The Slope Day Programming Board announced yesterday that Gym Class Heroes — whose guitarist is Disashi Lumumba-Kasongo ’04 — will headline Slope Day 2008 on Friday, May 2. Hot Hot Heat will open for Gym Class Heroes. Gym Class Heroes’ hits have combined hip hop, rock, rap, R&B, emo and funk to create a wildly successful pop formula. Lead singer of Fall Out Boy Patrick Stump guest starred vocally for one of their biggest hits, “Clothes Off!!” In 2007, the band won the Best New Artist award at the MTV Video Music Awards where it was also nominated for Best Group. At the MTV European Music Awards, the band was nominated for Ultimate Urban. The Gym Class Heroes hail from Geneva, N.Y., a just stone’s throw from Ithaca. As Cruel as School Children, which includes “Cupid’s Chokehold,” has been their most successful album of their three releases, and they plan to release a fourth, Music on a CD, later this year.
Hot Hot Heat, from Victoria, British Columbia, is a pop group that released their third album Happiness LTD in Sept. 2007. The groups second CD, Elevator, released in 2005, includes hits “Middle of Nowhere” and “Goodnight Goodnight.”
Past performers for Slope Day include T.I. in 2007, Ben Folds in 2006, Snoop Dog in 2005 and Kanye West and OAR in 2004.
The Slope Day Steering Committee began bringing live entertainment in 2003 with Rusted Root and Fat Joe.
The committee was created “to assess and address the role that alcohol and other drugs played on Slope Day,” according to the Slope Day website.
For video of students responding to the announcement, click here.
Click on the song title’s below to listen to a sample of each band’s music.