Members of the Florida A&M University (FAMU) Marching “100” love to win.
Director of Marching and Pep Bands Shelby Chipman, Ph.D., and members of the Marching “100,” along with FAMU President Larry Robinson, Ph.D., and others gathered at Bragg Memorial Stadium Wednesday evening to receive the grand prize for winning the Young Thug and Gunna’s Battle of the Bands “Hot” HBCU Challenge.
“Out of the 20 colleges and universities congratulations you get the $25,000,” Kevin Liles, Co-founder and CEO of 300 Entertainment, told the cheering band members.“Congratulations to all “Hot” HBCU Challenge participants – your creativity is inspiring, and to FAMU continue to make us proud as you are the official winners of the Challenge.”
The digital campaign, announced in October 2019, invited all historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU) marching bands to produce a short video and share on social media showcasing their school spirit and talent with their best marching band rendition of Young Thug’s “Hot.”
According to organizers, “The Marching ‘100’ brought the heat earning the highest votes across the four categories: overall quality of performance and effort; musical and percussion ability; visual effects; and most liked video. The Marching “100” submitted the video of “Hot” from the 2019 Florida Classic.
“We are very honored and appreciative of all that has taken place during the Hot Challenge,” Chipman told the students to applause. “We will be eternally grateful to Young Thug, Kevin Liles, and anyone associated for providing HBCUs an opportunity to showcase their talents and creativity.
“We’re even more excited about the same opportunity to use the award towards band operations, scholarships, and initiatives that will allow us to move the FAMU Marching 100 forward,” Chipman added. “We look forward to showing up this weekend at the Honda Hot Battle of the Bands in Georgia.”
The ceremony came just before the Marching “100” members rehearsed for their appearance at the 2020 Honda Battle of the Bands in Atlanta on Saturday. This is the band’s seventh appearance at the showcase event.
The Marching “100” is scheduled to perform seventh before an expected crowd of about 60,000 spectators. Each of the eight participating bands gets $20,000 as well as the expenses covered for the Honda Battle of the Bands. The prize money for the “Hot” Challenge came from Young Thug’s record label, Young Stoner Life Records, and Liles and 300 Entertainment.
