Phat beats

Who's running the zoom zoom zoom in the boom boom at Penn? Our reporter on Locust Walk pulled hurrying students aside on a clear spring day to inquire into their preferred beats come graduation day. Students were usually short and sweet about why they liked hip-hop over, say, chamber music. Unlike the finals many of them had just come from or were headed toward, shaking it out on the dance floor doesn't require a great deal of analytical thinking or studied comprehension of vocabulary words. Like the good Clinton - George, that is - said: "Free your mind, and the rest will follow."

Mike Yen, Wharton, Class of '01 "Hip-hop. The beat's good."
James Lyons, College, Class of '00 "Fatboy Slim. Good music, good beat, gets things goin'."
Beth Kotora, Nursing, Class of '00 "What's the name of that train song? Come on the train, dance on the train? ...Or something?"
Gary Lin, Engineering, Class of '99 "Ohh, Latin music or Brazilian. Definitely. It always makes the party more exciting, gets the whole crowd going strong."
Franny Wang, College, Class of '01 "Hip-hop. It's upbeat."
Marykate Hayburn, College, Class of '02 "I don't know. My brain is fried. I just took a three hour final that was only supposed to last two. I can't think at all."
Gene Stein, Education Ph.D. "Funk."
Brian Cross, College, Class of '99 "The first Devo album. Simply because it's the best album of all time."
Carrie Sokol, College, Class of '01 "Will old people be there? Hmm, I guess I'd have to say swing. It's a lot of fun and anybody who shows up - even if they're old - can enjoy it."
Ashley Harvey, College, Class of '02 "Personally, I would put down something like electronic music, but for the general population, I think hip-hop. I personally would rather hear Black Star, but for everyone, something more commercial like Puff Daddy or even NAS would be better."
Nadia Conte, Wharton, Class of '00 "I like '70s. Disco."
Nicole Williams, Wharton, Class of '00 "Definitely disco. Old-school funk. 'Cause it has a good beat, everyone knows all the words, and it gets everyone pumped up."