Seats were filled, and the stage was set as Rowan Hip Hop Culture Club, and their Tiny Desk concert took place in the Chamberlain Student Center pit on April 6, 2025.
The event was hosted by Rowan After Hours (RAH), running from the hours of 9p.m. to 1a.m., only interrupted by a half-hour intermission for the audience to indulge in the food bar and grab some refreshments.
Tiny Desk is most notably a concept of live music performance done by NPR, which brings artists to perform their music in a small, intimate setting with spare, jazzy, and soulful instrumentation backing them.
It was Rowan Hip Hop Culture Club’s second edition of their Tiny Desk event.
The event began with a thirty-minute DJ set of many hip-hop tracks, new or classic, which was occurring as planners continued to set up for the performances that would follow.
To open the night was Lula, whose set contained a lot of R&B and soul material with the help of two supporting vocalists.
Following her was Sav Wil, a 27-year-old rapper from New Jersey who performed solo with backing tracks of his songs.
Wil, who is also a Rowan alumnus, desires to be a ray of inspiration for the onlookers of his performance.
“I’m hoping the students that are afraid to perform or are in the music industry program at Rowan see the energy and confidence I bring to the stage and want to do it too,” Wil said.
That high energy got the crowd going, but for public policy graduate student Kiara Ajayi, the experience struck a deeper chord.
“I love making and seeing others perform art,” Ajayi said. “Being able to be in a crowd of people that are enjoying it, and just being a part of that experience with everyone else is really cool.”
The third act of the night would be Max Joy, who is also a part of Rowan Hip-Hop Club and often photographs their events.
Joy was not the only member who took the stage during his set, as vice-president of the club, Jared Katz, was often seen during different sets on bass guitar.
The junior music technology major felt fulfilled by the end of the planning, practicing, and performance that preceded the conclusion of the show.
“To be able to work towards putting together or playing at a show, there’s nothing that I really want more,” Katz said.
Jay Amari took the stage as the fourth and penultimate act of the night. Amari had previously made an appearance during Max Joy’s set as a feature and delivered some of the many emphatic rapping performances of the night.
After the food and beverage intermission, services resumed with raffles for multiple different items, namely vinyl of rap albums and Funko-Pops of particular rappers.
To close out the night was the headlining act, Illadel, who was accompanied by a band and a set that saw him constantly gauging the hype of the crowd in the Student Center pit.
Before proceedings concluded, the stage was made open for anyone to come and test their own abilities as a performer with an open-mic set.
After a long night of musical celebration, Rowan Hip Hop Culture Club president and senior music industry major Nyrah Wardlow-Matthews felt as though such appreciative energy from those who came to witness the show was the main draw.
“My goal is to make sure that everybody enjoys, as well as facilitating a safe space for creatives and making everybody feel welcome,” Wardlow-Matthews said.
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