Wednesday’s Nooner came in the form of local Sacramento award-winning hip hop artist Mr. Hooper and his band on April 8.

Hooper, who attended Sacramento State in 1993, fell in love with making music at the age of eight.

“My brother was a DJ and there was always a lot of music around the house,” Hooper said.

He got his start as a human beat box, attributing his musical influences to Doug E. Fresh and Buff, the human beat box, but he stepped his foot in the rap world when he heard Rakim.

“He was really poetic, really lyrical and really smooth,” Hooper said.

Rakim’s influence is noticeable in Hooper’s style of rapping.

The first song performed at the Nooner, “Snakes,” contains lyrics about trying to stay up while people attempt to bring you down.

Hooper also takes great pride in being an artist from Sacramento, writing a song called “Nine One Six.”

“I was born in San Francisco and moved here at 11,” Hooper said. “It took a long time for me to accept Sac as home.”

The lyrics to the song mention how, no matter where he goes, this city is always in his heart.

Hooper does more than rap about his hometown.

His lyrics also send messages about the issues of society, a rarity that’s sometimes hard to find in mainstream rap songs heard on the radio.

“I’ve been playing with him for a few years and I really like his message to the audience,” said Zach Watkins, keyboard player for Hooper’s band and a graduate student at Sac State. “He talks about improving yourself, making things better and raising consciousness.”

In one of his songs, he even raps about what he would one day want to tell a special girl and encourages the audience to do something creative for someone they love.

“I like that he was interacting with the audience and how well he raps,” said Jessenia Jimenez, a student at Sac State.

Having been in the music industry for so long, Hooper advises aspiring hip hop artists to not cave in to the pressures of the industry and to do what they feel is best for themselves.

“Don’t feel like you have to do what they want you to do; be yourself,” Hooper said.

With a career that only seems to be rising, Hooper spoke of a personal motto that he believes in whenever the road gets hard.

“Not finish, just begun,” Hooper said. “It’s in a poem my grandfather wrote, it’s what I feel like I’m always doing.”