Amyah Brooks, a first-year in the College of Arts & Sciences, has loved hip-hop ever since she was little.
“My mom especially influenced my love for hip-hop. We would play it whenever we were in the car together,” Brooks said.
Brooks enjoys listening to artists such as Eminem, 50 Cent and Missy Elliot. With over 300 student organizations at Marquette University, choosing which clubs to join can be difficult.
Then Marquette University’s Student Government Instagram account posted about Marquette Hip Hop Club, and Brooks decided to sign up.
“I wanted to join a club like this on campus but there was no club to join so I took it into my own hands to create that club,” Liam Indra, a senior in the College of Business Administration and founder of Marquette Hip Hop Club, said. “My whole goal is to bring people of all different backgrounds together through hip-hop.”
Indra started working towards creating the club in September, but it became official towards the end of February. Indra shared his idea with his roommate Matthew Munson, a junior in the College of Business Administration.
“It sounds like a really cool thing to join,” Munson said. He loves listening to artists such as Kendrick Lamar and Kanye West, which sparked his interest in the club.
Munson also mentioned its relevance to Generation Z, describing hip-hop as an “evolving genre that’s prevalent with young people today. It’s becoming more of a trend,” Munson said.
“I would encourage other students to join because I’m very excited about it and you can learn about local artists and big name artists as well and to be able to appreciate Black artists in the media that aren’t always as dominant or known,” Brooks said.
Munson explains he’s most looking forward to the get-togethers.
“There will be listening parties, concerts at the rave, people can group up and go,” Munson said.
Listening to albums and talking about them, working with local hip-hop artists and going to concerts are all things Indra explained the club plans to do together. Indra also describes it as a diverse outlet to meet new friends.
“The main goal is just to bring people together and create that space to listen to hip-hop with other people. There are clubs that are music related and culture related but this was an unfulfilled need. I wanted something to fill that need,” Indra said.
Marquette Hip Hop Club plans to visit Baby Keem’s concert at The Rave April 1. To find out more information, check out their Instagram, @mu_hiphopclub.
This story was written by Jolan Kruse. She can be reached at [email protected].
