Shrieking, hollering and even crying, future college students, their friends, parents and a few little brothers and sisters shout out their adoration for actor and rapper Nick Cannon, the biggest draw at the Black College Expo on Saturday at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
"Education is key," Cannon tells them. "Keep your mind on school."
That is not the message they came to hear from him.
"Gigolo ... ," he sings to cheers.
As he raps, he removes his pink button-down, now among the latest hip-hop street fashions, which he has paired with baggy jeans and brown "Tims," short for Timberland boots. He strips to his undershirt. He takes that off and flings it into the crowd as it gets even louder.
This is a scene not to be missed if you are young, gifted and black.
Or not.
Entertainers like Cannon, who currently plays a high school senior trying to win a college scholarship in the film "Love Don't Cost a Thing," have turned this annual college fair intended to introduce local students to historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) into a party.
Like halftime at Howard University's homecoming, it is part fashion show. These teenagers wear the latest Ecko, Baby Phat, Fetish and Rocawear. No matter the color -- pastel pink, bright turquoise, light blue, neon yellow or that Burberry plaid -- the shirt and the shoes must match.
Like during lunchtime at Spelman, the best-dressed girls, and there are thousands of them here, dip into their big Louis Vuitton carry-alls, Coach bags (with matching hats) and Gucci purses.
They check each other out.
"Ooh, he's fine," says Michelle Perell, 20 and a student at L.A. City College, as she strolls past the booth for Prairie View A&M University near Houston.
Her friend, Pamela Gonzalez, 18, responds, "I'm trying to get me a college, while you're looking at guys."
There is a lot of that going on.
"Pay attention," a mother snaps at her gorgeous son as he stares at girls. She slaps the back of his head. And for that reason, the Fairfax High School senior doesn't want to give his name. He walks over to the booth for North Carolina A&T University, which is Jesse Jackson's alma mater.
At the booth for Wilberforce University, Sparkle French explains why she chose the small black college near Dayton, Ohio, after finishing Crenshaw High School in Los Angeles.
"The teachers care," she says of the university she graduated from in 2002.
