For those who don’t know, And What!? is Hip Hop at its finest. The dance troupe has been performing for and educating Oberlin audiences about Hip Hop culture since senior Ni’Ja Whitson founded it in 1999. Cancellin’ Nonsense, on Tuesday, March 19th at Finney Chapel, was their first solo concert in that venue and the first to combine more of the staple elements of Hip Hop. Incorporating graffiti and live DJs, the show remained true to Whitson’s goal of staying “as connected to the [Hip Hop] culture and roots as possible.”
Local DJs, including Sleepyhead and Anisco Padilla, were joined by Bombay from Columbus, Ohio. All three exhibited masterful cuts during the turntable interludes. Sleepyhead also arranged a mix of tracks by Eric Sermon, Black Star and KRS One for “Hip is Hop Ain’t,” one of the numbers that got the crowd shouting, “And What!?”
“DJs make the music,” senior Kim Cook said. “Hip Hop is meant to be seen, heard and felt, so having the DJs there made it even more exhilarating.”
The MC element was provided by the music as well as by a spoken word and beat box piece, “Changes,” performed by Whitson, Amber Coleman, Deshaun Snead and Nabilah Talib. Between verses about the nature of Hip Hop, they sang, “If I ruled the world, I’d free all my sons (and daughters).”
Other highlights included the And What!? mix by DJ Sleepyhead, Whitson’s stunning choroegraphy to Outkast’s “B.O.B” and junior Treva Lindsey and sophomore Karla Victum’s debut as choreographers to Salt-n-Pepa’s “Heaven or Hell.” Senior Naima Bond said, “I always love to see And What!? perform… You can always tell that they love what they’re doing and worked hard on what they do. It’s on point.”
As usual, audience response was essential to the show. Whitson and senior dancer Alison Marshall tested the crowd’s knowledge of female Hip Hop artists, rewarding the wise with T-shirts and CDs. Junior Taye Amegboh said he was reminded “of real live shows outside of Oberlin…Cancellin’ Nonsense was not just about enjoying Hip Hop; they educated us about what Hip Hop is and what it’s not.” The performers created a dialogue between the crowd and themselves with the use of a call and response mechanism that transformed the audience into active participants.
As for audience response, first-year Chris Jordan got the message. Cancellin’ Nonsense captures the side of Hip Hop that is so often overlooked by popular media representation. Whitson’s intention was to “portray the beauty of Hip Hop by challenging negative stereotypes that surround [it], in order to show Hip Hop’s true eclectic and ingenuous nature.”

Watching And What!?, all the moves looked tight. They are obviously “the hottest thing to happen to Oberlin since co-ed dorms,” as Marshall said. In the show’s closing piece, “Battle Scars,” the dancers challenged each other, moving in and out of their circle in the style of a breakdance battle.

Whitson’s choreography drew upon step and breaking, with footwork, popping and the occasional handstand or mid-air stall. And What?! senior dancer Rachel Hass referred to Whitson’s, “dynamic energy and strong sense of form [that] pushes us to levels beyond what we may have imagined possible.”
Whitson has been choreographing since middle school and plans to continue working in interdisciplinary performance after Oberlin. For And What!?, she had to create piece upon piece which she describes as “demanding, but I love to do it.” Whitson intended And What!? to represent all areas of Hip Hop, but after getting a largely female and dance-oriented response at the first audition, she realized that, at Oberlin, “We’re not necessarily getting people…that have been well versed in Hip Hop.”

It became clear that And What!? needed to educate its audience and be conscious of the message each dance projected. The choice of music is key to And What!?’s philosophy. The group, said Whitson, “always [has] discussions of what songs mean and what it means for us to be dancing to them as women.” While And What!? now has one male member, the issue of female representation in Hip Hop culture is still vital.
And What!? has expanded greatly in the past three years, deepening the connections between members as well as with the community. Whitson said, “Our goal next is to see where we can go with getting outside of Oberlin…We love performing here…but it would be great to go somewhere else.”