Grammy-nominated hip-hop duo Rae Sremmurd and rapper Marqus Clae became Keene State Owls for a night during the revival of the annual Spring Concert.
The concert was hosted by Keene State’s Social Activities Council (SAC) on Saturday, April 22 in the Spaulding Gymnasium.
Clae, a rapper and hip-hop artist from Houston, Texas, opened the performance with his songs “Thank You Jesus,” “Kendrick, Clae, and Cole,” and “MAMA USED TO SAY.”
Rae Sremmurd consists of brothers Swae Lee and Slim Jxmmi, who performed chart-topping songs such as “Black Beatles,” “Come G e t Her,” and “This Could Be Us.”
Additionally, Swae Lee performed songs that he was featured on such as “Sunflower” with Post Malone and “Unforgettable” with French Montana.
SAC publicity coordinator Ashleigh Moroni said that Rae Sremmurd fit what the committee was looking for in terms of delivering positive energy to the campus. “Rae Sremmurd has a really bright vibe… t’s very upbeat.. I think that our campus really needs an upbeat vibe,” Moroni said. “I think overall, everybody sharing this experience together, the hype of the concert, the hype of who they are as performers and everything is going to bring that life back and sustain it on campus throughout the end of the semester.”
Similarly, Moroni said Clae was able to showcase “someone that matches the vibe… we were telling people it might not be someone you know, but just know their vibe is going to match Rae’s; it’s going to fit really well.”
Regarding Clae, Moroni added, “We listened to some of the music and we were like… this is going to totally fit the show and we tried to find someone that would be able to start building that hype in the crowd.” Junior Annie Richards and senior Colby Clough attended the concert in the front row and said the event was highly anticipated.
“I [was] very excited; it’s cool as I’ve been to a couple concerts before but I’ve never been up front,” Richards said.
“I [was] excited; I’ve never been to a real concert before… [hip-hop and rap] are not my usual genre,” Clough said.
Moroni was excited to bring a beloved KSC tradition back to campus and give this opportunity to the students.
“We haven’t had something this big on campus in so long,” Moroni said. “I [was] really excited to be able to bring something like this back to campus… I want to see campus alive again and I really think a concert will do that.”
Moroni said that the return of the Spring Concert brought energy back to campus that was seen more prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Last year, the seniors that we had on our [SAC] e-board were like, ‘You have never experienced Keene pre-COVID’… We would have never known what this campus was,” Moroni said. “Our goal is to bring it back up to that level so that everyone incoming sees and only ever remembers campus to be alive and full of energy.”
Moroni added, “We’re leaving behind this ‘Keene can’t do anything since COVID.’ No, Keene is back and better than ever and that’s what the campus needs and what SAC wants to do for the campus right now.”
Nicole Dumont can be contacted at
ndumont@kscequinox.com
