Dillon Francis to headline LDOC

Dillon Francis will bring moombahton to Duke as the headliner for this years Last Day of Classes this year.

Labeled by MTV as a 2013 Artist To Watch, Francis has made waves as one of the pioneers of moombahton—a fusion genre of electronic music with elements of reggae. The main stage will also feature country artist Ruby Jane Smith during the day and indie band Youngblood Hawke, Manhattan rapper Skizzy Mars and Duke sophomore Spencer Bruno whose stage name is Spencer Brown.

LDOC is an annual free event sponsored by the Duke University Union LDOC Committee and is open to the entire Duke community, including undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and staff. This year's concert will take place April 23.

The LDOC Committee released a promotional video announcing the lineup. Initially the lineup was slated to be released at the end of the personal checks concert featuring Chance the Rapper, but the personal checks concert was cancelled due to weather and the LDOC lineup was released via Duke Student Broadcasting's Youtube channel.

LDOC committee co-chairs sophomore Evan Reilly and junior Kenny Johnson, hoped to acknowledge student demands and highlight student talent with this year’s lineup.

“LDOC is by the students for the students,” Reilly said. “It’s a great chance to bring artists that students want to campus and really show off Duke’s artists to the rest of campus.”

In addition to a student performing on the main stage this year, there will be a separate stage highlighting student performers sponsored by Small Town Records, Duke's student-run record label. The LDOC committee will host a competition in early April to determine which other student talents will perform.

“Our mission really is to promote appreciation of the arts,” Johnson said. “This year’s LDOC we are trying to highlight talent we do have at Duke that may get hidden under the hustle and bustle.”

In addition to being a Duke student, Spencer Brown is an electronic DJ signed to Avicii’s label.

“This summer looks very promising for him,” said Reilly.

Skizzy Mars is a young emerging artist from Manhattan who already has connections to current Duke students.

“Some of his work has been produced by current Duke students, so that's another cool way to show Duke talent,” Reilly said.

Throughout the day, the committee will sponsor a sustainability initiative aimed to reduce cleanup costs of the event. The committee is inviting student groups and artists to claim and decorate recycling bins to be placed around the West Campus Quadrangle.