Should you’ve ever felt the ability of a stadium-shaking drumline or watched drum majors spin and cut up with peak precision, you then already know the electrifying power HBCU bands deliver.
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That very same power takes middle stage within the re-airing of Celebrating Champions of Tradition for Black Music Month.
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The documentary highlights the tenth anniversary of the PEPSI® Nationwide Battle of the Bands (NBOTB), probably the most dynamic shows of Black musical excellence within the nation, dropped at life partially via the imaginative and prescient and work of Reggie Scott.
Because the Vice President of Operations and Manufacturing for NBOTB, Scott works alongside Derek Webber, founding father of the NBOTB, and stewards a celebration of Black tradition, expertise, and custom. With the latest re-airing of Celebrating Champions of Tradition, he’s serving to the world give HBCU bands the respect they deserve.
“There was a time when Black bands had been dismissed as simply ‘booty shakers,’ folks didn’t see the musicianship, the self-discipline, the artistry,” Scott advised BOSSIP. “However now, increasingly more bands are adopting the HBCU model as a result of they understand how dynamic and impactful it’s. It’s not simply music, it’s dancers, it’s pageantry, it’s storytelling.”
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Raised in Brooklyn, Scott’s faculty profession didn’t begin at an HBCU as he enrolled at Rochester Institute of Expertise. However transferring to Howard College within the early ’80s modified his life. There, he discovered not solely Black excellence in full show, however a brand new understanding of group and artistic collaboration that also fuels his work at the moment.
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“I wished to be round extra individuals who seemed like me,” Scott recalled. “Howard gave me that—and extra. That’s the place I constructed the community that also helps me now.”
Although he wasn’t in Howard’s band, Scott’s early days in a neighborhood drum corps planted seeds that bloomed right into a deep love for efficiency and manufacturing. After producing the Honda Battle of the Bands for over a decade, he introduced that zeal to NBOTB, now one of many greatest phases within the sport for HBCU bands, drawing 65,000 followers to Houston’s NRG Stadium every year.
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And it’s not nearly dimension, it’s about care. Scott ensures each band receives first-class therapy: non-public areas, full meals, lodge lodging, and the reverence they’ve lengthy deserved.
“Our mission has by no means modified, uplift college students and get scholarships into their fingers,” he advised BOSSIP.
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That power carries into Celebrating Champions of Tradition, the place Scott serves as government producer. The movie doesn’t simply give shine to the electrifying performances. It additionally lifts up the band administrators, educators, and college students who pour blood, sweat, and syncopation into each efficiency. And in a world that too usually erases the contributions of Black creatives, NBOTB’s Corridor of Fame section makes house to present them their flowers whereas they’re nonetheless right here.
Moments like Beyoncé’s Homecoming and Southern College’s Tremendous Bowl cameo are turning the tide on how HBCUs are perceived, and NBOTB and Celebrating Champions Of Tradition are using that wave with objective.
“This documentary contributes to that momentum by placing these bands on a nationwide stage,” Scott advised BOSSIP. “Persons are seeing them in a brand new gentle, as innovators, not imitators. And now, these tales are sparking generational conversations, grandparents and college students watching collectively, connecting via delight and shared legacy.”
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And that impression continues on August 23 when the 2025 PEPSI® Nationwide Battle of the Bands returns to Houston. This 12 months’s present will characteristic eight bands from throughout the HBCU spectrum, starting from the extra famed bands to the mid-size and underdog applications, too.
“We don’t simply deliver the largest bands,” Scott famous. “We combine it up deliberately.”
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In the end, Celebrating Champions of Tradition continues to raise, educate, and honor the cultural legacy of Black bands.
