Students create hip-hop organization for community of listeners

A group of friends who spend their time listening to and discussing hip-hop have found a community of students who do the same.

This community started their own chapter of the Student Hip-Hop Organization in late January as a platform for students to discuss hip-hop music and culture.

“It was an idea me and a couple of friends had because we just really enjoyed hip-hop and it has had a big influence on our lives and upon who we are,” Jemal Abdulhadi, a member of the UNC chapter of Student Hip-Hop Organization, said.

Danny Cullum, another executive member of the UNC Student Hip-Hop Organization, said the organization is especially popular at the University of Virginia.

“It’s a very cool concept and the chapter is all over the country,” Cullum said. “Hopefully in a year or two it will be a staple of the UNC campus and it will offer a lot of camaraderie.”

Abdulhadi said the organization hopes to have its first general body meeting in a few weeks and that some of the main events will be discussions of hip-hop.

“One of the big events we have planned are Fridays in the Pit,” Abdulhadi said. “We want to have a DJ and music from maybe 11 to 1 and to bring a lot of energy to the Pit.”

“It would be nice to have sponsors and give out free t-shirts and food and stuff like that.”

Noah Somaratne, an executive member of the UNC Student Hip-Hop Organization, said the long-term goal for the group is to give an outlet to students so they can discuss everything hip-hop related.

“If a student wants a group to listen to music with, we want to provide that, or if a student wants to start a group, we want to provide an outlet for that,” Somaratne said. “We want to pull all of the hip-hop culture at UNC and give it to incoming students.”

Somaratne said they want to expand performances to more than just group members.

“I’m trying to bring a couple of outside performers that would be interested in rapping or singing. Other than big events, I make sure we can book a space and make sure we have food and cooking at it. I will also be taking care of workshops we will be doing in the future.”

Somaratne said the group especially wants to bring together diverse individuals through music.

“One thing that I like about just our executive board is that it’s so diverse in itself,” Somaratne said. “We have people of different races and religions and different backgrounds, so that’s what we are hoping to see in the general body as well.”

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