Swae Lee, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, Rico Nasty and Matoma are set to play the Virtual Music Festival on May 14 and 15 at 8 p.m. EDT, Slope Day Programming Board announced on Facebook.
A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie released Artist 2.0 on February 14, which during the week of its release, rose to Billboard’s number one rap album. The 24-year-old rapper and hip-hop artist established himself among the top trap artists of the 2010s with the release of Hoodie SZN in 2018.
Rapper Swae Lee is most recognizable on the internet famous remix of “Roxanne,” which he produced with Arizona Zervas. Swae Lee is also known for his voice on the track “Sunflower,” which was featured in Spider Man: Into the Spiderverse, and his 2018 album with his brother Slim Jxmmi, SR3MM, released under the duo’s name of Rae Sremmurd.
Rico Nasty is a hardcore rapper best known for pioneering a “sugar trap” style sound. Her most popular song, “Smack a Bitch” has garnered over 40 million plays on Spotify. Rico Nasty released the powerful hit single “Lightning” on March 17. She is featured on 100 gec’s “ringtone.”
Matoma, the only artist on the Virtual Music Festival’s set who is not a rapper, is a Norweigan DJ and producer known for dance tracks “Bruised Not Broken (feat. MNEK & Kiana Ledé)” and “Keep It Simple (feat. Wilder Woods).” On May 6, Matoma released “Let It Go (feat. Anna Clendening),” a track that brings the rave to your bedroom.
SDPB collaborated with Cornell Concert Commission and the Multicultural Concert Advisory Funding board to create the Virtual Music Festival. The organizations spoke to the Sun about next week’s virtual slope days. Ann Li ’20, president of CCC, commented to the Sun: “Despite the circumstances, CCC wanted to follow through with our mission of providing memorable live music for the community.”
“Every year we work so hard to put the festival together, so I am grateful that we are able to host a virtual concert experience and give the Cornell community a fun and safe way to celebrate the end of the academic year,” Alana Udwin ’20, executive director of SDPB, wrote over email. “We hope that everyone will enjoy watching the live streamed shows from the comfort of their homes in order to keep social distancing but encourage students to video chat friends to be able to enjoy it together.”
Emma Plowe is a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences. She currently serves as Arts Editor on The Sun’s board. She can be reached at [email protected].