I have to get this off my chest – LIT (Laugh, Inspire, Talk) was amazing. This singing and spoken word event, intended to brighten our lives during winter time, happened last Friday. It was hosted by the very talented Cazna Hinds. Hinds is an amazing singer, but LIT showed some of her other talents as well. The exciting and festive event was Hinds’ enterprise project for both her ECON 3883 and MUSI 2903 classes. I think that her teachers should give her an A on the project for effectively hosting an event full of talented singers, rappers, and poets.
With an unbiased opinion (mind you – I performed at the event), I recall some of the best performances and some of the most interesting performances. It’s hard to say who was the best performer, but I got to give it to my girl, Cazna Hinds. She planned on performing two songs, but because the crowd loved her so much she pulled it together and performed the last song of the night, “Listen.” This was a song recorded by Beyoncé, and as we all know it takes a lot of talent to master Beyoncé. Hinds had the talent! However, let’s not get carried away and think this entire event was about her. There were other performers as well.
The most memorable performance from LIT was when Budaprince performed. What started out as a poetic retelling of spiritual enlightenment quickly turned into a prayer like hymn. Honestly, it was an experience. At one point I really felt that I was experiencing enlightenment. Budaprince was a singer, a rapper, and a poet that night. I give him the trophy for most memorable performance because I will never forget his act.
There were so many performances. Sen-Ken performed a sexy duet of Britney Spears’ “Toxic,” while Wambaire sang a Swahili version of Adele’s “Hello.” Chase the Rapper performed an original rap, while Colin Bullard attempted to sing “Living on a Prayer.” There were so many other talented performers I could go all day. There was an intermission period where our MC Khadijah Cooper played an interactive game with the audience. The game was engaging, but it also exposed a lot of truths about the audience. Audience members were asked questions like “would you rather,” or a “what would you do.” No lie, it got very personal very quickly.
Overall, LIT was a great experience. I had a lot of fun listening to a lot of very talented students singing, rapping, and reciting poetry. Well done Cazna.