Last Thursday night at Donovan’s Pub, one of Colgate’s few hip-hop acts, Swagged Up Squad (S.U.S.), took the stage to per­form. Being one of the first performances at the Pub, there was a level of anticipation and excitement as the performance began.

To my great surprise, their set opened with an enthusiastic remix of “A Zip and a Double Cup” by Juicy J. Double. Cup in hand, junior Jordan “Poon Tune” McCord (one of the members of S.U.S.) proceeded to rap about urban activities popularized through today’s rap music. As for what was in his cup, it was announced by Poon Tune to be “lean,” which is a southern slang term for a beverage constituted of cough syrup and Sprite. I have only been to a few rap con­certs in my life, but they have been big names, like Mac Miller and Wiz Khalifa. The impressive thing about this opening song is that Swagged Up Squad matched the performance intensity of bigger hip-hop acts – and this when only one song into their set.

Next, they moved to a colorful rendition of Berner’s “Yoko.” Once again, Swagged Up Squad brought an excellent amount of energy to every bar they spit. It was as if they were trying to get signed and they knew label executives were sit­ting at the bar (this could have been the case. Who knows?). S.U.S. made their distinct styles complement each other, and it was great to hear.

As for the crowd, a sizable number showed up to see the performance. All of the girls in the crowd were referenced multiple times by mem­bers of the collective. Everyone seemed to enjoy S.U.S. and the several songs they performed. The pinnacle of the performance was prob­ably when they performed their rendition of Machine Gun Kelly and Waka Flocka’s “Wild Boy,” replacing the two words with “College Swag.” Senior BaRack “Rock-B” Little took the place of Waka Flocka Flame, carrying on with a certain type of swag that paid respect to the south. He carried the track, violently danc­ing on stage and repeating the words “College Swag” almost religiously.

As for the original songs they performed, they carried a similar feel and worked well in contrast to the covers. “Pregame” was a great success because it talked about something most Colgate students can relate to, much to the chagrin of the administration. They saved their most well known song, “Colgate,” for the end of the show, and at that point I proceeded to pledge allegiance to the swag.

The performance I saw makes me excited about the future of S.U.S. We are lucky to have them on campus, and if you can catch them, I suggest you do.

Contact Jackson Leeds at [email protected].