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Culture Shock for Super Bowl 56
Culture Shock for Super Bowl 56 By Andreas Savvaides Staff Writer
With this year’s Super Bowl having hall of fame caliber rappers performing at halftime, it will be a show that you do not want to miss! Heading to Los Angeles, CA, Super Bowl 56 will be the showcase of hip-hop royalty. NFL Music Executive Jay-Z, reached out to Dr. Dre to create the most must watch show of all time. Dr. Dre recruited the best artists he has ever worked with: Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar. This will be the first time in Super Bowl history that rappers will be the performers for the Halftime Show.
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It will be a huge service for the HCC Community to watch because we are in need of a broader span in the musical field. Music does not seem to be represented as much as it should in Housatonic and watching this can inspire all of us to join a cultural revolution by implementing it into HCC.
Griffin D’Amato, a Professional music producer, audio engineer, Westconn graduate, and freelance musician, said of the historymaking event, “I think it’s a fantastic lineup and a great change of pace from their typical half time performances.” D’Amato said he is not surprised that this is the first time hip-hop artists will be performing at the Halftime Show, “specifically because hip hop and rap have been historically excluded from television and pop culture events like these. It is a very nice change of pace to see not only hip hop being performed, but hip hop performed by some of the best artists still making music.”
Evan Katz is a marketing coordinator at a recording and media production studio that works with independent musicians, record labels, tv, and film companies like Netflix, Sony, WarnerBros, Disney, etc. His main role at the studio is to increase brand awareness and reach new customers. Katz argues that the change in genres from pop and rock to hip-hop and rap reflects that “The NFL is trying to pull in a large population of black viewers, despite not supporting black social movements (ie Black Lives Matter, Colin Kaepernick’s situation).
The reality of this year’s halftime show is that it’s a political move by the NFL to appease both players and fans they’ve upset on the other end of the political spectrum by not supporting black equality, and ultimately profit from their viewership.”
But what does this mean for promotion of the hip-hop brand?
“It’s a cool opportunity to witness a shift in media, it will be an event in history, and will likely lead to more partnerships between the NFL and hip hop brands. But in the grand scheme of things, the Hip Hop brand is already present in much of the media we consume at this point,” he said.
But why the sudden change? What sparked the incentive to go against the grain and the common trend of past super bowls? In 2019, Jay-Z and his company RocNation made a partnership with Roger Goodell and the NFL. Jay-Z became an executive for the entertainment and social justice aspect of the NFL. Katz commented on this and said, “Jay-Z is a talented influencer. He can be a positive influence to bring the NFL ‘back into the light’ to gain back viewership they’ve lost in the past few years.”
HCC student Nicholas Texeria loves all kinds of rap music and plays several instruments on an intermediate level. He believes that “Music has always found a way to bring people together.” I asked him about the idea of Housatonic taking notice of the Super Bowl halftime show and making changes of their own as well.
“We could definitely use our influence from the media and have clubs or meetings discussing similar interests on this topic or its influence on us,” he responded.I couldn’t agree more with Texeria. Not only that, but I want to go bigger. I would prefer to have more musical classes and events hosted by Housatonic. Music plays a big role in my life as I am an up and coming music producer. I walk into the buildings of HCC and see beautiful abstract art on the walls, but nothing for any genre of
Photo By NFL
music. Similar to Texeria, rap is a huge part of my musical preference and I wish for Rap culture to be introduced to Housatonic.
Medgine B. Bright, Director of Student Activities at Housatonic, shed some new light on this dilemma.
“Due to Covid, we had to cancel a lot of events. Prior to the pandemic, we dabbled in the hip-hop culture by having open mic nights and bringing in the music production group, The New Breed from New Haven as guests.” I told her I was unaware of any of these events and I was happy that these all happened, but saddened because I never knew about them.
Again she pointed out, “Since you started your college career here at Housatonic in the Fall of 2020, you sadly missed out on all those events. We had to adjust the types of events we offered during the pandemic but as we move past this we will begin bringing back some of the events from the prior semesters, including the Hip Hop related events, “This is why you may have felt like the Hip-Hop culture was missing.”On the bright side, the future is in good hands for HCC hip-hop lovers, as Bright concluded, “The music club is currently active and meets on Thursday and Friday nights at 6:30pm in Beacon Hall room 315. As soon as restrictions are lifted, we will definitely bring back some of the hip hop events we held in the past.”
Therefore, Housatonic can take this historical event and turn it into an eye opener for a much needed return in the musical field.
Like Katz said, “Hip-Hop is a major part of the culture in Bridgeport today, including students at Housey.” It is an aspect in our city that we hold true to our hearts and its representation has taken a pause. With the NFL finally realizing the magnitude of the hip-hop fan base they have, it is about time that Housatonic reclaims their own legacy.
