At 4 p.m. last Friday afternoon, students had already lined up in front of the Ralph O’Conner Recreation Center in anticipation of the concert headlining Lupe Fiasco that was to begin a full three hours later.
The highly anticipated event, put together by manager Ryan Kahn and the HOP organization, took place inside of the gym instead of the practice field, where most of Hopkins’ big acts have performed over the past few years.
Guard rails were brought into the facility, blocking off the track as a sort of VIP section with its own bouncer (for members of the HOP, their friends, press, and persons with special needs).
The stage was located on the right side of the gym, with the squash courts doubling as massive dressing rooms.
A local production company—Charm City Crew—set up the stage, sound, and equipment, creating an isolated island in the middle of the gym surrounded by guardrails in addition to a cocoon of tech-support, which was to be ignored all night.
The avid fans that showed up early lined up in front, hands draped over the barrier that separated the stage from the crowd.
Meanwhile, students who were slightly less invested in the performance hung around the periphery of the crowd, dancing in groups and taking pictures.
By the time the opening performer, Big Sean, hit the stage the crowd had formed a tight circle around the front of the stage.
While Big Sean is a recognized contender in the music industry, not many students appeared to follow his music or have an interest in his style, as no one sang along.
He approached his performance the way one might think 50 Cent would, raw with a lot of swag, taking off his shirt and swinging it around aggressively, stepping around as if he was prepping for a fight.
Unfortunately for him, the crowd did not respond well to this and chose to create their own alternative fun.
Students kept attempting to crowd surf, resulting into at least two individuals getting kicked out.
After Big Sean’s performance, Lupe’s crew took a rather long time to ready the stage and their performer.
Getting restless, the crowd began to surge (mock-moshing perhaps), shifting the barrier while security desperately struggled to push back against it. Responsible personnel even began to scream at students to get back.
Finally, someone decided that instead of leaving the students to seek alternate entertainment during the lull between performances, it would be a good idea to play some music.
After about 15 minutes, Lupe decided it was time to grace the crowd with his presence, but before he got on stage he decided to tease them a little.
He crouched near the stage, picked up a mic and began to mumble sweet musical nothings into it, beaming as the crowd went wild.
Dressed in all black (cropped pants, t-shirt, leather jacket) and adorned with metallic jewelry, he hopped on stage, the crowd freaking out below him.
Lupe performed one of his newer songs, “I’m Beamin,” right at the beginning. “Hip Hop Saved My Life,” was the first song the crowd seemed to like and they began to participate wholeheartedly, setting pace for a very energetic concert with crowd participation.
Unfortunately, all the running and jumping around on stage seemed to take a toll on Lupe as he stopped midway through “Paris, Tokyo.”
The crowd was disappointed and the performance took on another awkward lull.
Lupe just sat down on the stage, with a look of defeat on his face.
Instead of taking a much needed break, he chose the moment to pull out his iPhone and asked his DJ to hook it up to the mic. Then he asked the crowd if they wanted to hear some “new sh*t.”
Excited for a preview, the crowd screamed back yes.
He shared soundbites of what he’s working on, swaying with passion as he listened to his own music.
Lupe played his most popular song, “Superstar”, putting the performance back on track. He prefaced his hit by saying, "Thank you John Hopkins . . . it’s not me, it’s yall who are the superstars.”
Then he played “Shining Down,” another new, yet laidback song that allowed the crowd to rest their screaming throats for a bit.
“Touch the Sky” was another crowd favorite, though it was lacking without usual collaborator Kanye West.
He also picked a girl out from the front row, senior Nora Ali, and not only dedicated a song out to her, but also threw her his shirt.
During “Kick Push,” Lupe revved up his energy; it was a fun song and the crowd found it very easy to sing along to.
Reluctant to leave the stage, he ended the show with “Daydreamin’”, which was easily the best song of the night, because he put every last ounce of energy into that performance and the crowd gave it right back.
The points at which his performance went sour where whenever he would take a couple minutes to freestyle.
Through his freestyles he presented his opinions on current issues and his battle with Atlantic, claiming the music industry doesn’t believe that a rap-star and a businessman could be the same person.
While it was interesting to see Lupe go off-the-cuff, his freestyling was a little too esoteric to the industry and not half as good as his wholehearted musical performance.
Overall, whether students were fans or not, they went to Friday’s concert for the experience and Lupe Fiasco gave them one.
The gym provided surprisingly good acoustics to complement his performance, though ithe sound was extremely loud. Lupe Fiasco gave the crowd exactly what they wanted: action and entertainment, and the two fed off of each other’s frantic, frenetic energy.
He added a rock n’ roll vibe to his performance, an element one would normally expect at a Good Charlotte concert, blended perfectly with hip-hop.
It was a fun night that set the pace for Young Alumni Weekend, and set some high expectations for what the quality of entertainment the HOP and the University can bring to campus in the year to come.
