In recent months, universities and high schools across North America โ including three students from Wilfrid Laurier University โ flooded YouTube with their own remixes of Wiz Khalifaโs song โBlack and Yellowโ as a means of demonstrating school spirit.
โItโs the perfect song to build off of and represent wherever youโre from,โ said Brandon โClutchโ Greenwood, a fourth-year communications student and one of the artists involved in the Laurier rap remix.
Greenwood, along with fourth-year students Adel โJaziโ Hijazi and Michael โMic Teeโ Tjahjadi, released a music video on Jan. 29 titled โGold and Purple.โ
Since its release, the videoโ which shows WLU students chanting, partying and wearing school merchandise โ has gained over 34,000 views.
โWe wanted to kind of represent all aspects of Laurier life, like we were trying to make something different,โ Hijazi explained. โWe wanted to get something that represents our school, as well as just to entertain.โ
Originally, this Internet phenomenon emerged in the United States, where numerous high schools remixed the song to boost support for their football teams. However, first to release a video among Ontario universities was the University of Western Ontario in November.
Kevin Crowley, director of communications and public affairs at WLU, commented on Laurier following the trend of the video, โIt looks like Queenโs and Western and [the University of Waterloo] (UW) and a variety of students from other schools have produced similar videos with similar music.โ
Many of these videos, especially ones from Ontario, not only boast their school spirit, but also take it further to openly denounce neighbouring universities and heighten school rivalries.
โOur number one [priority] was promoting Laurier before dissing everybody else. A lot of other tracks wanted to diss first and then kind of promote their school on the side,โ continued Hijazi.
Greenwood stressed the fact that this is a friendly competition between the schools and there is a mutual respect among all the artists.
โIn terms of the whole rivalry thing, the audience was taking this to a whole new level,โ commented Tjahjadi. โWeโre the rappers, weโre the artists, weโll make the music โ let the critics talk.โ
Much of the criticism for Laurierโs video, however, has come from comments on social media and blogs.
Hijazi actually embraces such criticism, โPersonally, I like it when people criticize to the point it lets you feed off of it.โ
Laurier VP of student affairs David McMurray, who was actually referenced in one of the verses, made his own comments about the video, especially regarding the use of alcohol, โThereโs a big influence on alcohol, which to me is kind of old. It has been around before.โ
โSome people would get the opinion that it was not in particularly good taste because of the over-emphasis on alcohol. Not every student wants to drink,โ added McMurray.
That sentiment was also echoed by the universityโs public affairs department.
โThereโs some really creative aspects and fun elements to this video,โ said Crowley. โItโs unfortunate that some parts of it link binge drinking and coarse language to Laurier because thatโs not what Laurier is all about and itโs certainly not something the university would encourage.โ
In relation to Laurier school spirit, the trio believes that Laurier students are loyal to their institution and that their video expresses that. โPeople are proud of being a Laurier Golden Hawk, and theyโre proud to show it. So weโre just giving people something to chant, something to sing along to.โ Hijazi added.
โItโs a good landmark to show where Laurier is at its hundred years right now, you know, maybe a hundred years from now theyโll have to make a new video, maybe theyโll be on the moon rapping,โ Greenwood joked.
The three will embark on a series of shows in March in the Waterloo area, including one at the Turret as well as one at Wilfโs.
McMurray also believes that WLU ranks high on school spirit, saying, โI think Laurier taking a part in anything that displays great spirit and loyalty in good taste is great. Iโd encourage it. And in good taste, right?โ