Being a senior at Howard University, I've seen the best and the worst of arguably the liveliest college homecoming in the country. The Mecca, known for its abundance of celebrity alumni and references made in the hottest songs, television shows, and movies, has never disappointed when it comes to orchestrating a "had to be there" Homecoming week with guest appearances, and who could forget their once FREE hip-hop concert on the Yard with the best talents on the radio airwaves. That was until the results of Homecoming 2012 .
The free outdoor concert, known as Yardfest, had scheduled performances including 2 Chainz, Meek Mill, T.I., Beenie Man, and local artists as opening acts. Atlanta rapper 2 Chainz hits the stage performing songs from his then-upcoming album. Chainz strategically saved his radio hit "No Lie" for last, with a surprise guest performance of Canadian rapper Drake, suddenly appearing from backstage to perform the chorus. And the crowd went WILD! It literally turned into a stampede, with everyone (an audience of hundreds of students, alumni, and D.C. residents) all lurching forward at once, despite the security guards and gates that were set up below the stage. To describe this random moment of pandemonium, I was in the middle of the crowd at the time and almost lost my shoe after being pushed forward forcefully and ending up in a completely different section than I started in. It also didn't help that Drake came out wearing that infamous red Howard crewneck, and a picture of it has circulated all over social media and has even appeared on BET's "106 & Park" show. This only added to the crowd's hyped spirits, seeing him rep their beloved university.
After this event, word got around that a lot of people were injured in the pushing and shoving during Drake's surprise performance. Since then, Howard's Homecoming has never been the same again. The following year, in fall of 2013, the Homecoming committee decided to make Yardfest, a concert that has traditionally been free, to now cost $5, so students and outside guests must purchase a ticket to attend. They then enforced that gates be set up all around the Yard with security guards and police assigned to (unsuccessfully) control the crowd. This was the worst decision Howard could have made, not thinking their plans clearly through. This only instilled more rowdiness when people were still denied entry on the Yard, even if they had a ticket for the afternoon's event. Attempted concert goers then began to try to climb the gates, challenging the security. After an outbreak occurred, Yardfest was officially shut down in the middle of its run. There were still two more promised hours of performances that the crowd never got to witness.
Yardfest 2014 shouldn't have even been considered a Yardfest because, for the first time, there was no concert at all. Just a DJ playing music, which included Bobby Smurda's hit "Hot Boy" being played almost 20 times back to back. The Homecoming committee wanted this Yardfest to be more "family friendly," organizing moon bounces and face painting for children. Basically, the rise and fall of Howard's Homecoming began and ended with Drake sneaking on stage during a 2 Chainz set and consequently causing chaos.
Homecoming is next week, and I can speak for other Howard students when I say we're just hoping to have a fun and safe time, and we really do not want to be disappointed for another year in a row. I love you, Drake, but look what you've done.
