DJ Ajani is one of the performers at the #SLAPPAS Fest: A Hip-Hop Showcase.Sac State hosts a celebration of hip-hop with the inaugural #SLAPPAS Fest: A Hip-Hop Showcase at 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 2, in the Capistrano Concert Hall. It’s an afternoon of music and dance performed by University students, featuring Oke Junior, DJ Ajani, MC Sleng, Age, and more.
Organized by ethnomusicologist and School of Music faculty member Sarah Lappas, the showcase will feature 10 performers in a genre Lappas says has had a profound influence on music.
“Hip-hop production styles are incredibly complex and rich with homage, informed by musical lineages that have historically been marginalized in universities’ music canon,” she says.
#SLAPPAS Fest performers will include artists who are already making names for themselves.
“Oke Junior is an incredibly talented rapper and most recently opened for Iamsu here on campus,” Lappas says. “DJ Ajani is a sought-after DJ and producer. Together, he and Oke have opened for some of the biggest names in hip-hop.
Lappas has been teaching the Hip-Hop in Urban America course at Sacramento State for three years.
“Studying hip-hop from a musical perspective reveals the dynamic influences of so many important social phenomena, including immigration and migration, expressions of gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity, and power and privilege,” she says.
It also has become an influential genre.
“Hip-hop has had a reciprocal relationship with other musical genres like pop, rock, jazz and blues since its inception in the South Bronx in the 1970s,” Lappas says. “Today, you won’t find a top 40 Billboard hit that hasn’t been influenced by hip-hop to some degree, lyrically or in terms of the production.”
Tickets to the showcase are $12 general admission, and $8 for students and seniors. Tickets are available at Sacramento State’s Ticket Office or (916) 278-4323.
Visit the School of Music web page or call (916) 278-5155 for more information. For media assistance, call University Communications at (916) 278-6156. - Craig Koscho