Concert Board announced yesterday that the rap group De La Soul will headline the annual Hip-Hop Show on Dec. 9 at 9 p.m. in Dewick/MacPhie. The reggae band One People will serve as the opening act for the event.
"It's going to be a great show," Concert Board advisor Edmund Cabellon said. "It's a nice way to end the semester and get people relaxed before finals."
This is De La Soul's second appearance on campus, as they played Fall Fest in 1997. The group, whose members hail from New York City, formed in 1985 and experienced a jump in popularity since its first visit to Tufts. Their most recent album, Mosaic Thump, is part of a three-disc series titled, Art Official Intelligence. The other two installments are expected to come out next year.
"De La Soul has been getting a lot of playing time on MTV, so hopefully tickets will sell out and everyone will be really pumped," Concert Board co-chair Jennifer Lowe said.
Decisions on which bands play at the annual shows are left entirely up to the 40 to 50 members of Concert Board. Members of the group listen to comments and recommendations from the Tufts community and generate a list of potential bands. The board then votes on which bands to contact.
This year, Concert Board originally attempted to bring Jurassic 5 and Guru to campus, but it turned to De La Soul because the other two had scheduling conflicts. One People was added to the ticket because Concert Board felt a reggae act would complement De La Soul's style. It felt that this genre of music would fit nicely in the Hip-Hop show, as other events during the year do not have a place for a reggae act.
Tickets for the show cost $5 and will go on sale this Monday at 9 a.m. at the information booth in the Campus Center. Students will be required to show their Tufts ID to purchase a ticket and tickets will be limited to one per student. There will be 350 tickets available for the show.
