Nelly, the St. Louis rapper best known for his early 2000s hits “Hot in Herre,” “Dilemma” and “Ride Wit Me,” will perform in the Ralph S. O’Connor Recreation Center on April 24 as part of this year’s Spring Fair.
His performance, which will be co-sponsored by the Hopkins Organization for Programming (HOP), was announced by the Spring Fair staff at the Student Activities Commission (SAC) Fair on Friday. The HOP and Spring Fair revealed the performer by projecting his identity on the wall of the gym in the recreation center.
The announcement followed a week of teaser mashups, which featured songs by potential performers and were posted on the Spring Fair Facebook page.
Students shared mixed reactions to the artist choices. The last teaser mashup narrowed down the possible performers to Nelly, Chance The Rapper, Young The Giant, Tove Lo and Icona Pop.
Sam Chuisano, a junior who serves on The HOP’s recruitment and retention committee, said she was looking forward to seeing Nelly because she grew up with his music.
“Personally, I really love Nelly,” Chuisano said. “I always listened to hip-hop growing up, so for me it reminds me of good times with my family.”
Michelle Yang, a freshman Spring Fair staff member, said that although Nelly was not her top choice for the Spring Fair concert, she thinks that students will enjoy the show.
“I think it’s going to be a really fun show,” Yang said. “Even if people don’t think of Nelly, they know his songs. Last year’s artist was J. Cole, but I think this year will be more fun because more people know Nelly.”
Kidenekal Getahun, a freshman, said that he was disappointed that his personal favorite artist, Chance the Rapper, will not be performing this year.
“If he came, my life would’ve been complete. Now that Nelly is coming, my life will be about 80 percent complete,” Getahun said.
Kwame Alston, a freshman Student Government Association (SGA) senator, agreed. He said he felt Nelly was not the right choice because he has not been as popular in recent years as he was in the past.
“Nelly just hasn’t been around in a while. I’m excited to see him, but I’m just disappointed it’s not Chance the Rapper,” Alston said.
Although sophomore Sasha Maraj agreed that she would have rather seen Chance the Rapper perform at Spring Fair, she said that she is still looking forward to dressing up for Nelly’s performance.
“I feel like I’m going to wear a ripped-up T-shirt and glow-in-the-dark clothes and be middle school about it,” Maraj said.
For the first time, Spring Fair will also sponsor a second performance during this year’s festivities. New York DJ and producer Sweater Beats will perform at Rams Head, Live! on April 25. This artist’s songs include “Feel Me,” “Cloud City,” “The Limit” and “Anxious,” among others.
Many students said they were unfamiliar with Sweater Beats, whose real name is Antonio Cuna, before the announcement.
“I’ve never heard of him before,” freshman Mia Berman said. “I’m obviously more excited for Nelly to come to campus.”
Freshman David Helfer said that although he also hadn’t heard of Sweater Beats and doesn’t plan on attending that concert, he trusts that Cuna is a solid performer.
“I’ve never heard of this artist before, but I’ve heard that the people that perform at Spring Fair are usually pretty talented, so maybe he’ll be too,” Helfer said.
Hopkins affiliates will be able to buy $18 tickets for Nelly’s performance starting March 2. Remaining tickets will then be sold to the public for $25 starting March 30.
Tickets for the Sweater Beats performance will go on sale Feb. 20. They will cost $5 for Hopkins affiliates and $15 for the general public.
