This year’s Spring Fling Concert will bring the musical acts of three hip-hop artists to the big stage at the University of Hartford. Last Thursday night, students filled the Konover Great Room for the Spring Fling Concert Artist Reveal Party hosted by the Campus Activities Team (CAT). It was revealed that the artists who will be rocking the crowd this year will be Bryce Vine, French Montana and T.I.
While many students may have their complaints, CAT has to work within their budget of not only whom they can afford, but also whether or not the artists are available and if their agents even respond. Also since the University of Hartford is a private university, there are rules and regulations that the artists have to abide to, especially since it is not a typical full-blown concert that the artists might be accustom to performing at.
CAT is in charge of not only putting together the concert, but the entirety of Spring Fling.
“I think the evolution of CAT and trying to make sure the University has great programs, we’re trying to change the environment of Spring Fling,” CAT graduate assistant Emanuel Dillon said. “I do encourage the student body to really be open-minded and take into consideration that Spring Fling is not just the concert.”
Headlining the concert will be rapper T.I., who has had five studio albums reach platinum status as well as two albums that reached gold.
The Recording Industry Association of America gives the label certification of platinum when an album surpasses one million individual sales, and a certification of gold when it surpasses 500,000 sales.
He’s had two No. 1 songs as the lead artist that has reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 charts. He’s also had two additional songs reach the top spot that had him as a featured artist on the track.
French Montana is another rapper who has begun to gain notoriety over the recent years with his only studio album being released in 2013.
The Album peaked at No. 4 on the U.S. charts while notching the top spots on the U.S. R&B and U.S. Rap charts. Worldwide, the album has sold over 200,000 copies.
His highest charted song was Chris Brown’s 2013 hit “Loyal” that features Lil Wayne and Montana. His highest song as a lead artist is “Pop Tart” which features Rick Ross, Drake and Lil Wayne. The song peaked at No. 36, but reached as far as No. 2 on the U.S. R&B and U.S. Rap charts.
The most unknown of the trio is Bryce Vine. The singer/rapper was born in New York City. His highest viewed lead artist song on YouTube is titled “Sour Patch Kids.”
In response to the social media buzz surrounding the artists announcement, Vine took to Twitter to address the criticisms of him being relatively unknown to UHart students.
“I think I have more fun playing for crowds that have no clue who tf [sic] I am,” Vine tweeted out shortly after the announcement.
It's cool that they got French Montana & T.I to open for me 😆 https://t.co/Eo2PjqJtjx
— Bryce Vine (@brycevine) March 4, 2016
CAT has assured that each of the artists have been locked down into contracts and will be present to perform on the Saturday night of Spring Fling weekend.
Last year’s Spring Fling Concert came with a bit of controversy when the scheduled hip-hop group Travis Porter was a no-show. The three-man group was set to headline the concert that also featured fellow hip-hop artists Sage the Gemini and Ace Hood. Travis Porter instead performed that weekend at Streetzfest in Atlanta, Georgia.
The Spring Fling Concert is scheduled to take place Saturday night, April 16. Preceding the concert will be the “Battle of the DJs” featuring DJ Drewski and DJ QuiL. Also opening the concert will be the winner of this year’s “Battle of the Bands.”