Page 10 - IAV Digital Magazine #435

iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine
Longest “Yea Boy” Being Planned At Lee Statue In October
In a stunning development sur- rounding the Monument Avenue debate, Richmond is bracing for yet another demon- stration at the statue of Robert E. Lee on October 7. According to sources close to RVA Mag – along with a Facebook event page – demonstrators plan
on gathering in solidarity to let out the longest “Yea Boi” ever heard.
Yelling “Yea Boi” has a storied his- tory, one that is steeped in mys- tery and antiquity, but was most recently popular- ized by rap leg- end Flavor Flav, who made the expression his signature trade- mark. The phrase can be used in a plurality of for-
mats, such as “should we take down Confederate stat- ues?”, which would be fol- lowed by a long form “Yea Boi” to signify agree- ment.
Unlike the most recent rally planned by neo- Confederates, which only
attracted seven supporters, the Yea Boi demon- stration already has 1,700 con- firmed attendees with another 9,400 interested – potentially mak- ing this one of the largest dis- plays of unity in Richmond’s histo- ry.
The event on
October 7, how- ever, will not be without some degree of contro- versy. In
2015, Kondwani Sichinga, a stu- dent from Zambia, sat down and over the course of 30 glo- rious seconds recorded the longest known ‘Yea Boi’ in cur- rent existence.
The video, now viewed around 12 million times, has become a world wide sensation, spawning count- less memes, ren- ditions, and inter- net knock-offs. In an interview with New York Magazine, Kondwani himself was quoted
as saying, “I’ve seen the remixes
and I’m quite proud I started something like this.”
Nonetheless, the event in Richmond is shaping up to be quite the media circus with Yea Boi
RVA merch alrea dy being adver- tised on various forums. According to the event page, par- ticipants are to arrive at 6pm with the “Yea Boi” to start in earnest at 615pm. It is cur- rently unclear what preparations the city has put in place to accom- modate such a “Yea Boi” or if various law enforcement agencies have provided guid- ance on how to handle this sonic spectacle.
Yea Boi
iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine