Hip-hop fans will want to catch tomorrow night’s Wale show: it’s the only hip-hop act that University Union is bringing to campus this semester.

UU is bringing D.C.-based hip-hop artist Wale, along with supporting acts UCB Go-Go Band, Colin Munroe and J. Cole, to the Schine Underground tomorrow at 8 p.m. as part of its Bandersnatch Music Series.

Mostly known as an underground artist from Washington, D.C., Wale is slowly catching attention in the hip-hop scene.

His last two mixtapes created a lot of buzz with ‘100 Miles & Running,’ featuring remixes of songs by Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen, and ‘The Mixtape About Nothing,’ where his lyrics centered on scenes and lines from ‘Seinfeld.’

‘I’ve never heard another rapper from D.C. He’s not West Coast, East Coast or Southern rap. He’s got a new sound,’ said Godfrey Henry, a freshman biology major, and an avid Wale fan. ‘He’s not the average rapper talking about guns, drugs, money, sex – it’s more of giving back to his community. You can actually hear D.C. in his music.’

Wale is signed with Interscope Records and his first LP, produced by Mark Ronson and rumored to feature Kanye West, is scheduled to come out this summer. He is also releasing another mixtape, named ‘Back to the Feature,’ this April. 9th Wonder produced the beats.

Though both students and representatives from the group said they were pleased with this artist choice, many wish that UU were bringing more hip-hop acts to campus in addition to Wale.

‘University Union are a bunch of idiots,’ said Keith Nelson, Jr., a junior English and textual studies major. ‘Traditionally, Juice Jam was mostly rock and one hip-hop artists and Block Party was the opposite. It was a balance. Everyone was happy… then (UU) decides to scrap hip-hop and R&B all together… it just makes us think that Syracuse really is disconnected from the people.’

In the past semester, however, UU’s budget has been cut down significantly. For Block Party, most of the artists that students preferred were either too expensive for UU’s budget or were not touring this spring.

‘We only got funding for one show and that’s the first time it’s happened. It was a surprise. We made the best out of this opportunity as we could. We hope that students understand. We want to listen to what students want and who they want to see,’ said Andrew Friedman, co-president of Bandersnatch and a television, radio and film major.

Bandersnatch was only allowed to present one artist this semester because of budget cuts. For the small budget they were given, however, having Wale perform Wednesday night is a great opportunity.

Though Wale is the only hip-hop act coming to campus this semester, Bandersnatch representatives say they made the right choice.

‘We were going to stay away from hip-hop because we’ve done it so many times but Wale has a big fan base in Syracuse and his album is scheduled to drop in June. We saw the opportunity to bring him here and maybe someday he will come back to Syracuse again and perform,’ said Trevor Elwell, a sophomore in the Bandier Program and co-president of Bandersnatch.

Tickets are still available for the show but there are only around 100 tickets left at the box office, said Elwell.

‘We believe he’s an incredible artist and he’s got talent as a musician and as a lyricist and that’s what we wanted. I think he’s the next big thing in the music industry,’ Friedman said.

vho@syr.edu

Published on March 31, 2009 at 12:00 pm