Ohio State experienced a throwback to the Jazz Age as the Black Association of North Campus Students celebrated Harlem Renaissance 2002 for the first time on campus this weekend.

“We want to get the cultural experience of the Harlem Renaissance to students,” said Ashly Farmer, vice president of BANCS. “A lot of pop culture today stems directly from or is influenced by the Harlem Renaissance time period.”

The highlight of the free festival was a Saturday performance from the Def Poetry Jam Poets muMs and Madya del Valle. Del Valle is a National Poetry Slam winner, and muMs appeared in Spike Lee’s “Bamboozled” and the HBO television series “Oz.”

The poets had audience members waiting to exhale, mixing rhyme with hip-hop styles and soulful rhythms, in a play of words and meanings reminiscent of the Harlem Renaissance. Participants portrayed the trials of blacks and other African descendants in musical melodies of words.

muMs combined his abilities as poet and actor, displaying his verbal mastery and performance abilities in four poems that critiqued the current state of urban music and black culture. Valle kept audience members on their toes, shifting from English to the Puerto Rican dialect of Spanish, as she voiced her pride in her Latin culture and the African influence that is often overlooked.

The two-day event began Thursday with “Rhapsodies In Black,” an evening of art, jazz and soul food from the ’20s and ’30s. More than 200 students attended the event, which was held at the Hale Black Cultural Center.

“The Elisha Jazz Ensemble played music that was popular during the Harlem Renaissance, especially music from the ’20s, ’30s and even ’40s,” Farmer said.

The celebration continued Saturday when BANCS held “A Harlem Nite” in Hitchcock Hall. DJ Steph-Floss from Elektra Records warmed up the crowd of mostly college-aged students who came to the festival from as far as Cleveland, Cincinnati and Youngstown. Steph-Floss spun hip-hop records for about an hour before the show got going.

Then, the crowd was treated to poetry performances from Snaps and Taps Poets Ed Mabry and Dannaudra Jackson and dance performances from the Visions Dance Team and the Miami University Step Team.

Mabry spoke of the evolution of black music in America as a metamorphosis from jazz, to soul and finally hip-hop. Jackson addressed the problems that young people face, focusing on issues that impede the mental and spiritual growth of blacks.

“I thought it was a really cool experience,” said Brad Labanz, a student from the University of Cincinnati. “I didn’t know all that much about the Harlem Renaissance before, but it’s amazing to see the influences in music and art even today. I hope this is something that OSU keeps hosting.”