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Miscellaneous

Hip Hop Influence in Fashion

It’s fashion month and for the first time ever, streetwear is dominating the runways. Even age-old brands like Louis Vuitton have come out with cargo pants and two-piece sets. Simultaneously, Hip-Hop has reigned supreme in the American and global music industries. 

The top charts are no longer a place for Taylor’s Swift’s latest and greatest and even country music has turned urban. Is this all just a coincidence? I think not. Because of  the global society that we live in, when Hip-Hop became prevalent in American pop culture in the 2010s, it became prevalent everywhere.

Drake was the first to really kick off this phenomenon. When his album Nothing Was the Same came out in 2013, even the most suburban kids were blasting it in their cars. Following his claim to fame, more urban artist began to get a taste of his same limelight. Artist like, Migos, DJ Khaled, and Kendrick Lamar began to repeatedly make number one hits and from there, it was history.

With Hip-Hop came the culture. Baggy pants, oversized tees, and pockets started trending not to shortly after. Creative director of the luxury brand Moschino, Jeremy Scott, has even sported grills at a public fashion event.

So essentially, Hip-Hop has taken over. But how long will this trend last? I am urged to go on about trends come and go in pop culture so the influence won’t last too long. However, Hip-Hop is not only a global trend, but it has furthermore begun to dominate in two of the worlds most important and influential industries.  So who knows, maybe Hip-Hop will reign supreme indefinitely, only time will tell.

Lul Bulma

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Miscellaneous

Producer Role in the Hip Hop Industry

Hip hop music producers and sound engineers have always played a major role in an artist’s career. Honestly, many times they are more important to the song than the artist as they transform their voice and provide it with a beat, and sometimes even a flow. It wasn’t until the mid-2000s however, that producers began to get recognition for their work within the industry.

When listeners hear, “We got to London on the track!”, they already know the general vibe of the song and it is destined to be more popular just because of the clout that London On Da Track has within the industry. This wouldn’t be the case if it wasn’t for Zaytoven, the pioneer of it all.

He moved from the Bay Area to Atlanta in hopes to boost his career and met with an up and coming rapper named Gucci Mane. Together they created a new sound for hip hop, Trap, which became widely popular among hip hop heads. Soon enough, he even began to put his own producer tag before songs of which he produced as his sound was notable enough so that when people heard it, they automatically wanted to give the song a listen.

Thanks to Zaytoven’s influence, producers like; Metro Boomin, Mike Will Made It, and even DJ Khaled are able to make a name for themselves in pop culture even though they are not performers. Producer success has even reached the point of studio albums in which the producers have the rights to the songs sung by your favorite artists.

Needless to say, Zaytoven truly blessed the game.

Lul Bulma

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Miscellaneous

How to Be a Soundcloud Rapper

Do you want to be a SoundCloud artist but instead you just sit in your room making songs and never uploading them because you don’t think you’re built for that lifestyle? If so your prayers have been answered. I am here to give you a step by step rundown on how to successfully become a SoundCloud artist. You’re welcome.

Step 1: The Name

The most important thing is to have a distinctively ridiculous name so that listeners will be amused enough to give your music a listen. Try something with ‘Lil’ in front followed by a random noun (i.e. Lil House Phone, Lil Pump, Lil Peep, etc.)

Step 2: The Look

Your image is very important as well as we all know social media clout runs the world nowadays. Get some braids and try dying them the first color(s) that come to mind. If you really want success you should try maybe even getting a face tat, people will respect you more that way.

Step 3: The Clothes

This step is very important because it is a major clout booster so follow carefully. You must get designer clothes from head to toe. If you really want an audience though you cannot match, or else you don’t get the full effect.

Step 4: The Crime

You got to get arrested at least one time for doing something that you had no business doing. It builds your street cred.

Step 5: Fame

If you follow all of these steps effectively, you should be a successful SoundCloud rapper in no time! To ensure success I recommend adding in a public scandal or two and definitely some autotune so be prepared to get a good sound engineer and an even better lawyer. You’re welcome. 

