Campus Life | October 25th, 2024
FAMU’s Homecoming Concert Artist Reveal
By: Tatyanna Mccray
Who will it be?
Homecoming for every college is a time for major celebration, social interactions and mingling. Here at Florida A&M University, although October 3 is the University’s official birthday, we celebrate all month long in true ratter fashion. Last week, the announcement of this year’s homecoming concert headliners was on the University’s birthday, according to the official website of this year’s festivities. However, students noticed SGA was a bit quiet once October 3 came around leading to more anxiousness and questions from the student body surrounding the artist reveal. Drama surrounding artists arriving late, not being officially a part of the lineup and other small matters have also arisen. Will this year’s concert prove to be fun and memorable? Or will it be another concert that leads to meltdowns and unhappy participants? FAMU’s concerts have been held in high regard, having once featured artists such as Lil Baby, Kash Doll, Kali, Trina, Ball Greezy, Lil Wayne, Tallahassee native T-Pain and even the renowned Godfather of Soul James Brown. Some students have given suggestions, and a poll was even created in recent years at one point, but the ending results have left much to be desired.
The big reveal
Some students were happy about the anticipated performances by MC’s Anycia, Glorilla and Veeze; while other students vocalized their disappointment. October 10, 2024, around 8 p.m. this year’s homecoming artists reveal took place at the Will Packer amphitheater. However, the crowd was a mixed bag of reactions. The 2024 artists reveal was also live streamed via the University’s Instagram and students chimed in with one stating “all this waiting just for us to get Desiigner”, while others added “that’s it?” and “I’m not even excited at all”. There has also been an interesting decrease in the costs of tickets, with the price for Fall 2022’s homecoming concert starting around $50+, with last year’s homecoming tickets being around $40 and this year’s being $35. The homecoming budget for this year was projected to be around $75,000, in addition to other costs for homecoming events.
Every year, students across HBCUs hold comparisons of their university’s homecoming concert lineup, and for the past two years, FAMU’s students have been left baffled by the ending results. Students shared that in the coming days of the anticipated reveal they were skeptical as it was initially supposed to take place on October 3 on the University’s anniversary but was later rescheduled last minute.
Elizabeth Ndagire, a second-year psychology major, feels the lineup leaves a lot to be desired, stating, “I’m confused about what we’re paying for.”
Center Stage
Whispers of speculation allegedly lead to a reveal about one of this year’s artists being announced prior to October 10, 2024. According to students, an Instagram post dedicated to one of the artist’s announcements revealed this Memphis rapper would be gracing the stage at the FAMU homecoming concert before the big reveal. While excited about the impending performance, students are still upset that another homecoming concert has seemingly underwhelmed.
“We found out about Glo a while back, a few days before, and it was basically spoiled beforehand,” said Robyn Deals, a first-year political science major.
A tradition of disappointment?
In 2022, there was drama surrounding the line-up and revelations of alleged third parties booking artists for FAMU which resulted in discourse between the student body and Atlanta based rapper Latto. The same concert was headlined by the City Girls who arrived late in true diva fashion and resulted in several detours during the actual concert and surprise performances to keep the crowd at bay. Last year’s concert was also a doozy. According to most there seemed to be a missing link or spark to top things off. Students, alumni and other hopeful celebrators have been left puzzled as the University’s budget is always announced along with major production themes of hosting an amazing homecoming concert, with voting even being an option one year for none of the artists voted on to be chosen. As a result, this has led to a dwindling faith in SGA and their transparency and a lack of faith in their ability to host memorable homecoming concerts. Students have been forced to either begrudgingly attend the concert or decide to attend other HBCU homecomings in hopes of experiencing “The GHOE”. Could it be the stars not aligning with FAMU’s homecoming plans that have led to a travesty of poor homecoming concert turnouts? Or is it an in-house issue with financial restraints? Students as well as alumni are hopeful that one day the highest of seven hills will regain its momentum in unforgettable homecomings and being one of the trendiest of them all.
