Harvard Stars Rap in Animated Video

University President Lawrence H. Summers may not know it, but he’s making a name for himself in the world of hip hop. As the star of a new online flash animation “Shaniqua,” a collaborative venture between Leverett House blockmates, Summers narrates the search for an elusive “Shaniqua,” rapping the refrain “Shaniqua don’t live here no more” from hit single by hip-hop artists Little T and One Track Mike.

The animation, which was released Monday, also features Professor of Law Alan M. Dershowitz answering phones as well as cameos by presidential candidates John F. Kerry and George W. Bush.

“I wanted to pick serious public figures and juxtapose them with this song,” said the clip’s animation director Molly C. Wilson ’06. “Anything involving dancing white boys is funny.”

Wilson, along with blockmates Lester Y. Leung ’06, Miya E. Bernson ’06, and Frances C. Moore ’06, worked on the project for a month and a half this fall. Publicized through the Leverett House open list, the video clip—which is accessible off Wilson’s homepage www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~mcwilson/shaniqua.html—has already received more than 1,272 hits.

The clip is the latest venture of the blockmates’ production company, Flash-in-the-Pan Productions. Last May the group released its first animation “The End of Harvard,” which chronicled a series of House wars as well as general campus mayhem.

The clip, written by Leung, was a rendition of internet video archive Ebaumsworld.com’s narrated video satire “The End of the World.”

“Harvard people are too serious,” Wilson said. “We just want to amuse them and bring joy to the masses.”

Wilson, a history and science concentrator, said that she began experimenting with the flash program last May as the stress from finals set in and she had an urge to “do something goofy.”

The idea for “Shaniqua,” Wilson said, was proposed by her 14-year-old brother Peter after the group started listening to the tune this summer.

While the clip has been out less than a week, it is already creating a buzz. “[“Shaniqua”] was ridiculous but there were some real gems in the background,” said Rita Parai ’07, a friend of contributor Moore.

Moore said that Flash-in-the-Pan Productions has received a variety of fan mail, including dinner invitations from alumni and offers to “have Molly’s babies.”

Flash-in-the-Pan’s “The End of Harvard” has even made it on another well-known video archive website, www.milkandcookies.com. The clip, however, only received a rating of four out of 10.

“People outside wouldn’t find it as funny,” Bernson said. “[The videos] are aimed at Harvard students, though it’s a scary thought that house tutors are watching it too.”

But Wilson said that Flash-in-the-Pan Production is not done yet. A few new clips, perhaps about the World Series or the Harvard-Yale game, are in the works.