Rappers Lil Yachty and G Herbo will perform at the Liacouras Center on April 21 for Owlchella, Temple University’s annual concert.
The event, presented and organized by Temple University Main Campus Program Board, comes after last year’s performance which featured Jack Harlow and Swae Lee, and marked the concert’s return after a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19.
“I think this will be the first year where we have like, legitimate and like real ‘rapper’ rappers,” said Camillia Benjamin, a junior public relations major and the director of live entertainment for MCPB. “Lil Yachty hasn’t put out a rap album. His last album was alternative. So hopefully that will help bring out a different crowd as well.”
MCPB has worked with an agent representative to reach out to artists for Owlchella 2023 since July. The group tries to hold the event on April 21 yearly, which coincides with Coachella, the famous music and arts festival held in Indio, California.
“So it’s like, you want to try to find someone that’s not going to be at Coachella, because when it comes to a college or Coachella, they’re gonna go to Coachella,” Benjamin said. “So we essentially just kind of went through a list of names, trying to get prices, availability, and it just ended up being Lil Yachty and G Herbo.”
Benjamin said that the two artists matched what MCPB thought students would like the most and fit the available budget.
Macy Galante, a senior psychology major, who was a big fan of Lil Yachty in high school, is looking forward to the environment in the Liacouras Center after hearing good things about Jack Harlow’s 2022 performance.
“I’m not a ginormous Lil Yachty stan, but like, why wouldn’t you want to go see Lil Yachty for 25 bucks, you know?” Galante said.
The event is paid for with the General Activity Fees fund, which all Temple students contribute towards by paying their semester University Services Fee.
Communication with the artist is not always direct, and most of the negotiation is solidified through various people like the artist’s manager and legal team, Benjamin said.
Once the organization finds an artist with the help of their representative, they send them an official offer. If the artist accepts, contracts are negotiated, MCPB works to confirm the Liacouras Center’s availability and graphics must be approved, Benjamin added.
The flash sale for students launched on March 13 and as of March 31, MCPB has sold 2,000 tickets, with the capacity of the Liacouras Center being between 7,500 and 8,000 people, Benjamin wrote in an email to The Temple News. Last year, MCPB sold 4,700 tickets during the first two weeks of sales.
Galante and other students thought that the promotions leading up to the announcement, which included a word search with multiple artists’ names, should have been more straightforward.
Iriana Pierre, a sophomore psychology major who attended Owlchella to see Harlow last year, won’t be returning to the Liacouras Center for 2023’s show.
“I was underwhelmed because they had names like Lil Baby on there and things like that,” Pierre said about this year’s announcement. “So yeah, when I found out it wasn’t him, I was not interested.”
Grammy Award-winning rapper Lil Baby was on MCPB’s list of potential performers, but he was out of the organization’s budget, Benjamin said. A Boogie wit da Hoodie was also considered, but he is performing at Coachella and was at the Liacouras Center in March for a concert. Lil Durk, who performed at the venue on Feb. 24, was also considered but ruled out for the same reason, she added.
Lil Yachty, who is coming off the release of his fifth studio album, Let’s Start Here, will be performing with a live band at this year’s concert.
“I just hope everyone will just enjoy it,” Benjamin said. “It’ll be a nice little vibe — rap music, a little bit of alternative with Yachty’s new album, so look out and see how that kind of molds and blends together.”
Students are still able to get tickets for the event through the Liacouras Center’s website.
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