Lul Bulma

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Miscellaneous

Why Party Culture is Killing Originality

A good building party consists of a few things. A lot of people who want to have a good time, a good DJ, and a good setlist. This setlist is not dependent on how good the song is, but rather how many people know it. As we all know, pop culture nowadays is a mess. Everybody wants to be different, but in the same way. This presents itself on social media, in fast fashion, but most importantly in the music industry. It’s lead to what I like to call, “The Young Thug Era”. This is an era in hip hop where essentially, everybody sounds the same. Gunna, Lil Baby, Sah Babii, and Lil Keed are four different artists that I can think of off the top of my head who all sound like Young Thug. This is worse than the soundcloud generation where everybody seemed to be a rapper, but nobody was good. That is because this “Young Thug Generation” promises success. The rappers I previously mentioned are all performing sold out shows on the regular though they sound like the same person. This is making everybody also want to sound like that same person in hopes that they might too, becoming success as well. Black party culture is what drives this. Instead of playing new or even distinguishable music, parties play the same setlist over, and over, and over again. The setlist is only changed when new indistinctive songs come out because they are promoted by popular artists. So even if Gunna for instance makes a whole album where most of the songs sound like the same song (Drip or Drown 2), the masses will bump it in their car for weeks on end, making it a party hit for the next few months. Now don’t get me wrong, I love Lil Keed, Sah Babii, Gunna, and Lil Baby too, but I also enjoy variety. So guys, stop trying to be Young Thug.

-Lul Bulma

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Miscellaneous

Indie Boy Disappointed in Hopscotch yet again!

Hopscotch is today and I’ve cuffed my pants so tight my ankles drain white and scream for blood.  While all of you, well, simpletons are chomping at the bit to see virtual pop stars like Thundercat, Grizzly Bear, or Belle & Sebastian, my refined palette is only reserved for the bands which I can’t name in this blog post because they’re listed too small on the poster for me to actually read.  It exudes an extremely suave combination of aloofness and emotional unavailability that I could only dream of wielding. I’m left to give myself the benefit of the doubt and assume that the majority year’s lineup consists of only the sexiest amalgam of industrial noise bandcamp artists, new-emo soundcloud rappers, and Pinegrove; my shirt is practically begging to be tucked into my high-waisted baby blue jeans.  With this said, it is with a heavy heart that I must report that an extensive list of artists, submitted by myself, has been wholly rejected by the festival. The list, might I add, was carefully curated in the same basement and by the same group of people who discovered Mac Demarco when he only had 2000 followers on Spotify, a fact which begs the question of whether or not Hopscotch is purposefully alienating the long-suffering indie community.  That’s what we’re here to find out. In this list I will run through each of my seven chosen artists to play at Hopscotch 2018, each of whom was robbed of their chance at stardom Of course, since I am a fantastic essayist and therefore will make my argument with enough impartiality to let my readers draw their own conclusions. It’s just my silly opinion, but if you don’t agree there’s a good chance you’re just a jealous normie.

7- Joyce Manor

Joyce Manor’s combination of raw garage with tightly packed emo covers all extrema of the alternative rock spectrum.  Their music is as catchy as it is universal and I can’t think of a single friend of mine that wouldn’t either mosh or drunkenly slosh around to it; and if you’re not like any friends of mine I can’t imagine why I would care about your opinion.  Additionally, the band is able to fully cover the full spectrum of human emotions that I have ever felt. This typically bounces between being the excruciating reality of being heartbroken and thinking about the excruciating reality of being heartbroken, but I promise there’s much more nuance to it.  

