[Senusret I]

The Hilltop - Campus
Issue: 09/12/03

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Students feel the Da Band event was unorganized
By Melanie R. Holmes

Students feel the Da Band event was unorganized

An anxious crowd of students swarmed the confusion-ridden Blackburn Center on Wednesday in heavy anticipation of meeting Da Band, a music group comprised of five rappers and a singer signed to Bad Boy Entertainment, Inc.

The event was organized by Entertainment Power Players (EPP), a student organization comprised of college label representatives interested in the music industry, in conjunction with the Universal Music Group, a music distribution company and label.

Originally scheduled for 1p.m. in the Punch Out, students crammed into the cafeteria level of the student center to meet the band members and have a poster autographed in promotion of the group's first and upcoming album. However, it was soon determined that the Punch Out was not a big enough area based on the number of students who arrived.

"There was a crazy amount of people," senior Autumn Dennard said, who is the Universal Music Group and Lifestyle college representative. "We definitely expected around 300 people, which is something that could fit into the Punch Out."

In actuality, Dennard estimates that about 800 students showed up. "We had to move to the ball room because there were too many risks with having it in the Punch Out," Dennard said.
The location change was quick to stir up commotion as students scrambled to the top level of Black Burn to find a spot in line. From that point on, complaints were numerous.

"There was so much confusion and too many people in a tight spot all rushing the door," Natasha Carter said, a freshman communications major. "It was a fire hazard."

Adds junior administrations of justice major Devin Harper, "They didn't think of all the people who were going to come. They should have had it in the ball room to begin with." Harper also suggests that the event should have been less publicized. However, Dennard claims that although the advertisement in Tuesday's edition of the Hilltop received a lot of attention, news of the event spread mostly by word-of-mouth. Furthermore, Dennard also states that the affair was put together at the last minute, as EPP and the Universal Music Group were given less than one week's notice that Da Band was available.

"We organized it according to the group's schedule," Dennard said. "It was just us trying to bring something to Howard University to liven things up."

Students also complained that they were not allowed to take pictures with members of Da Band once they were allowed into the ball room.

"We had to accommodate all the students," Dennard said. "Pictures slowed the flow of traffic."

But just as there were students who criticized the event, many others left the ball room in euphoria.

"It was exciting to know that they were even coming," Briana Henderson said, a freshman psychology major.

Sophomore Kirkland Wallace agrees. "They were real cool," said Wallace, a business management major. "They didn't mind shaking your hand, even if it was the hundredth person they'd met."

Although Dennard admits that EPP and the Universal Music Group could have been better prepared and apologizes for any inconvenience, she reiterates the fact that they were not expecting such a massive turn out.

"We recorded all the things that need to change and have gone over our organization tactics," Dennard said, "but I am definitely proud of it as well as everyone else in EPP. This was our first event for the year, but with more planning time, our next events will top this and bring the excitement back to Howard."