With Yardfest being just around the corner, Howard University students and alumni wait in anticipation to see who the headliners will be.
The university named this year’s homecoming “The Meccaverse,” a theme that highlights and celebrates the Howard University multiverse and the people of the Mecca who have given the university its reputable standing.
The homecoming committee made sure that this year’s theme clearly defined what the feeling was like for students and alumni who embrace the Black experience of Howard and use their expertise to change the world.
Yardfest has been an HU tradition for years and its aim is to gather and energize the Howard community through diverse and popular artists. Typically, artists for Yardfest are kept a secret until the day of, but students are eager to know who will open up the homecoming weekend.
Rosemary Bizuru is a sophomore business management major from Houston, Texas and she is all for surprises but is eager to know who will be performing.
“I personally love surprises, but in regards to this year’s homecoming, I, much like the rest of my peers, am eager to know who the lineup will consist of,” said Bizuru. “It is a bit off-putting seeing my timeline being filled with other schools releasing their lineup while us Howard students are still left in the dark. Hopefully, Yardfest lives up to this built-up suspense.”
In the past, Howard has brought artists like Dababy, Saweetie, Kanye West and Drake. This year, Howard is looking to shock its students with prominent mainstream artists who will excite the student body while also reflecting who Howard students are.
Alafia Bailey, a senior African American studies major from Houston, Texas, and African studies minor, is on the homecoming committee for this year’s festivities. He says that they took everyone’s music choices and preferences very seriously.
“We asked students who they wanted to see. The genres were different, afro-beats was a big thing, a mainstream female artist and of course a popular male artist. This is the year of the return, so someone really big that fits the real return of the Howard University homecoming,” Bailey said.
Brooklyn Brown is a sophomore supply chain management major from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She believes that Howard has no choice but to bring back Drake and other upcoming rappers that have been performing at other HBCU homecomings.
“I know he probably won’t be there, but I feel like Drake should come because it has been ten years since he has been at Howard. I bet they are going to bring somebody big because it’s been a minute since we had an actual homecoming,” Brown stated. “I definitely feel like Flo Milli even though she’s performing at The Howard Theatre, that I just feel she’ll definitely pop up and do a little something because she’s around the corner. I think 21 Savage as well because everyone else is getting him.”
Every year students take their pick and guess who is coming for homecoming, but no one truly knows who is performing until the artists show up on the stage. This can be frustrating for some students, but it is also an undeniably effective way to accumulate suspense for those who like a little mystery surrounding the event.
Homecoming begins the week of Oct. 15 and Yardfest will take place on Oct. 21.
Copy edited by Nhandi Long-Shipman
