On Oct. 24 the Chicago Chapter and the GRAMMY Foundation hosted a GRAMMY SoundChecks with Decaydance recording artists Gym Class Heroes and Atlantic recording artist Estelle at the Congress Theater.
Approximately 30 Chicago GRAMMY U students were on hand and the session started with members from each band's management team sitting down with the students for an intimate question-and-answer session. Seth Conley, representing Gym Class Heroes' Crush Music Media Management, and Silbert Mani, representing Estelle's DMANI Entertainment, spoke to students regarding their own history in the business and their experiences in managing bands.
The students were then led to the main auditorium were they watched each act perform a soundcheck. After the performances, the artists sat down with the students for a discussion moderated by Rita Lee of NuFace Entertainment. The discussion centered around the theme of "emerging in hip-hop" and Gym Class Heroes and Estelle gave very candid answers about the topic and took time to answer each student question.