RICHMOND, Va.— After their video was viewed more than 21 million times, the creators, three Virginia Commonwealth University freshmen, are continuing to motivate people around the globe to step out of the box and be more than ordinary.
Freshmen Jonathan Brooks and twins Terrence Everett and Terry Everett spontaneously created a video titled “#BlackExcellence” that went viral within 24 hours after it was posted. The students rapped about each of their majors while emphasizing that they are “strong black men.”
“We were just sitting around and I said, ‘Hey, let’s make a video.’ I wrote my rap and it took like two minutes and then we memorized it and did it,” Terrence said.
The Everett twins said they met Jonathan during summer orientation and the three gravitated toward each other. They all live on the Medical College of Virginia (MCV Campus), and coincidentally in the same residence hall on the same floor, Terrence said.
Because of the popularity of the video, the environment for the three men has changed on campus, Terry said.
“It has boosted my confidence for sure,” Terrence said.
Jonathan said, “It’s a good feeling having people get excited when they see us.”
Terry said that although there’s an overwhelming amount of positive feedback, with it, came some negative ones.
“We mainly get the negative comments from people at VCU who we’re affiliated with, surprisingly,” Terry said. “Some people think that we’re just doing it for the money. People think that we feel a certain way now so that kind of messes up some of our relationships on campus with people.”
The men made it clear that they aren’t in it for the money. After recently producing a song, they said they decided they wanted people to listen to their music for free. If people want to support their music, the students said they would rather receive donations instead of directly paying to listen.
The Everett twins recently participated in Preview Day, which is held for accepted students and family members who are interested in touring the campus. Terry and Terrence are student ambassadors, which allows them to give the tours. The night prior to Preview Day, prospective students asked if Terry, Terrence, and Jonathan could attend, via Twitter. Although they already had plans to attend, they decided to have Jonathan tag along to complete the trio.
“A lot of parents were talking about how we motivated their kids to do better. Hearing things like that made the long nine hour day of tours worth it,” Terrence said.
The men mentioned that one of the biggest things that has changed are the expectations that people have of them. People expect for them to be able to spit out raps right on command, although that isn’t something they can immediately do or are necessarily interested in doing, Terry said.
Terrence said that his goal by the end of college is to be some type of mentor figure.
Terrence said, “If rapping is the only medium I can reach a good audience through, then that’s what I’m going to pursue.”
Terrence believes that mentoring through rap might be the best way to reach a large audience.
On Feb.23, they all traveled home to Hampton, Va. to perform for the Hampton Roads Show, which is a television network that covers crimes, legislation, news, interviews, and local news. They recorded their segment at 11:30 in the morning, and the broadcast aired during the afternoon, Terry said.
The three men said they plan to ride the #BlackExcellence wave as long as they can. Although their viral #BlackExcellence video is their beginning platform, they plan to expand to motivate a larger variety of people. Terry said he hopes they will be able to reach people of all ages and motivate them to strive to be the best version of themselves.
Terrence said, “Hopefully #BlackExcellence will encourage kids to do more and eventually go to college.”
