Freshman Wesley Hargon has performed three times at Open Mic Nights hosted by the Campus Activities Board (CAB), and has taken advantage of the opportunity to share his talent of rapping. Hargon said he began rapping when he was 12 years old and his passion for hip-hop has grown ever since. Hargon has written and recorded his own EP album titled “Rose Petals” which he released on Dec. 1, 2014 under his stage name ThaGeek.

“At the last Open Mic I performed the first single from my EP called ‘Ever Again,'” Hargon said. “It is a song that I wrote after a very interesting discussion about Jesus in my freshman Bible class. The song is quite catchy, so when I performed it at Open Mic I got the crowd to sing along with me when the chorus came around, making it one of the coolest performances I’ve had at Open Mic.”

Hargon said performing helps him express his emotions.

“I want to communicate faith, encouragement and love through my music,” Hargon said. “I want to be an artist that everyone can enjoy listening to and I want to make hip-hop songs that people can relate to. Hip-hop is a form of music that is looked down upon because of the many negative stereotypes and stigmas attached to it. I want to remind people that everything you do can be made to glorify God.”

Hargon creates music, videos and photography and has a YouTube channel where he uploads weekly videos that display his passion for sharing the gospel.

“The (YouTube) channel is called ACP which stands for ‘A Christian Perspective,'” Hargon said. “It is currently the task that I devote most of my time and creativity on. The most important thing I have learned as an artist is to take advantage of all the opportunities you have to do something great because you are given those opportunities for a reason.”

Senior Summer Gibson, student director of CAB, said that the drive behind having Open Mic Night is to foster the opportunity for students to express themselves through their talent of performance.

“(Hargon) has an outstanding kind of confidence that it takes to step up to the mic and share your emotions through your words,” Gibson said.

Senior Geoff Davis is also a student worker with CAB and has seen Hargon perform during the Open Mic Nights at Starbucks and shared the drive behind this unique type of event.

“It connects students with God-given talent that wish to showcase their gifts with the rest of the student body and to be fun at it,” Davis said.