Butler Hip-Hop and Rap group sought to give back with Halloween event
Despite the drizzle and chilly wind, Butler Hip Hop and Rap Community held an event Saturday, Oct. 21, to ring in the spooky season and raise awareness of their mission.
Attendees of the Halloween-themed event gathered under a decorated pavilion in Butler Memorial Park to socialize, participate in spooky crafts, listen to music, and more.
Everett Brandon Roy, president of the group, said the members decided to hold the gathering on a whim.
“The (members) asked us to do something in the community to give back,” he said. “It’s giving people something to do, and it doesn’t cost anything.”
The popular activity at the event was creating black-light masks using fluorescent tape. Roy said he made one himself as a demonstration, and said the creature he was trying to depict was a cat with a unibrow.
The example mask sort of became the mascot of the event, Roy said while laughing.
Maggie Koziar and Daniel Meegan, both age 11, were in the process of making masks of their own, but were unsure exactly how they wanted to paint them.
Daniel said he was enjoying the event as he was constructing his second mask.
“It’s getting out of the house,” he said. “I’m always inside playing games.”
Roy said he hoped to do another community-related event in the spring. Given the event was the first of it’s kind, he said there were areas where it could be perfected.
“We gotta crash-course it to see how to make it better,” he said.
The event was not the first outreach opportunity the group had spent time on, according to member Ryan Fichter, of Butler.
“Every time the weather is nice, we clean up Butler, we do our best to keep the streets clean,” he said. “We say we’re tired of people saying Butler’s trash, so we try to clean it.”
The group’s outreach extends to their musical endeavors as well, as Roy described them as a nonprofit organization where artists of any genre can learn and perform.
“We are just a platform for artists to come and perfect their music,” he said. “We’re just trying to be something people know is happening that they can go and do … my goal is to be the Dr. Dre, and bring more music out of Butler.”
He reiterated that people don’t have to be in the rap or hip-hop genre to participate in their group.
“There’s no auditions, no rehearsals,” he said. “Everyone needs somewhere to learn, you need stage presence, you need to know what songs to pick.”
Fichter, whose stage name is DYT, said he’s found a lot of encouragement in his four years with the group.
“My favorite slogan is we cannot spell ‘community’ without ‘unity,’” he said. “It’s something bigger than yourself.”
He added that he’s enjoyed watching new people approach members when they are out in the world, either performing community service or performing freestyle rap.
“It’s something you can lose yourself in and not care if you don’t come back for a while,” he said.
