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Speakerboxx Makes its Return to Texas Tech

By: Fahiym Webber

Mar. 21, 2018

LUBBOCK, Texas- Returning for its 4th time, the annual poetry event, Speakerboxx, plans to make its debut April 14th. Created by the students of Texas Tech, this show is a platform for Black males to be able to express their perspectives of life that range from several topics by utilizing poetry. The name of this even derrives from the album Speakerboxx/The Love Below by the musical group, Outkast. While the album discusses the different sides of love, so does the Speakerboxxx event as it has a counterpart poetry event, The Love Below, that the Black women of TTU also host earlier in the academic year. Both of these events are performed in Human Sciences 169 every year.

“Having our thoughts and revealed publically is a very rare moment for men” said by Jordan Johnson, a student at Texas Tech who’s performing at the Speakerboxxx event. “Just discussing our emotions to our loved ones is difficult, but Speakerboxxx ups the ante and brings it to a whole other level while we express ourselves at 110% to an audience of random strangers.”

The cast of Speakerboxxx has been preparing their show since the end of January. They practice two times every week until the show night. During this process, members are assigned a poem attuned to the theme of the show. The theme for this year is identity.

“Last year we did a tribute to women since it seems that our love for them often goes unnoticed.” Johnson said. “We decide the theme by asking all the cast what topic they feel most strongly about and this year there was an overwhelming amount of people who had their choices revolved around identity”

The performances during this event isn’t just speaking poetry, Speakerboxxx also enlists showcasings ranging from singing, dancing, and storytelling.

“I feel like there’s something for everyone in Speakerboxxx.” said Christian Herrera, another student at Texas Tech who had attended the show last year, as well as The Love Below performance from the women. “There’s at least one poem in the show that someone in the audience can relate to. It’s always nice seeing the different effects each poem has on other people, while some poems spark conversations amongst us that we originally weren’t comfortable with talking about before.”

“I think we’re different from the girls’ performance in the fact that we always try something new every year to talk about.” said Johnson. “While the women go into more detail about their relationships and men, we attempt to express our frustrations and commentaries on society in more innovative ways.”

Speakerboxxx will be the one of many Black student led events in the month of April while organizations such as Collegiate 100 and Alpha Phi Alpha will host several ones as well.