It’s getting Afroloud in here

Marking the end of Black History Month, The Hub played host to two Mount Royal clubs’ celebration of culture and art on Feb, 28.

The event, Afroloud, was a celebration of black culture. It was put on by the Black Student Association (BSA), with performers that came not only from the BSA, but also from Poet Prospects (Mount Royal’s recently founded poetry club). The purpose of Afroloud was for people to get together and celebrate black history, culture and everything in between.

Nathan Mukele, second-year Open Studies student and founder and president of the BSA, created the club because he believed that the black community and the Mount Royal community were not well integrated. His hope was to create a club that would work towards strengthening the relationship between the two communities.

Students performed a variety of poetry, spoken word and raps for Afroloud - the event hosted by the Black Student Association and Poet Prospects to cap off Black History Month. Photo: Carter Cook

As a new club on campus, the BSA hoped to bring awareness to their club’s name — and the Afroloud event did just that. With two hours of student performers on stage, the event succeeded in bringing people together. But not only did this event prove to integrate and celebrate black culture, it also gave students the opportunity to have their voice heard through spoken word and poetry — allowing anyone who had poetry, spoken word and or raps to take the stage.

Afroloud was explained by Mukele as a chance for people to be informed and enlightened on the positive aspects of black culture, which was evident right from the very beginning of the event. The founder of Poet Prospects, Ab Kirby, shared with the crowd some of his poetry, but the audience also heard from many poets and rappers of all sorts of ethnicities and cultures.

Afroloud concluded with “Louis Czar Banks” — also known as Louis Czar (vice-president of the BSA) — and Nate Carter (Mukele) showing off some of their hip-hop style. They played a set of three songs and concluded with some freestyling.

Shortly after the event then officially ended, Czar with the help of a few others, commandeered the speakers. Playing music and dancing, Czar kept the celebration going long enough for others to join in until it became a full blown dance off.

The power behind this event was not only the utter talent that the performers brought to the table, but also the sense of community that was shown all night to every culture, ethnicity and background. Afroloud was not only a very successful celebration of black culture, it was also a celebration of the spoken arts and of people in general. If an event like this is put on again in the future, it is definitely something you will not want to miss.