6- Yellow Days

It’s 2018, which means the era of festishing VHS aestheticism and swampy Goodwill shirts well out of the indie discourse by now; we are a much more civilized people who wear goodwill shirts with random japanese characters on them now.  But I’m a sucker for throwbacks. Yellow Days is obviously as close to an indie prodigy that could exist, with a reputation for tight-ass song writing paired with a voice somehow as weathered as Ray Charles. This is all well and good, however, my real fascination comes in the form of escapism:  his soft palette aesthetics remind me of a simpler time. Ah, Yellow Days, let me fall into your canopy of acid-washed love songs and have me pretend I’m in 2016. Let me pretend I can still like Mac Demarco.

5- Death Grips

Though the decision not to include the Sacramento trio from this year’s festival is of no surprise, I doubt the general public is ready to face the animalistic demons present in each of us, it doesn’t make it any less abborhent.  To exclude Death Grips is to exclude an act which confronts every person with the demon that lives inside of them. I don’t think Hopscotch refused to book them because they didn’t think they would sonically fit on the card, that is impossible.  The grooves are infectious, the lyrics are universal, the songs are catchy, albeit under the guise of an extremely harsh noise wall. Anybody who says they don’t like Death Grips is refusing to be honest with themselves, refusing to let loose and understand the absolutely foul realities of human nature.  Hopscotch is afraid.

4- Pinkshinyultrablast

I have long been a proponent of shoegaze.  The intersection of semi-obscure British sad music and a culture which prides itself in not dancing is right up my alley.  While the latter is not as present in Pinkshinyultrablast, the thick walls of guitars have been replaced with synths and chorus heavy snares, the extremely lush instrumentation is so damp that it is often impossible to figure out how to move your body to it.  This is perfect. I, as an insanely well-rounded individual, have been too busy reading or listening to the new Snail Mail album on repeat to learn how to properly dance. It’s not my fault! As a side note, the band hails from Russia so I’m banking on being able to listen to them instead of actually reading about the human rights atrocities committed over there.

3- Corbin (Spooky black)

With Corbin’s 2017 release, MOURN, I felt that my extremely underrepresented demographic of sad, 20 year old white guy was finally recognized.  Much in the same way Joyce Manor covered my entire range of human emotions, Corbin dove deep into my heart which has been twisted over and over again by mean girls.  They always go for the Chads, huh Corbin? The only reason why he has far outranked Joyce Manor on this list is because of the danceability of much of Joyce Manor’s music.  As i have mentioned prior, I’m much too busy being smart and well-rounded to learn how to dance, and so Corbin’s absolutely flaccid reverb trap hi-hats create a watching experience that doesn’t pressure me to move.  Even if I do decide that dancing is the way to go while I’m wailing the chorus to ICE BOY, my awkward movements will seem only natural among Corbin’s other fans of people who surely can’t dance, and the barren washed-out instrumentals would make even Milli Vanilli look uncomfortable while trying to shake to it.

2- Lil peep

Rest in peep

1- Alex G

While many will point to Mac Demarco (I think this is the fifth time I’ve mentioned him in this blog post, time to flagellate myself for each one) as the 2010s most influential alternative rocker, I stand here today to martyr myself in the name of (Sandy) Alex G.  I know I will get a lot of hate for this, I’m prepared to take it, and I’m prepared to rise above it. Alex G is 2018’s Christ incarnate, and I would have loved nothing more than to bow before him at Hopscotch. DSU is my scripture, and the waves that it and his other releases have made in the lo-fi scene are unescapable.  The mumbled lyrics over mumbled guitar with occasionally mumbled drums has given me the courage to pursue my own musical career. DIY has never been more sexy, which is wonderful for the $15 dollars I’m willing to spend on the entirety of my musical equipment. If only Alex was playing this year, I could thank him or all he has done for indie kind, and thank him for molding me into the free-thinking definitely not a softboy that I am today.

Signed,

Cool Indie Boy

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Miscellaneous

In preparation for Hopscotch, a letter from our photographer:

To the Tall Man in Front of Me,

I accept 3 things in our short-live music festival relationship. You can’t help you have been born to be 6’ 5”. You have the right to enjoy music— just as much as I do. And you’re definitely blocking my view to my favorite artist.

