Lines of students and community members packed through the main entrance to the Grand Ballroom in the K-State Student Union on Wednesday night, with seats filling up immediately after the doors opened. More chairs had to be brought in for “A Night With Mos Def,” sponsored by Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and the Student Governing Association.
Yasiin Bey, formally known as actor and hip hop artist Mos Def, talked in a way that was personal to a room with more than 400 people in it. After someone brought him a chair, Bey sat down and spoke. He leaned in to the audience when he felt more passionately about a particular topic.
“I have listened to a lot of his incredible music,” said Skyler Schmitt, junior in social work. “He spoke with incredible heart. He talks from the soul. Being the individual that he is, it is so powerful what he was speaking about.”
In a question and answer type setting, Bey originally stood on the stage and said he didn’t have anything prepared,even though his publicist recommended that he did. He sat down and let audience members ask questions about what they wanted to hear him speak about.
“People asked a lot of questions I also wanted to know about,” said Angie Muhwezi, senior in biology and president of Delta Sigma Theta sorority. “It was great to hear about how he felt about current issues. He talked about relevant issues and stayed true to himself. It opened my eyes when he spoke about how we need to treat the younger generations because they will be taking care of our generation.”
Deborah Muhwezi, 2010 K-State graduate in mass communications and past president of Delta Sigma Theta, agreed with Bey’s insight, and said that she felt people should pay close attention to the impact they have on future generations.
“We create the culture for the next generation,” she said. “We have more power as people than we think we have. If we see something we don’t like, we should change it. Mos Def knows he has the notoriety to have the power to speak about issues like this.”
Vuna Adams III, sophomore in accounting and finance and president of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, asked, “what types of skills do people our age need to go into a diverse world?”
Bey said it was all about principles, and that people need to ask themselves “how does what I do bring quality to people’s lives? Or how do I improve quality of people’s lives?”
Anita Easterwood, junior in fine arts and public relations chair for Delta Sigma Theta said there were many challenges the sorority faced to bring Bey to K-State. She said between signing contracts, getting the funding and even the support, it was an incredibly stressful process.
Deborah said Delta Sigma Theta has tried for years to get a high profile speaker to come to K-State, and this was the first year they were finally able to get someone.
“I am very pleased and happy we had the opportunity to bring him to the K-State campus,” Easterwood said. “It was a great event and great that I am finally able to breath. The chapter faced a lot of challenges but it all worked out in the end. He is very down to earth and very humble about what he has done.”
Bey commented on many current issues facing our society. He commented on the Trayvon Martin case that is occurring in Florida, and said he often finds himself angry about what happened to the teenager.
“The images we see of black men aren’t flattering, even when they are meant to be,” Bey said. “I am very sad for this family. But it is an opportunity for this nation to truly live up to its potential. If they don’t get an opportunity to shine, it will just lead to darker and darker days.”
At the end of the show, Bey performed a rap he had created for the Martin case. He spoke with his eyes closed and leaned up against the podium.
Bey also commented about the Occupy Wall Street movement. He said he lives in New York City and is from New York City, a city which he said finds both fantastic and horrifying.
“I went down there,” Bey said. “People think it’s [the Occupy movement] cute, but it’s not. People are puting their lives on the line like the founding fathers did against Great Britain. These people aren’t just sitting at home hollering at the TV. Those are the best Americans and citizens in the world today.”
After more than an hour and a half of speaking, he left the stage thanking the audience for coming out to listen to him and for asking questions.
“Thanks to everyone who came out,” Muhwezi said. “He didn’t come out to rap, but to speak about the problems going on today. I just hope people were paying attention to what he was saying because he was speaking the truth.”
-Jessie
@Jessie_SRNC
SRNC Music 