By: Jordan Meiland
On Friday, the General Programming Committee hosted “Beats and Ballads.” The lineup featured Scotty OD, Jahleel, Donyae, JorJ and Moonunitt.
At 8:26, Moonunitt, a Psychedelic rock band from New Paltz, New York, opened the show. Moonunitt consists of Charlie Peterson (guitar and vocals), Bianca Checa (keys and vocals), Michael Carvajal (bass synthesizer and vocals) and Evan Seligman (drums and vocals).
Dylan Pogact also played guitar on some songs. They played a collection of fun, bouncy songs from their catalog. As they played, their music drifted through the Stood while the lights surrounding the stage flashed vibrantly. Often, the members would sing in harmony with one-another, adding an extra layer of expression to the already-enticing sounds. Their set ended at 9:02, thanking the audience for coming out.
After Moonunitt finished, several people got to work clearing the stage for the next act. Amplifiers, pedal boards and the drum kit were removed from the stage. A table was placed on the drum riser for Scotty OD, a DJ, to set up. Scotty OD would DJ for the following 3 acts.
At 9:18, JorJ, a Hip-Hop artist from the Bronx, began his set. With an explosion of energy, he started rapping, pacing back and forth on stage. The audience moved closer to the stage and started moving to the beat. As JorJ paced back and forth, he skillfully delivered line after line of lyrics. Even during the most demanding parts of the songs, he managed to rap with seemingly no difficulty. The audience shouted approvingly of his performance, which ended at 9:44.
At 9:52, Donyae, a Hip-Hop artist, took the stage. However, he started his set by talking about three celebrities that recently passed away: Pop Smoke, a rapper, Kobe Bryant, a former star basketball player and Juice WRLD, a rapper. Out of respect, he asked the room to join him in a moment of silence for Bryant.
Without hesitation, the audience went quiet and the PA system was cut, leaving the room in complete silence. Donyae ended the silence by tearing right into his opening song, changing the energy in the room in an instant. The audience reacted well to his energetic performance, which saw him go all over the stage, rapping furiously. Donyae’s set, while short, flowed right into Jahleel’s set.
After running onto stage during Donyae’s set and putting his instrument down, Jahleel, a show-style snare drummer, started his performance. His performance consisted of an energetic mix of skillful drumming, dancing, lip-syncing and complex drumming maneuvers. As he drummed along to the backing track, he nailed difficult drumstick maneuvers, including one where he’d position the stick on the side of the drum, hit it up in the air and catch it on beat. His dancing and lip-syncing was also very on point. It enhanced the performance really well. At one point during Jahleel’s set, Donyae returned to rap along, which raised excitement in the room.
The show ended around 10:15 with Jahleel thanking the audience for coming out.
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