Now, I am not a short woman. I’m a happy 5’7”, often tower over my friends even at this height, and appreciate my size. But all of that goes out of the window at any music festival I’ve ever attended, as soon as I’m missing the entire Japanese Breakfast set inside Neptune’s because there is a lumbering human flesh pillar blocking every possible angle at which I could view the stage. At this point, I wish I had your height.

Sigh.

I’m not the only one. It’s not an isolated event. I recently watched ⅓ of a Beach House concert staring directly into the back of a string bean man, before leaving in frustration. I have friends and colleagues that arrive at shows sometimes hours before just so they can get some sort of visibility of the stage.

I plead with you.

If you are a tall, white, CIS man, please take a moment to look around you. Notice if there’s a tiny peanut of a person with their face smashed into your sweaty back. Take the time to ask them if they’d like to step in front of you to see better. Please. For the love of music. At the very least, don’t give me or anyone else a disgusted look when we elbow past you to get a better look.

Sincerely,

Double Duchess

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Miscellaneous

Shut Up & Mosh: Moshing 101

What’s up Butcher Crew! So, I have been to a handful of shows this summer, and I have realized something… Some people have no idea what they are doing in a mosh pit. There are different types of pits depending on the genre. For example: Metalcore has push pits/circle pits, and deathcore and hardcore have crowdkilling, etc.

I went to see Fit For a King, Like Moths to Flames, Currents, Constellation Atlas, and Patheos at the Drunk Horse Pub (DHP) in Fayetteville, NC. Now, this is a metalcore show, but DHP is known for its hardcore community. There were a lot of hardcore fans at the show and they were trying to crowdkill to these bands. Sometimes it works, but for the most part, it doesn’t, and people just look really weird trying to 2 step to metalcore. The lead singer for Constellation Atlas, Kevin, asked the crowd to form a wall of death. The crowd divided into two parts. When the break down hit, instead of running towards each other, people started 2 stepping and crowdkilling. A wall of death does not work like that at all. I was talking to multiple people in all the bands that played that night, and they all said the same thing: It was weird to see people trying to crowdkill. Overall, the show was really fun and I got to meet a couple of people but, I have decided to be a homie and help my fellow metalheads out and explain the different types of mosh pits and where you can expect to see each mosh pit. You’re welcome.

RYAN KIRBY (LEAD SINGER) FROM FIT FOR A KING

BRAIN WILLE (LEAD SINGER) FROM CURRENTS

Now, before we get into the moshing etiquette and the different types of mosh pits, let’s talk about the history of moshing. I am a history major so you already know homegirl loves doing some research.

Moshing (also known as “slam dancing”) originated with the hardcore community in Washington D.C. in the ‘80s. The attitude of the hardcore/punk bands at the time (Minor Threat, Circle Jerks, Black Flag, and Bad Brains, etc.) had a certain attitude while playing. The crowd feeds off the band’s energy, so with their loud personality and attitude is translated into the crowd becoming rowdy.

Moshing then eased its way into the Thrash community with major help from Anthrax (they have a song called ‘Caught In A Mosh’). With thrash spreading like wildfire with the help of Metallica and Megadeth, moshing spread with it. The song Caught In A Mosh helped lift the taboo and negative thinking about moshing and turned it into a fun thing to do at a metal show.

Soon, music evolved from thrash to Seattle-based grunge community (think Nirvanna and Alice in Chains). And guess what followed this genre? Yup, you guessed it: Moshing. This is where crowd-surfing and stage diving came into play as well. You now see crowd-surfing and stage diving at almost any metal show.

After grunge; moshing, crowd-surfing, and stage diving thrived in the nu metal (think Korn) and death metal (think Dying Fetus) communities. Now with metalcore, deathcore, and a new wave of hardcore, moshing began to change. Mosh pits are still organized chaos with a lot of pushing and shoving, but now some pits have been transformed into dance floors with karate kicks, arm swings, and 2 steps.

