This post has been updated with ticket information.
It’s Gucci!
Atlanta-based rapper Gucci Mane will perform at Cornell’s Barton Hall on March 26, the Multicultural Concert Funding Advisory Board announced on Thursday night.
Students and Cornell staff and faculty members will be able to purchase tickets beginning on March 1, and non-Cornell members can buy tickets the next day. Tickets are now available to purchase from CornellConcerts.com.
The concert is a joint production by MCFAB and the Cornell Concert Commission. MCFAB, part of the ALANA Intercultural Programming Board, aims “to use concerts as a means to create healthy dialogue and eliminate multicultural barriers across campus,” according to the organization’s website.
Kilo Kish, a 26-year-old alternative R&B singer who released her first full-length studio album, Reflections in Real Time, in 2016, will be opening for the East Atlanta star.
MCFAB President Keri Gill ’18 said members of the group’s executive board have been “bursting with excitement” since Gucci Mane confirmed he would be performing at Cornell.
“It was so hard having to keep it a secret because we wanted to tell everybody as soon as we found out!” Gill told The Sun. “We can’t wait for the show.”
Gucci, whose real name is Radric Davis, is known as one of the hardest-working artists in rap, releasing more than 75 mixtapes and albums since 2005.
After completing his prison sentence in May for firearm possession, Gucci has dropped a mixtape — Drop Top Wop — and two albums on Atlantic Records — Everybody Looking and The Return of East Atlanta Santa. The albums included features from hip-hop stars including Drake, Kanye West, Bryson Tiller and Travis Scott.
Will Donnelly ’18, executive director of the Cornell Concert Commission, told The Sun that the commission began with dozens of names proposed by students before narrowing the list down to artists who were financially feasible.
“Every time, somebody puts Beyoncé, and we can’t afford Beyoncé,” he said, laughing.
Gucci Mane was high on the list, Donnelly said, and CCC and MCFAB were able to close the deal. Donnelly declined to say how much Gucci charges for a show.
“We were really happy with how the campus reacted to Young Thug last year,” Donnelly said, referring to the Birdman protégé who also hails from Atlanta. “The students really seemed to want another hip-hop show.”
Gucci told The Bill Simmons Podcast in December that he thinks going to prison made rap fans appreciate his music more. He also told Simmons that he is in a much better mental state since being released and getting engaged to longtime girlfriend Keyshia Ka’oir.
“I think people got a chance to appreciate me … because I was putting out so much music,” he said of his time in prison. “I appreciate my freedom so much. I’m so grateful that people even want to hear my music still and I have a chance to salvage my career.”