B.o.B and Asher Roth welcome students to new school year

Des Letemps

contributing writer

After their first two days of classes, VCU students were welcomed with a free concert. Students entering the Siegel Center on Saturday night were given a complimentary once over with a metal detector, asked to swipe their ID, and then escorted to their assigned seats to await the controversial musical stylings of Asher Roth and chart topping crossover appeal of B.o.B.

Students eagerly trickled in after the doors opened at 7 p.m., anxiously awaiting the co-headliners of the SHOOTiN for Stars tour. The opening act, Playboy Tre, stormed the stage at 8 p.m, much to the surprise of the half-full gym. Tre’s set lasted only twenty minutes, but he managed to bring a down south, gritty edge to the show which eventually won over the crowd.

After a brief interlude, Roth slowly emerged, saying nothing but “Virginia mother-f***ing Commonwealth University” before performing “Lark on My Go Kart” with a wild enthusiasm that propelled him through his 30-minute set.

Some opposed to Roth’s appearance at VCU due to the controversial content of his songs, including alcohol consumption, drug use and casual sex. He acknowledged the controversy, stating “I smoke weed, write raps, and try to change the world.”

Roth performed “Blunt Cruisin’” and wildly flailed his limbs during “Cannon.” In a move that caused pandemonium, he took off his light blue T-shirt and slipped on a VCU MBA T-shirt. He led a chant of “V-C-U,” then ran into the crowd while performing.

He wound down his set by bringing out about a dozen girls on stage, who danced his performance of “She Don’t Wanna Man,” then kicked them off to perform “Be By Myself.”

Roth’s set ended with his hit song “I Love College,” which drove the crowd into a frenzy. Roth bowed out after thanking the crowd for coming.

DJ Rayvon played music between performances from Asher Roth and headliner B.o.B. A drummer on stage started playing a hip-hop beat and stole the attention as the DJ’s music stopped.

B.o.B charged on stage wearing a black T-shirt and vest, Levi’s jeans and a pair of flashy Adidas sneakers and fed the crowd’s energetic cheers. He quickly slowed the pace by performing “Satellites,” one of many songs he performed while playing guitar, a talent that has drawn him comparisons to Andre 3000 from the Atlanta based hip hop group, Outkast.

Things picked up again when he played his ode to ill-wishers, “Haterz Everywhere,” followed by another headbanger, “Bet I Bust,” with Playboy Tre making a short reappearance. Both songs made the heads in the crowd nod as if they were headbanging at a rock concert.

Though it was after 10 p.m., B.o.B asked everyone with shades to put them on. He himself wore a pair of sunglasses with “we run vcu” on the temple while he performed “Shades.” He threw the sunglasses to a lucky fan after the performance.

His verse on “Teach Me How to Dougie (Remix),” which is highly regarded in the hip-hop community, was the last song he performed for the rest of the set without playing a guitar. He strummed away, smoothly singing “Lovlier Than You” to the ladies in the crowd.

“Don’t Let Me Fall” put most of the audience in a trance, swaying side to side, while the rest hung on to the rap verses as B.o.B passionately delivered them. The energy was up and down with the sound of his music sitting on thin lines between genres.

From here on out it was one hit record after another, performing “Nothin’ On You” followed by “Airplanes.” As a “gift,” B.o.B threw a pair of autographed sneakers into the crowd, then joined them while performing the gleeful song “Magic.”

In an unexpected move, B.o.B. closed out his set by covering of MGMT’s “Kids,” which the audience sang along to. “I didn’t even know who B.o.B was until tonight and I’m in love with him!” was Junior Andrianna Nicholas’s reaction to his performance. “I’m going to go buy his CD!”

“I enjoyed the performances [from] Asher Roth and Playboy Tre but B.o.B was phenomenal,” said Christian Dorn, junior. Roth may have outdone B.o.B in sheer energy, but B.o.B’s versatility more readily shone this Saturday night.

Mark Robinson contributed reporting to this article.

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