Some have argued that moshing is dead. I disagree. I go to shows almost every weekend and people are still moshing. Maybe one’s idea of mosh isn’t as popular or isn’t done anymore, but that doesn’t mean that moshing is over as a whole.

Now that we are aware of the history of moshing, let’s get into some basic mosh pits that you will see at metal shows.

Push pit:

It’s pretty self-explanatory. You just run around and push people around in the pit. You will see these pits for metalcore and nu metal bands.

Circle pit:

This is also pretty self-explanatory. You run around in a big circle and push people who are in your way while people on the outside push you back into the pit. There are also some people who stand in the middle of the circle pit and just headbang. You will see these pits for metalcore and nu metal bands.

Wall of Death: 

This pit is literally death. I have been in quite a few wall of death’s and I seriously thought I was going to die. Basically, the singer for the band that is playing will tell the crowd to divide in half. Once the crowd splits in half, you face the other half of the crowd. When the singer tells you go, or when the breakdown hits, you run towards one another and start pushing. I usually end up getting caught in the middle of this mosh (if you didn’t get my Anthrax reference… you’ll be going down my Slot Drain). You will see these pits at metalcore, nu metal, death metal, and deathcore shows.

Crowdkilling:

Honestly, anything goes with crowdkilling. Most people just move their arms and legs like a maniac and swing. Others do karate kicks, flips, and other tricks. The majority of the time, people 2 step. It is very entertaining to watch, but to me, this is the most dangerous type of pit. If you are anywhere near the pit (even around the pit, not participating), you will get hit. You will see these pits at deathcore and hardcore shows.

Crowdkilling is my least favorite type of mosh. I find it entertaining seeing people 2 step and do weird dances, and I understand that I will get hit. But when I continually get hit once the crowdkiller knows I’m there and is still trying to hit me is when I have a problem. I don’t even care if someone isn’t looking, those who decide to just swing back and continuously go to the end of the pit to hit people, I will kick your ass. You have all this room to swing and dance, there is no need to intentionally hit people who aren’t participating. I saw Varials recently and a crowdkiller wasn’t looking and punched me in the nose 5 times even when I was trying to get away or push him off. This is when crowdkillng isn’t fun. Now, I am biased because of what happened, but I do understand that hardcore music is aggressive. I will continue to jam out to hardcore shows, and I’m fine with being near the pit. Just know that if I get punched in the nose consecutive times, I’m coming for your ass.

Here is the one and only rule that you need to know about any of these types of mosh pits: IF YOU SEE SOMEONE FALL DOWN, STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING AND HELP THEM UP.

If you pay attention to your surroundings and help other people if they go down, you will have no problem in a pit.

MOSH!!!

Stay Metal,

THE SAW

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Miscellaneous

Moogfest Interview with Raund Haus

In the past, I’ve heard some criticisms that Moogfest didn’t do much in the way of supporting local talent- but it’s looking as though they’ve listened to complaints. Raund Haus, a Durham-based beatmaking collective, has secured its own local showcase at this year’s Moogfest. I actually met the group’s cofounder, David Huber, while volunteering in a warehouse at Moogfest in 2015- the festival’s first year in Durham after moving from its previous home of Asheville.

I spoke with Raund Haus ahead of this year’s festival about the local music scene, the festival itself, and more.

WKNC 88.1:  How did you end up getting involved with Moogfest?
RAUND HAUS: Raund Haus’ formation was in-part inspired by Moogfest. In December 2015, Moogfest hosted its first official event in Durham called Dialtones at The Shed. After a workshop and an experimental set by Made of Oak, a series of local performers including Gappa Mighty, Trandle and other Triangle-based musicians played mini-sets. A few months later, this format of forward-thinking electronic and beat-music artists performing short sets at the Shed was used by the founders of Raund Haus for the first event. Since then, Raund Haus worked closely with Moogfest over the past few years with many of the members working directly and indirectly in the production of Durham edition of the festival. 2018’s Raund Haus Stage is the culmination of this partnership which allows the collective to exhibit a wide range of talent from throughout North Carolina to reach the national and international audience of Moogfest.

