They say all good things must come to an end. And on Saturday night, November 5, 2005, many of us watched the finale of a legacy…

“Fake the Funk” has held right to being “the event to go to” here at MSU for the past 15 years. College and High School students and even families from all over Michigan have come with excitement every year to see what would happen next. It all started in the Brody Auditorium and has traveled to the Auditorium, the Breslin Center, and ending in the Eastern Field House. What will step up and take its place; no one knows. But, for now all we can do is hold on to the memories and remember how a chance to impersonate your favorite artist changed the game at MSU.

“Fake the Funk” was actually started by Emmons Black Caucus for the first two years. Then, Josh Gillespie the adviser for Bombsquad Productions took it over in its third year. With the hard work of his Bombsquad members over the past decade, “Fake the Funk” turned into the mega event it is today. Gillespie closed the final show saying “All this [the show] is not me, its Bombsquad.”

The final show was on another level from the years prior. The show included seven acts, Spartan Soul and Urban Dreams dance teams, fashions shows by Brick Citi and Ashley Reed (“ASR”) fashions, a step show and a hip-hop violinist. Not to mention the host, comedian Alex Thomas (Comicview, the Jamie Foxx show and multiple music videos) kept the audience laughing the entire night. He even had people from the audience come on stage to have a dance battle. (Remember the girl who did the splits?) “It was really nice. All of the performers did a good job… I especially liked how the violinist merged classical with hip-hop,” First timer Malik Riley says.

Close to 3,000 people packed the floor and bleachers of the Field House. Crowd members screamed, pushed, danced, laughed and cheered throughout the night as they watched popular artists hit the stage. The wanna-be’s included J.Lo. Ja Rule, Fabolous, Kanye West, Justin Timberlake, Mike Jones, Pharrel, Ying Yang Twins, TLC, Usher, Omarion, B2K, Marques Houston and many more. But, out of all the stars there could only be one victor. The Snowman… Young Jeezy took the crown-- “Yeeeeaaaahhhh.” The lip-syncer (who looked just like Young Jeezy) and his entourage of 25 kept the crowd hype with popular Jeezy tracks like “Soul Survivor,” “Dem Boyz,” and “And Then What.”

The group called, “CTE” used costume and scene changes, props and crowd interaction to steal the show; not to mention the toilet paper from the bathrooms too. Coming in second and third place respectively were Omarion & Co. and Justin Timberlake & Usher. Meagen Mason, President of Bombsquad says, “The acts did a great job. Judges enjoyed it, the crowd enjoyed it… Bombsquad was successful.”

Unfortunately, this is where the show stops. They called it the apocalypse, because this is the very last show. Jamal Adams, Bombsquad member says, “I’m just glad we went out with a bang!” The show has been much more than an outlet and event to have fun ad support our peers. “Fake the Funk” will be missed but, whether you were on-stage or in the crowd; in V.I.P or in regular seats; went once or every year, the memories will never be forgotten.

Cyrus McNeal

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