by turning Catalyst’s own rhymes against him. “The truth is you’re garbage and trash/my boots is scuffed ’cause they was stuffed so far up your ass,” he said, sending the crowd into a willin’ frenzy.

In the next round Hybrid battled Ghotti. It was close, but Hybrid prevailed over the veteran MC. The next round of the battle placed AYEM against Cypher. AYEM was chosen to rhyme first. For the first time in the battle, AYEM appeared less than supremely confident. He showed his respect for Cypher, a friend of his, before the battle by giving him a love filled pound (that’s a friendly hand-slap).

AYEM insulted Cypher, but “he was careful not to cross the line,” said College senior and Obie hip-hop enthusiast Issaku Kohl. With lines like “Look his Momma dressed him/ He’s so skinny I should take him to Philips and bench-press him,” AYEM gained the crowd’s approval, but without being plain mean; he was witty. He also made sure to debase his own trashy style: “I’m nasty like food from the garbage at Harkness.”
Cypher came through with a strong performance: “They call him AYEM ’cause he came too early.” Though Cypher was kicking some hot rhymes, it was getting harder to hear him. In the end, AYEM won the crowd with his skills and charisma, but not without breaking a sweat.

AYEM battled Hybrid in the final round. Hybrid did put up a valiant effort, but by the end of the round it was clear that AYEM was victorious.

The dance battle was the next event of the And What?! Fundraiser. “It was interesting because everyone in the semi-finals had very polar styles, we got to see one dude do Kung Fu and one kid was popping and locking. Sherece was getting mad freaky and choice,” said Kohl. Sophmore Sherece Donalds, who is staying in Oberlin to do Capoeira over winter term, put her skills to work, capturing the dance title and the $25 prize.

The final event of the night was the DJ battle, though it was more like a showdown. DJ Vinyl Fiend battled CoolGuy 73, who prefers to be called Dynamix. According to Dynamix, he only “heard about the battle two weeks ago” and “it usually takes about a month to put together a solid routine.” In addition according to Dynamix, after hearing about the battle, he went back to his room to practice and found, “a gorilla throwing his turntables out the window.” Allegedly the gorilla also stole all Dynamix’s records. “This made practicing difficult,” said Dynamix.

A source who wishes to remain anonymous for fear of gorilla retaliation said that investigations are pending about DJ Vinyl Fiend’s connection to the rampant gorilla. Currently he denies all allegations. Dynamix wants us all to know, “DJ Vinyl Fiend sucks rotten Amish eggs.” And he’s ready for another battle, “if the time is right.”

And What?! concluded the evening with another energizing dance skit to the Beat Box Boy’s “Yum Yum.”

Despite the controversy surrounding the DJ battle, which will likely never be resolved, the evening went well, drawing a big turnout for a Sunday show. Veteran ’Sco manager Shirley Sikora spoke of the show highly, saying, “I think it did very well.”

Alesha Washington said of the event, “The crowd participation was great and we were happy so many people showed up.” In opposition to the mainstream images of big booty hoes shakin’ dat ass, And What?! works to portray a more respectful perception of women in hip-hop. And What?! hopes to show “how women can battle and be positive without using the sexual stereotypes that are present in rap videos today,” said Washington.

This event provided And What?! and many other Oberlin hip-hop artists with a venue to showcase their skills. With this volume of support, this type of event could become a more regular occurrence on a campus that could use a little more hip-hop culture.