WKNC:  How do you find promising local musicians? How did you select artists for your local producer showcase?
RH: As soon as the idea to create a place for bedroom beat makers and producers to play in public here in Durham was put into motion, people just kept popping up in all honesty. There were artists who wanted a stage to perform on and that is what Raund Haus gave Durham. As soon as the first event happened, it created an excellent, not only scene, but community for beat makers in the area and this allowed for connections to be made and introductions to more artists came naturally. Luckily, artists wanted to be a part of it as well and many people, upon hearing what was going down, even reached out to us. So, it’s better to look at it largely as the talent found the stage and Raund Haus worked to build that platform. This has continued and we look forward to growing in that same open and organic way.
The artists we selected this year were largely a collection of artists who have worked closely with Raund Haus over the past years and some that popped in for an event or two and really brought a good time. An entire festival could be comprised of the vast array of talented artists in the area who could fall under the electronic genre, but we mostly stuck with some of the usual suspects and folks who have rocked with Raund Haus in the past.

WKNC: In your opinion, what has Moogfest’s effect been on Durham’s music scene or the city in general?
RH: Moogfest has brought attention to electronic and experimental music that would otherwise be overlooked in the area by hosting some pretty insane talent in Durham which any fan of that genre should be extremely grateful for. The focus of the festival on the future has also brought up some really interesting conversations on what the future of Durham as a rapidly growing city could and should be for those participating creatively in shaping the Bull City. With the local-focused Raund Haus Stage, we hope that some people from outside the community, but also those within it who just haven’t been exposed to our experiment yet, will appreciate what we are trying to accomplish with beats, electronic and forward-thinking music and subsequently support us.

WKNC: Tell me a little bit about what visions you have for Raund Haus in the future
RH: Raund Haus has strived to provide an outlet and platform for artists who may not have found a home in the Triangle music scene otherwise, so hopefully that has served Durham in some way that didn’t exist before and we hope to continue that goal. The Raund Up events hosted at at Bull City Records where producers are challenged to create a beat or production out of vinyl from the bargain bin has been a way for producers to meet and congregate and has been extremely rewarding to all involved, so look out for more from that series. Raund Haus is going to continue to release some really exciting projects throughout this year through our label that has already seen quality records from FootRocket, RGB, Treee City, and Calapse.

WKNC:  What artists (part of your showcase or not) are you most looking forward to seeing this year?
RH: Jon Hopkins just put out an amazing album and his multiple sets should be nothing less than stellar. JRocc is one of the most talented DJ’s out there and it’ll be quite the treat for anyone who catches his set. Waajeed is a criminally under-recognized producer and will kill it in the spatial sound venue at the Armory this year. Suzanne Ciani has offered an incredible experience and journey in sound in past years, so excited to see where we get to go this year. Shabazz Palaces is an incredible look into evolution in hip hop and music in general, so it will be fun to get shipped into the future while reminiscing over nickel bags of funk. Anyone who missed Sun O)))’s set, which was a wild experience, can catch Stephen O’Malley this year and we can’t wait to get lost in that sonic canvas. The list goes on and on as its near impossible to see such a wide range of musicians all in one place; with electronic music being a genre that has spanned in all directions and crept into most other genres of music, the possibilities are endless and it will be exciting to learn and experience the artists we are unfamiliar with as well.

The Raund Haus Stage will be hosting its free local producer showcase at Parts & Labour located at 723 Rigsbee Avenue in Durham. For the full schedule, go to Moogfest.com.

