Hip Hop Battle 2007: For Youths by Youths

Mar 3 saw over 50 Singaporean youths dancing and singing for free at the *scape Youth Park in the name of charity. The showcase, Hip Hop Battle 2007, was a publicity effort by 4 Nanyang Technological University (NTU) final year Communication students, Ms Jaclyn Tan, Ms Ketki Madane, Ms Winnie Loo and Ms Aishah Ng for the Student Advisory Centre (SAC), a local charity catering to underprivileged teenagers at risk of delinquent behaviour.

Performers at the event included Lush, winners at the recent Chingay’07 Pulse Hip Hop Dance Competition, and popular youth bands like King Kong Jane, 7IC and SkiVe.

Hosted by The Flying Dutchman’s daughter Nicole Van Cuylenburg, the event’s highlight was a battle-style showdown by local break dancers from Break Force Crew, who wowed audiences with their impromptu stunts on stage.

Their message? To inspire youths to stay out of trouble and channel their energy into meaningful activities such as dance and sports.

According to Dee, 19, a member of Lush, “Dancing has kept me out of trouble and helped me meet friends and people I look up to. Helping SAC by performing is an encouraging sign that I’m not alone.” She also added, “Besides, it’s fun to show my friends what I’ve been working hard on.”

The event sought to get teenagers interested in the Student Advisory Centre’s Young Achievers’ Club program, which provides courses among other activities at subsidised rates to youths at risk.

“We hope the performances encourage them to explore these extra-curricular activities offered by the Young Achievers’ Club, to channel any negative energy into more constructive means,” said Ms Madane, and she added, “We saw [the increase in] popularity of hip hop culture as an opportunity to reach out to the youths. Even parliament members are doing it!” She’s referring to a hip hop routine performed by the post-65 MPs at Chingay 2007.

To attract youths to the event, the 4 roped in the help of sponsors for giveaways like Flesh Imp t-shirts, Granado Espada posters, vouchers and goodie bags from SingTel.

Despite the occasional drizzle, the event succeeded in getting over a quarter of the audience to express their interest and sign up to find out more about SAC’s Young Achievers’ Club program.

Yasmin, 14, shared with UrbanWire that  “watching them (the performers), especially Lush, was really inspiring” for her. She added that because of the event, she became interested in hip hop and would like to learn more about it.

For more information about Hip Hop Battle 2007, please visit the official website at http://hiphopbattle.blogspot.com or contact the organisers at hiphopbattle07@gmail.com.