Perpich Hip-Hop Artist Returns to Alma Mater

Hip-hop artist Herbert Johnson returned to the Perpich Center for the Arts in Golden Valley to talk to students. He is currently a dance instructor for the University of Minnesota. He also performs across the country in hip-hop dance competitions.

“Today’s society with the industry, I feel you can get really tied into becoming a product and less of a human being,” said Johnson. “Expression is the thing that makes you a human being over a product.”

A graduate from Perpich in 2010, Johnson studied for three years at Lundstrum Center for Arts. He performed in the Super Bowl LII halftime Show. Other artist credits include iLuminate from “America’s Got Talent,” “Rooted: Hip Hop Choreographers’ Evening” and the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts’ production of “A Chorus Line.”

Johnson is one of several former students who return on a regular basis to talk about a career in the arts.

“For myself coming into Perpich, I always wanted to see the faces that came before me and know what they were up to,” said Johnson. “I think [alumni coming back] is important because it also shows the artists that come here that there is something that can happen after they graduate.”

Johnson also advised students that everyone grows in their own time and to always be true in expressing themselves.

Golden Valley