Corbett Sports Arena was filled with students for the Aggie Fest concert on April 16. The concert consisted of A&T alumni, Lawrence “Locke Kaushal” Locke and Jay Gun; Dom Kennedy, and was headlined by Island Def Jam rapper and producer Big K.R.I.T.

Jay Gun, a former A&T student, opened the concert. He performed Fabolous’ “You Be Killin Em,” but provided his own verses. He also had a female counterpart perform some Lauryn Hill songs.

Next on stage was Lawrence “Locke Kaushal” Locke. Kaushal graduated from A&T in May 2010. “Locke is my government last name and Kaushal is Hindi for ‘skillful’ and me and my friends said I needed a entertainment name, so we put those two together,” said Kaushal. He was highly excited about coming back to A&T and performing for the Aggie Fest crowd.  Kaushal’s performance was enhanced with a live band, Beautiful Experience, and he brought a GoGo style of music to the concert since he is from Northern Virginia.

He performed original songs such as “Ninth Inning” from his mixtape, “Drunken Man’s Words.”  

Kaushal expressed that his style of music came from a long line of spoken word when he attended A&T. One night he decided to rap at an open mic at Lounge 2800 in Greensboro, NC. “The crowd gravitated towards it, that’s when I embarked on pursuing rap over spoken word,” said Kaushal. Kaushal added that his music comes from poetic and lyrical influence from artists such as The Roots and Black Thought. Kaushal wants his music to inspire others to be themselves in life. “I want people to take from my music to be yourself and stay true to yourself,” said Kaushal.

After a brief intermission, known rapper Dom Kennedy blessed the stage. The Leimert Park, Los Angeles native was full of energy when he came onto stage and the crowd was raging with energy as well. He performed songs, including “Still Me,” from his mixtapes, “The Original Dom Kennedy” and “From The Westside With Love.”

Coming from Los Angeles, Kennedy feels that the entertainment life in other states are more accepting then in Los Angeles. “People appreciate artists that come and perform for them even when they don’t know who they are,” said Kennedy.

Kennedy kept the crowd hype the entire performance and they recited every word from the various songs he performed.

After another intermission, everyone in Corbett was anxious to see the headliner of the show, Big K.R.I.T.

Students ran to the front of the stage waiting for the southern rapper.

Justin “Big K.R.I.T” Scott is a rapper and producer from Meridian, Mississippi who was featured as one of the 2011 XXL Top 11 Freshmen Rappers for XXL magazine. “K.R.I.T” in his stage name means, King Remembered in Time. He performed many songs from his “Returnof4Eva” mixtape including “Rotation,” “My Sub,” and “Country Sh&t.” The crowd was ecstatic the entire performance, especially when he jumped into the crowd with the students. Big K.R.I.T truly closed the concert with a bang.

After the concert students had mixed feelings toward the show as a whole.

“I really didn’t like the music because it something that I am not used to, and to be honest I did not know half the people who were up on stage so I asked people,” said Ashley Daniels, a sophomore chemical engineering major from New Castle, DE.

On the other hand, many students felt opposite to students uninterested in the music presented in the concert.

“The Aggie Fest concert was amazing, great music and great artists,” said Desiree Branch, a sophomore elementary education major from Raleigh. She added that she couldn’t wait for homecoming and Aggie Fest next year.

For more on the artists in this concert, you can go to www.datpiff.com or www.DopeItsDom.com for music and more.

• Jonathan Veal