Published On: 01.31.25 | 

By: Alabama News Center Staff

Honda’s national Battle of the Bands features Alabama State University, Alabama A&M University

Alabama State University's Mighty Marching Hornets are competing again in the Honda Battle of the Bands. (David Campbell / ASU)

The storied rivalry between Alabama State University and Alabama A&M University will add another chapter on Saturday, Feb. 1, but this time it will play out far from Birmingham, home to the annual Magic City Classic football showdown. And the schools’ dynamic marching bands won’t just be entertainment but competitors themselves.

The Honda Battle of the Bands, a national event, will take place in Inglewood, California, at the 70,000-seat SoFi Stadium, which is home to the Los Angeles Rams and Chargers.

The Alabama bands will be two of only six bands from historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) nationwide to be featured in the popular competition. Along with Alabama State’s Mighty Marching Hornets and Alabama A&M’s Marching Maroon & White, other participants are marching bands from Southern University and A&M College, Hampton University, North Carolina A&T State University and the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.

The Alabama A&M band performs in the 2021 Magic City Classic parade. (Solomon Crenshaw Jr. / Alabama News Center)

Dr. James Oliver, director of Alabama State’s Mighty Marching Hornets, said the event will be hosted by comedian, television presenter, actor and rapper Nick Cannon and will feature a performance by hip-hop artist GloRilla.

“It is an absolutely awesome feeling that Honda has once again selected our Mighty Marching Hornets student-musicians to perform in what many consider to be the stellar HBCU marching band event in the nation,” Oliver said. “This Honda event benefits our students in so many ways, such as in the accolade of being able to state that they performed in it, as well as lifting up our students who may not have ever flown on a jet before, been to California or never have visited anywhere more than 300 miles away from their home. This is great for our university and for its students in every way possible.”

Honda has been a major supporter of historically Black colleges and universities for almost four decades. The company has donated more than $14 million in grants via its many events, which also include the Honda Campus All-Star Challenge.

For more information, visit www.hondabattleofthebands.com.

This story incorporates material written by Kenneth Mullinax for Alabama State University.