Playboi Carti will perform at Cornell in March, student organizers announced on Thursday evening, saying they hope the breakout Atlanta rapper will excite students at the annual spring show.
The 21-year-old rapper will perform on March 18 in Barton Hall, with doors opening at 6:30 p.m. and the concert beginning at 7:30. Mike Floss, a rapper from Nashville, Tennessee, will also be performing as a special guest.
Carti has collaborated with A$AP Rocky, Frank Ocean, Father and Lana Del Rey, but is probably best known for his platinum single “Magnolia,” which landed on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 2017 and which Pitchfork predicted would be the “song of the summer” last year.
“I think it’ll be great when ‘Magnolia’ comes on and you see everyone milly rocking.” said Keri Gill ’18, president of the Multicultural Concert Funding Advisory Board, which is co-hosting the event with the Cornell Concert Commission.
In the hit song, Carti raps, “In New York I Milly Rock / hide it in my sock,” referring to the dance made famous by Brooklyn rapper 2 Milly.
“That’s a moment that will bring Cornell together,” Gill said.
Carti’s most recent release dropped on Wednesday, a new track with Lil Uzi Vert called “Bankroll.”
Playboi Carti, whose real name is Jordan Carter, is the third rapper in a row from Atlanta to be hosted by MCFAB and the concert commission in three years. In 2016, Young Thug performed at Cornell for the spring concert, and Gucci Mane performed last year.
“We knew we wanted to do a hip-hop show and we wanted an exciting young artist who would bring an exciting show to campus,” said Sean King ’19, executive director of the concert commission.
He said that the Cornell Concert Commission and MCFAB have “a great history of collaborating” for the spring concert, which always features a hip-hop artist.
Gill and King said they began with a larger list of names and narrowed it down to 10 before looking at various performers’ availability, cost and other factors. They declined to say how much Playboi Carti is charging for the show.
Carti modeled for GQ in May, discussing fashion and telling the magazine that adding “live instruments” would be the next change to his sound.
When Carti made XXL Magazine’s 2017 Freshman Class, he told the magazine that he felt he was chosen because he is “positive” and brings “good energy, good vibes.”
“I feel like I just bring a different sound, a unique sound, my own type of sound,” he said. “I just feel like my music is very for the culture.”
Student tickets will cost $17 and go on sale Feb. 27. Tickets will go on sale for the general public the next day and will cost $22.