Rapper Lupe Fiasco will not be a part of this year's Last Day of Classes celebration, LDOC Committee officials confirmed Monday.
The committee has received verbal confirmations from the Grammy Award-wining hip-hop band the Roots that they will perform at LDOC and from Fiasco that he will perform at Duke in the Fall, said LDOC Committee co-chairs Chamindra Goonewardene and Vincent Ling, both juniors.
A representative from the William Morris Agency also told The Chronicle Monday that the Roots "appear" to be scheduled to come to Duke April 23.
"This is a blessing in disguise," Ling said. "We wouldn't have been able to afford [alternative rock band Third Eye Blind and the Roots] before.... Now, for a really great price, we can get the Roots [for LDOC] and a verbal confirmation that Lupe will come next semester."
Fiasco's agent rescheduled his visit to Duke last week to allow Fiasco to tour with rapper Kanye West during the same time frame as LDOC.
Ling noted that they requested that Fiasco fly to Durham just for the show and then return to the tour, but his agent said it was not possible.
Fiasco's agent, however, presented the LDOC Committee with the Roots, which the committee accepted as a suitable replacement.
"[The agent] was basically like, 'We'll look for an artist for you of similar caliber and similar price,'" Ling said. "At the time we were like, 'Oh no,' because we weren't sure if we can get an artist of the similar caliber for the price we got Lupe. Then she offered the Roots to us, for a very very very good price."
He noted that Fiasco's agent was able to help negotiate for the Roots to come instead because the two artists are both under WMA.
The LDOC Committee spent $100,000 in booking all four artists that will appear April 23, Ling said.
Goonewardene said the committee looked into booking the Roots for LDOC last semester but the band's asking price was out of their budget.
"The Roots are still a ridiculously good band," he said. "They are an amazing live band and cover the demographic Lupe would have catered to. It's a valid replacement."
He explained that in the contract they signed with Fiasco, there is a clause that allows the artist to cancel or reschedule the show 60 days before the performance, therefore the change is not a breach of contract.
"I know some students will be disappointed to hear Lupe isn't coming for LDOC, which is the biggest celebration at Duke," Ling said. "But we should feel lucky that at least he'll be coming in the Fall. It's not required for them to reschedule the show. At least they were courteous enough to offer to reschedule.... The Roots is really better than what we could have expected. It's a really great opportunity."
Ling said the LDOC Committee looked at pursuing other replacement artists from WMA for the celebration and concluded that the Roots were the best option. He added that because of budgetary and time constraints it would have been difficult to start searching for a new artist from scratch.
"We get both Lupe and the Roots," said Duke University Union President Katelynn Donnelly, a senior. "We get the best of both worlds, except for the graduating seniors-maybe [Fiasco] can come for homecoming."
She noted that the funding for Fiasco's Fall show will most likely come from the Union's Major Attractions committee.
Goonewardene added that they are in discussions with Campus Council for further funding.
Joe College Day and Endless Summer are two possible times for the show, Ling said.
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