Photos by Julian Royal
Last Thursday, November 7th, NJIT held an “Open Mic Night” in the Pub for anyone with a voice made to be heard! It was a night filled with different voices, different stories, and different talents.
With her strong vocals, Crystal took the stage first and introduced the audience to her Slam Poetry. When the going got tough, her rhythmic lyrics boomed from the microphone as she articulated to herself to “walk like a man, talk like you got some testosterone in your throat, stand up to your fears.”
The Pub really got bumping when dynamic duo “Stomp” took the stage! Their original rap, “Power Hustle,” flowed with a harmony that got everyone’s head banging to the groove.
Following up were Gio and Skyler with a jam session that continued the rocking flow. Gio warmed up the crowd with an epic freestyle rap while Skyler jammed on his guitar to give him the beat. This tag team won the crowd’s heart for sure!
A special surprise was a performance from one of NJIT’s GDS caterers, Nelson, who took the stage still in his apron, and spoke a meaningful poem, “One Life to Live.” Words to live by: live your only life to the fullest!
At 9:30 pm, the main event, George Yamazawa, or “G,” a comical poet from North Carolina, brought the audience close together as he spoke fondly and majestically of his love for his family and his Japanese heritage.
He poetically depicted his hardships of growing up in a culturally homogeneous environment and constant ridicule from American children, who called him “Jackie Chan” or “Bruce Lee” as a joke. G did not let this ridicule bring him down, however. Instead, in his poem he stated one of a few simple rules for getting through these struggles: “laugh along with their ignorance, it will give you strength.”
Nonetheless, G was able to add some humor to the scene by describing his immigrant parents’ “hella funny” transition to American pop culture.
Composed from the heart, G spoke of his Asian girlfriend, with whom he has a long distance relationship, but with a love that can withstand a tsunami, he pledges his undying love for her through beautifully written lyrics of poetry. Without missing a beat, he made sure to state how awesome it is to be able to put soy sauce on his eggs with no harsh comments.
The night ended with one last heartfelt poem, dedicated to his loving father, a cancer survivor. Throughout his childhood, G’s father was hard on him to teach him a lesson. G knew this and loves his father dearly for it. These lyrics were his way of thanking his father for being the man he is and for teaching him to never give up on anything in life.
The whole night was a spectacular NJIT occasion. The crowd was captivated by the harmony and embraced the flow of every unique talent flowing through the night air. This fantastic event was, by far, one of NJIT’s absolute best and will be hard for future events to follow it up!
Holly Junice