Sara Bareilles, The Doors, John Williams, Maroon 5: UCLA has turned out an impressive and varied list of musicians and composers.
When speaking of noted UCLA contributors to the field of music, however, we don’t need to turn our attention to the past: These musicians live among us. UCLA’s musicians are playing loud and singing proud, and thanks to the work of Hip-Hop Congress, their sounds are coming together for distribution to students on the second Bruin Mixtape.
The Bruin Mixtape, set for release within a month, will feature songs submitted not only by students, but by alumni and staff as well. Compiled by members of Hip-Hop Congress, an organization under the Cultural Affairs Commission at UCLA, the CD will contain about 80 minutes of music and will be given out for free at all future CAC and Hip-Hop Congress events, including open mic nights at Kerckhoff, WorldFest, Jazz/Reggae Festival and indie movie screenings.
Even though it will be primarily a hip-hop album, the Mixtape will have no holds barred when it comes to creativity and stylistic diversity.
“It really wouldn’t be doing the students justice if we were discriminating against a certain type of hip-hop,” said Matt Moretti, a fourth-year world arts and cultures student and Hip-Hop Congress co-director. “So it’s actually more impressive and more fun to deal with when you have a wide variety of styles.”
With song selection still in progress, members of Hip-Hop Congress are confident the album will incorporate many modes of music.
“The submissions we have so far are very eclectic,” said Rudy Juarez, a third-year political science student and Hip-Hop Congress assistant director. “We aren’t restricting anything. Hip-hop is very different; it’s all about what everyone brings to the table.”
Besides promoting UCLA artists, the Bruin Mixtape also serves as a tool for hip-hop appreciation, especially with February’s Hip-Hop Appreciation Month just around the corner. The Hip-Hop Congress hopes the CD will embody the ideas it plans to promote during the month.
“We really strive to show the diversity within the genre of hip-hop and all the wonderful nooks and crannies that exist within it by having a wide variety of music on the Mixtape,” Moretti said. “We will kind of mirror Hip-Hop Appreciation Month by showing the different directions the genre can actually take.”
This year’s Bruin Mixtape will differ from the one created two years ago in several respects. First, Hip-Hop Congress is taking on the project on its own and no longer in conjunction with the African Student Union. Second, the release will involve not just students, but also people in Westwood and the greater Los Angeles area. The first CD was released at an event held in Kerckhoff Grand Salon, but this year, Hip-Hop Congress plans to take its release outside of the UCLA campus, at a location yet to be determined. Finally, there’s a whole slew of new artists contributing to the album ““ not one repeat from the first Bruin Mixtape.
The amount of new contributors to the Mixtape is indicative of the extensive talent found at UCLA, making the CD truly unique to the university.
“(The Mixtape) is such a good opportunity and such a unique situation,” Moretti said. “I’ve never heard of any other school doing a mixtape or even a compilation of any genre of music.”
You know that quiet guy sitting next to you in physics? He just might be a rock star by night. With the second Bruin Mixtape due out within a month, students, faculty and Angelenos alike will find out, acquiring a glimpse into the talent and music that lies beneath the surface at UCLA.