The 19th Trinity International Hip Hop Festival spread its message about the transformative power of hip hop throughout the city of Hartford this year as it highlighted artists from around the world and formed new creative connections.
Held April 17–20, the 2025 festival took place at locations around the city, including Trinity’s main campus and its Innovation Hub downtown. Featured in the programming were performances, battles, panel discussions, film screenings, lectures, art exhibits, and instructional workshops.
This year’s theme, “Hip Hop Saved My Life,” explored the connections between hip hop culture, health, and wellness to highlight hip hop’s role as a positive force in physical, mental, and community healing, according to Seth M. Markle, associate professor of history and international studies. The festival was organized by students from the Trinity chapter of the Temple of Hip Hop and by Markle, the student group’s faculty adviser.
“The theme was created by the students; health and wellness really speaks to their generation, which is so open to talking about mental health,” said Markle. “The festival was a celebration of hip hop not only as an art form, but also as a lifeline that inspires individuals and communities to overcome adversity and thrive.”
Markle said that the festival tried something new this year by hosting performances and other events at locations around Hartford, including the Bond Ballroom, where the main concert took place. “The energy in that space was amazing. It was a very intimate experience,” Markle said. “Trinity’s Innovation Hub, the Hall at Parkville Market, and Charter Oak Boxing Academy were great locations for the community. By taking some events off campus, we were able to support multiple, largely minority-owned businesses.”
This year’s lineup presented more than 30 featured participants, including MCs, poets, DJs, beat-makers, breakers and all-stylers, scholars, educators, health practitioners, drummers, entrepreneurs, and activists.
The co-headliners of the main concert were American artists Skyzoo and MeccaGodZilla. After the event, MeccaGodZilla said, “From an artist’s perspective, everything felt seamless. The experience was smooth, welcoming, and full of love, and it left a deep impression on me. No exaggeration, Hartford is now one of my favorite cities on the planet.”
The festival spotlighted hip hop’s global impact by featuring Japan’s COMA-CHI and Asuka, UK and France’s Celine Mitchell, Senegal’s Fou Malade, and South Africa’s Tanswell Jansen, Charly 2X, and Emile YX? of the Heal the Hood Project. Each act is recognized for their dedication to empowerment through music, scholarship, and grassroots arts education, Markle said.
“COMA-CHI is a pioneering woman in the Japanese hip hop scene,” Markle said. “By working with Asuka, a 17th-generation koto player, she’s fusing traditional sounds with hip hop sounds. She’s also an educator who formed a hip hop school called Groove Music Academy.” The participation of COMA-CHI and Asuka was the result of a visit to Japan by Markle and Aleema Kelly ’26 in 2024 for Technos International Week, a cultural exchange program.
Connecticut’s own hip hop community was well represented by health practitioner Haben Abraham ’10, the director of Trinity’s Counseling and Wellness Center; animator/cartoonist Raheem Nelson; graffiti writers Dooley-O, Airis, and Create; emcees ANoyd and Acid; dancers BGirl Trinity, Tang$auce, and Rascal Randi; DJs Michelle Bee, Stealth, Thrifty, and Trinity’s own CMoney; beat makers Chill Shump, Nuk Beatz, Kel C of Ovalord Radio; and youth performers Studio 860 Junior Co., Hartford’s Proud Drum Drill and Dance Co., Gifted Onez, and Ziyi Yan.
The festival was founded in 2006 by undergraduate students at Trinity and it continues to build on collaborations across campus. The History Department helped to support keynote speaker Celine Mitchell, who visited a class taught by Professor of History and International Studies Zayde Antrim. Trinity’s Center for Urban and Global Studies and its Tanaka Fund for International Research provided additional support for COMA-CHI and Asuka’s visit from Japan. The artists visited Japanese classes at Trinity and taught the language through raps.
An ongoing collaboration with the Theater and Dance Department was the Training Day Master Class featuring Poptart, a Hartford hip hop dancer and community partner who worked with students in classes led by Associate Professor of Theater and Dance Rebecca K. Pappas and Visiting Lecturer in Theater and Dance Mellissa R. Craig. Trinity’s Human Rights Program partnered with the festival to support the South African performers from the Heal the Hood Project, and a collaboration with the Music Department and Lecturer in Music and Director of Recording Arts Christopher Swist brought artists to a class in the Gruss Music Center’s recording studio.
“The students in the Temple of Hip Hop should be proud of this event,” Markle said. “This goes beyond the student population; it serves the global hip hop community. It was a great success, and it showed a multi-generation landscape of people that are committed to hip hop and to challenging a lot of stereotypes about hip hop.”
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