UCLA is a minority majority school, but it is no secret that Black people are the minority of minorities. With a 4% Black population, Black students can sometimes feel swallowed up at the #1 public university. But thanks to clubs like Hip Hop Congress, Black culture is being elevated at UCLA, and the club’s very own Kanwulia Onianwa gave Her Campus UCLA all the details.
As a second year, Onianwa joined HHC in the fall, and she says “It’s been around for a minute, and the whole purpose is just to celebrate different forms and media within Black culture, whether that be music, fashion, [or] just art in general, and it is so cool, because it is a way to bring the community together through similar interest and then get to show it to the school.”
Onianwa was first exposed to the club last year during their large annual fashion show, which had a theme of futuristic Afro-centrism, and she absolutely fell in love with what the club stood for: “I was so excited to join it. […] It celebrated different African cultures and just celebrated Black people in general. And I was like, okay wow, this is combining Black creativity, Black excellence with fashion, so two favorite things.”
Now, almost a year later, the fashion forward student is one of the six people on HHC’s runway committee, and she and her peers are working hard for this event that you will not want to miss. Onianwa, who is already an excited and bubbly person, became even more joyful when telling HC UCLA about the plans for this year’s show. She explained, “Each year there is a big gratifying theme. Last year they did an Afro-futurism centric theme, celebrating all those different cultures. And this year, they are switching it up and doing East vs. West because they’re completely different, and they’re celebrating both sides and what they bring to fashion as a culture and music too.” Models will be wearing brands from both the East and West coast and walking to performers from both places as well. “It’s going to be like one big creative celebration of both cultures,” Oniawa says happily.
The runway is incorporating the UCLA student body by not only featuring student models but also featuring two student designers, one from the East coast and one from the West coast: “That’s another thing, we’re celebrating the student body and what they have to offer. That’s my favorite part of it. Last year the student designer was amazing. They ended the show, and it was a show stopper.” The fashion show will take place on March 2nd, and you can follow @uclahhc on Instagram for updates and information. It will be an event you do not want to miss!
As HHC elevates the UCLA student body in its events, it also provides a community for its members. Onianwa was able to find “that relatability and comfort space, […] I can meet [not only] Black people, but also Black people that share similar passions. It’s very very very nice because we can relate on levels of we’re both Black, but we can go deeper because we’re both very creative people, and that’s been the best feeling ever.” HHC itself is a diverse club, and provides a space for not only Black students, but students of “all different walks of life coming together with like-minded interest and passions.” The club has become extra special for Onianwa who comes from a Nigerian family and used to live in a Seattle neighborhood where she had Black peers of all different cultures and communities.
HHC is extra excited for Black History Month. To celebrate, they are not only moving full force with their runway show but also other events coming up. For example, one week after the fashion show, they will be holding “Explosion,” a concert where there will be a variety of artists and “brings everyone together…It’s just one big happy space where Black people get to be Black, and have fun.” They are also collaborating with the Black Bruin Resource Center (BBRC) and UCLA Radio to further elevate their club’s creativity, voices and messages: “Creativity doesn’t move without Black people, and that is what HHC shows. With the music, the fashion, just the art form, we’re really gratifying that, so people know that this is where it comes from, where it’s all rooted from,” Onianwa explains.
UCLA’s Hip Hop Congress is helping change UCLA culture as we know it. Onianwa says everyone should know, “It’s a very inviting space, where you get to just fully, fully express yourself and who you are in your most creative form. I feel like at the forefront of UCLA it is just showing off all the research aspects and the STEM, but in the background, you see all these creative people who bring so much to the table in terms of their creativity, things I didn’t even know students could do, and it’s so amplified and appreciated in that space.” She encourages everyone to apply and experience the amazingness HHC has to offer for themselves.
To learn more about HHC, check out their Instagram and be sure to check out the events they have planned for not only Black History Month but the rest of the school year.