The Last Day of Classes concert this year will be a no flex zone with the rap duo Rae Sremmurd headlining the concert.
The lineup—which also features indie pop band Saint Motel, rapper Wes Walker and DJ Matoma—was announced via a text messaging service and a video posted to the LDOC Facebook page at 5 p.m. Wednesday. The video was a collaboration between the committee, Duke Student Broadcasting and the student-run digital publication The Standard at Duke.
Seniors Kristin Miller and Holly McLean, LDOC committee co-chairs, said they believe that students will be excited about the lineup and should recognize a few songs from each artist.
“I think there is something for everyone,” McLean said.
The LDOC lineup had last been announced via a text messaging service in 2013. Miller said that the committee wanted to make learning the lineup accessible, noting that K-Ville had used a similar system to call checks during tenting.
“We just wanted another way, so students wouldn’t have to be actively looking for the video,” Miller said.
McLean also noted that the texting listserv will be used in the weeks and days leading up to LDOC to send reminders and updates.
Last year’s LDOC concert included T-Pain, Jeremih, Spencer Bruno—a Duke senior and DJ whose stage name is Spencer Brown—and Misterwives. The announcement last year was met with some controversy as the committee faked the release of the lineup with a dramatic video intended to build student excitement.
This year, the LDOC committee used Babco Entertainment as a middleman to help negotiate deals and give suggestions for artists that had been getting buzz within the industry.
Although this year’s lineup announcement came later in the year, the chairs emphasized that this delay was due to back-and-forth contract negotiation between some of the artists’ managements and Duke.
“Our main reason for waiting until the contracts were really sure was just we didn’t want to announce something and then have something fall through and have to take it back from the student body,” Miller said.
Students noted that they were excited about this year's lineup and the April 27 concert.
“I’ve heard good things about them from other people,” sophomore Luci Bloemendaal said.
“I just listened to Matoma, and I can roll with it. I think the other artists will be hype too,” junior John McDonald said.
Update: This article was updated Wednesday evening to include students' reactions.
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