Beatz return to the ‘Burgh

The University of Pittsburgh’s own BNVz (formerly The Beatz-n-Verbz) capture the essence of… The University of Pittsburgh’s own BNVz (formerly The Beatz-n-Verbz) capture the essence of hip-hop with just their name – there are beats, and there are verbs. The only fundamental of hip-hop missing from the band’s name is attitude, but, rest assured, they’ve got plenty of that.

This five-piece group has been mixing the beats and rhymes of hip-hop with the funk and soul of R’B and the no-bull attitude of punk since they met at Pitt years ago.

The current band, made up of vocalist Marcus Harris, bassist Paul Eppes, guitarist Walter Prorok and aptly titled drummer Dennis the Menace, is arguably a musical institution here at Pitt. These boys performed as the opening act for The Starting Line at 2005’s Bigelow Bash.

And tonight, for the first time after a yearlong hiatus, students will have the chance to see this self-proclaimed hip-hop fusion band live in action as they take over Peter’s Pub at 10.

The Pitt News sat down with front man Harris to talk about the past, the future and the bright present of the BNVz.

The Pitt News: How did the BNVz first get together? MH: Our freshman year, a bunch of our friends decided they were going to go to the Shadow Lounge to see a hip-hop band from Minneapolis. While we were at the show, I did some spoken word poetry and Paul did a beat box set. Then we hung out in a cipher – that’s like when you see a bunch of guys freestyling on a corner. In late 2004, we hooked up again to do a track and decided to put together a band halfway through our sophomore year.

TPN: Where did you practice at first? MH: We didn’t start practicing until sophomore year – in Paul’s basement on Coltart Street. Before then we’d really just freestyle in the dorms. We kind of have this attitude where if we weren’t in a band, we’d still be going to the same places with the same people, still in the same scene, so it just made sense to practice and play together. We don’t do it for money or girls. We would just practice and invite people over