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Miscellaneous

Five Things I’ve Learned During a Year with Oak City Move

Sara Darwish

A WKNC program that aim to highlight the work and voices of those enacting postivie change, Oak City Move was founded in early February of 2017 by myself and Phian Tran, a recent NC State graduate and WKNC alumna. I had never stepped foot into a radio station, let alone hosted my own show, so I was initially hesitant about working for WKNC. However, I have had a fantastic year with WKNC and our show, so here are five things I’ve learned during Oak City Move’s first year:

  1. People can suck

They won’t always be respectful of the space or your opinions, and will even call you out on your “normie” music. There will always be those that criticize your words and execution on air, and refuse to empathize with the sentiments you share.

  1. But they can also be really great too

The amount of support I’ve received in the past year has been astounding. From strangers to friends and family to WKNC as a whole, there have always been people that have reached out to continue the dialogue we have on air and pushing us forward with our work through their encouragement. WKNC in particular has been supportive of OCM’s message and actions from day one, which I am very grateful for.

  1. There are so many people doing amazing work that you don’t know about

Prior to working on OCM, I was aware of some organizations and individuals that were doing good for their community, but WOW are there a lot! The mediums in which people are doing positive work is super broad, so be sure to check out every avenue you can think of (and then some). My personal favorites of the non-traditional mediums include visual art, agriculture, and music!

  1. There is much more that goes into college radio than you’d think

Before coming to WKNC, whenever I heard the term “DJ”, I envisioned a guy scratching records on a turntable (spoiler alert: that doesn’t happen all that often in the studio). For OCM, we have to brainstorm ideas, reach out to interviewees, plan questions, promote on social media, do the actual show, edit the recording, and put it out to you all! There is also a multitude of other people and responsibilities that go into the success of WKNC.

  1. Students have more power than they think

I think it’s safe to say that on a campus as big as NC State’s, it can be easy to feel small and voiceless. Oak City Move helped me find my voice and my purpose at this school, and I have been exposed to more opportunities and remarkable people in the past year than I have in my previous 17 years of life. I obtained a leadership position within WKNC, became Facebook friends with a member of the North Carolina Senate, and met so many cool people.

You can reach Oak City Move at oakcitymove@gmail.com and listen to past episodes here.

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Miscellaneous

10 Types of People You’ll Find at Shakori Hills

Beyond the music and dancing Shakori is a unique social experience where a variety of folks come together, here are a few you’re bound to find there: 

1.) The Hippy Mom: Probably grew up going to grassroots festivals herself. Wears patterned maxi skirts and smiles at everyone.

2.) The Tag-along: Doesn’t know why they are there, groans as they follow their friends around through the dirt. Hates nature, and only listens to pop radio.

3.)Bluegrass grandpa: Plays banjo, fiddle, guitar, mandolin, stand up bass, harmonica, you name it. Probably has a beard and often recruits other bluegrass grandpa’s to play with him. He’s taking your old-time requests. 

4.)Camp social: Spends the entire festival in the forest at the campsite chatting other campers heads off. Will bring in strangers and have their own little forest party. They came to be social not watch bands. 

5.) Lawn chair squatters: Typically and older couple who’s been coming out to the festival for a while.  You can find them in the daylight at the back of the crowd sitting in their chairs with a picnic, smiling and bobbing their heads.

6.) Thrill seekers: They came to P-A-R-T-A-Y. They’ll drink it all, smoke it all, take off their shirts and dance until daylight. 

7.)Too much too fast guy: Blacks out the first hour of the festival,  remembers nothing but everyone remembers him.

8.)Instagrammers: They’re all about the image. They came to a music festival and they want everyone to know it. Their snapchat story is 3 hours long by the time it uploads with limited service. They’re covered in glitter and sequins for that instagram fest pic, and are very easy to find as their phone is always out. 

9.)The Music fans: They came for music, made a schedule and  aren’t missing any of the bands they came to see. Will probably buy merch too. They’ll probably ask you who you’re there to see.

10.)Hoop Squad: This is the highlight of their life. They dropped a few Benjamins  for that fancy rainbow glo hoop and they’re ready to get out of their back yards and strut their stuff! No one understands their art and they’re really only impressing their friends but it brings their hippy hearts joy.