"It's Campus MovieNite," . . .
The doors opened and the student filmmakers, casts, crews, and viewers filed in as DJ Kahlil of the Urban Legends played the latest Hip Hop songs.
Campus MovieFest was created in 2000 by students at Emory University and has grown into the world's largest student movie-making event.
The founders have partnered with Delta Airlines and Apple to provide students with an Apple laptop, digital camcorder, and a week to make their own amazing five-minute movie. This is the third year that the AUC has participated in Campus MovieFest.
. . . lighter mood came in the form of a pint-sized performer who took the stage, Micah Brown, a 10-year-old rapper who goes by the name Lil' Dude, got the crowd hype as he wowed them with his lyrical skills.
"I might be young, but I speak the truth. I'm like Superman, when I step in the booth," Lil' Dude rhymed.
Lil Dude, who has been rapping since age four, kept energy levels up as the show moved on to the award portion. Faculty and staff from Clark Atlanta, Spelman and Morehouse judged the movies.
LIL' DUDE IS "HIP-HOP'S NEXT GENERATION!!!": Press
The words of "Young Mic" for example--also know as "Lil' Dude"--reflect an understanding and experience much more vast than his eight short years on this earth would indicate. He speaks in a giant, high-pitched, boyish voice about the atrocities of fostercare, physical and mental abuse and homelessness. He begs answers from those much older than he to the questions his poetry poses.
"Are you the system, fostering my care?" he asks. Though the audience doesn't provide him with clear answers, they do show him overwhelming and well-deserved support via wild clapping, cheering and pats on his shoulder, long after he has left his spot on the stage.
Big things do come in small packages, like Lil' Dude (Micah Brown), who spits such prophetic commentary and has such a giant personality for a child of only 9-years-old.
He acts, model and raps and he is cute as all get out.
Spoken work artist "Lil' Dude" (Micah Brown) broke it down as it relates to the negatives of violence in the community while accentuating the positives during an anti-violence march and rally held by Ald. Michael McGee, Jr. recently. The march/rally was part of the alderman's "Respect Kampaign" to encourage central city residents to respect and love one another and to resort to other methods of resolving conflicts other than violence.