“The beautiful thing about this piece is that it’s a celebration of a community and a movement that was started by very scholarly, creative, and ambitious young people in the late 90s and early 2000s,” said Baye Harrell (B.A. ’04), a former collaborator and friend of Boseman. “Howard is the birthplace of hip-hop theater, as far as I’m concerned,” he said, explaining how he and his group partner Jabari Exum came to be involved in a production written by Boseman’s former classmate, friend, and collaborator Kamilah Forbes. 

“‘Rhyme Deferred’ was before ‘Deep Azure,’ it’s like the seminal hip-hop theater production out of Howard,” said Harrell. Boseman and Forbes collaborated on the piece that would go on to be presented at venues like the National Black Arts Festival, in many ways introducing the world to hip-hop theater and paving the way for the founding of the Hip-Hop Theater Festival.  

During the event’s opening reception, current students of Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts Adjunct Professor Timothy Jones (B.A. ’91) performed two snippets from “Rhyme Deferred.”

“I am teaching a course that was developed by Goldie Patrick (B.F.A. ’04) and brother Baye [Harrell] was also teaching it, and so it’s been an honor to follow in his footsteps,” said Jones before introducing the students. 

Stating how wonderful it’s been to watch what everyone from that community has gone on to accomplish, Harrell was especially proud to be in attendance and celebrate this time in HU history. “It’s just nice to watch Howard have its focus on that particular moment that I was a part of with Chad.”

“Speechless and beyond words,” said Exum, describing how it felt to have been in that creative space with Boseman during a time when he was writing pieces like “Deep Azure” while at Howard, and to now celebrate that work alongside his many other known accomplishments. “Chadwick was one of my best friends in the world, so it’s good to slowly allow the world entrance into his expansive, creative mind.” Exum, who majored in music at Howard, choreographed dance and drumming for “Black Panther.” 

Before the staged reading, which was directed by Howard alumnus NSangou Njikam (B.F.A. ’01), the cast, including Lauren E. Banks, Bessie Award winner Adesola Osakalumi, Joshua Boone, Greg Alverez Reid, Isaiah J. Johnson, Amber Iman, and Djali Amadou Kouyate, walked a red carpet alongside Boseman’s friends and family, each stopping to share their thoughts on being a part of and celebrating “Deep Azure” as well as memories and messages of inspiration from a man who continues to inspire many. 

When asked what it meant to be in a room filled with so much love and respect for his brother and his work, Derrick Boseman said it was exciting, and simply amazing. “The fact that he did something that’s still living, is what’s amazing,” he said. “Just that.”