Big Sean, YG, Luke Christopher and Justine Skye will perform at this year’s Little 500 week concert. The concert will be April 21 at IU ?Auditorium.
Tickets go on sale to the public ?10 a.m. March 12.
Director of Music for Union Board, James Diamond, said the artists provide a mixture of hip-hop and R&B genres.
He said genre was an especially important factor in choosing the lineup.
“The biggest thing first for us was trying to narrow down what genre we want to bring in,” Diamond said.
When conducting a survey of students about the concert in the fall, Diamond said the top genres mentioned were hip-hop and R&B, electronic dance music and electronic music.
“Every year we just try and get who we feel is the highest quality in the genre that we’re looking for,” he said.
According to billboard.com, hip-hop artist Big Sean’s most recent album, “Dark Sky Paradise,” earned the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 chart for the week of March 14. The album was released Feb. 24.
“It’s a really good time to bring Big Sean,” Diamond said.
Up-and-coming rapper YG’s ?debut album, “My Krazy Life,” ?was released on March 18, 2014.
Though Big Sean and YG are mainly hip-hop, Diamond said Christopher provides a blend of hip-hop, R&B and soul genres and Skye performs R&B to align with the student survey from the fall.
Although the Board receives criticism for featuring hip-hop artists several years in a row, Diamond said the student response still overwhelmingly calls for ?hip-hop.
UB Program Adviser Mara Dahlgren said it seems students want a specific genre for the Little 500 concert with other options throughout the year.
“The sound and the appeal are what people want,” she said.
Diamond said the planning for the concert began in November.
Dahlgren said choosing the artist is an involved process, starting with student input.
However, she said, there are limitations.
“Sometimes what they like doesn’t meet what we can provide,” she said. “We get student input, but then we think about how can we fill the Auditorium and bring a person people would like.”
The Board must consider the fees involved in bringing certain artists to offset the cost of student tickets and the venue available, ?Dahlgren said.
“We thought that a hip-hop and R&B show might be best for the venue we’re having it in,” Diamond said.
Dahlgren said it is always impressive to watch the Board plan this concert, and make an idea a reality.
“It was just an idea months ago and, come April, it will become part of the student experience,” she said. “Ten years from now, people will remember an event they went to, and students made that happen.”
Tickets will be available for students 10 a.m. Monday.
Diamond said by retweeting Union Board’s tweet made on Wednesday March 4 about the announcement, students are entered to win two free tickets.
The winners will be ?announced Monday.
