Jurassic 5 leaves jurassic footprint on Kent State

Olivia Mihalic

A group of guys hung around the back of the M.A.C. Center late Saturday afternoon laughing and smoking together. Even though they could pass as students themselves, they were the group performing for Kent State’s Homecoming.

All-Campus Programming Board brought old school hip-hop to Kent State this weekend when the group Jurassic 5 performed at the M.A.C. Center Saturday night. Though the crowd was less than expected, the center was bouncing.

“I was kind of disappointed in the audience,” said Tom Simpson, assistant director of the Center for Student Involvement. “It’s a little light, but I think there’s more here than there was for The Roots.”

Wearing T-shirts, jeans and baseball caps, the four MC’s sounded more like one unified voice with their soulful rhymes. The group mixed up the show, playing some of their old songs and introducing new ones as well.

There are six members in the group, although only one of the DJs was present Saturday.

Many students were imƒ_”pressed.

“I thought they had a lot of energy,” freshman exploratory major Kristen Acker said. “There weren’t a lot of people, but they still managed to get the crowd excited.”

The whole crowd was throwing their hands up in the air and singing along to the first song they performed, “I Am Somebody,” making the hundreds that attended sound like thousands.

Jurassic 5 came together in 1993 as part of the Los Angeles underground hip-hop movement. The albums Quality Control and Power in Numbers followed their debut single “Unified Rebellion.” Their EP album was considered one of the freshest debuts of the year in 1997, according to critics.

The next record is complete and will be out soon.

For more information on the group, visit their official Web site at http://www.Jurassic5.com.

Contact on-campus entertainment reporter Olivia Mihalic at [email protected].