With a spring so inconsistently hot and cold comes a band that has consistently in created hits since they won their first Academy Award in 2005.
Three 6 Mafia was the first black musical group to win an Academy award for the song “It’s Hard out here for a Pimp” which was featured in the movie Hustle and Flow. The group is not the first rap group to come to Wabash; however, in recent years Wabash has also brought rap artists Twista and The Roots. Yet, Three 6 Mafia is different not only because of their music; but also because the process to get the band and ticket sales differ from other concerts.
SCAC went through multiple steps and put together various surveys that eventually led to Three 6 Mafia being Wabash’s Spring National Act. SCAC chair Brian David described this process and the work that goes into the final decision.
“We have a list of bands given to us by Coach House and from our agent, and we basically narrow down the selections by finding out what bands will be in the area,” he explained. “Then what we really have to do is select bands that we feel would be a good fit and that are inside the price range. For this concert we were looking for a band between $25,000 and $42,000. We then give a list of bands that are allegedly in that price range. The first survey had twenty bands and the second one had eight, so we cut it down to less than half.”
After not being able to get the top choice, SCAC moved to the band with the second most votes.
“Three 6 Mafia actually came in second to Ludacris in the final survey. Ludacris said no to the contract, so we went with Three 6 Mafia. We offered to do a runoff for Student Senate to create a whole new survey, but they declined, actually, which surprised me a lot.”
The SCAC was then presented with the opportunity of brining in another musical artist along with Three 6 Mafia to have two bands for the Spring National Act.
“We were offered the chance to have Kid Cudi perform with Three 6 Mafia at a very good rate, but with the projected budget already set we could not alter Three 6 Mafia’s contract at all. It would be an extra $30,000, so we took it to Student Senate because we thought it would be a good opportunity, but they declined,” David said.
“We sent out a survey to gauge student Interest, because Purdue was having Kid Cudi perform for $50,000 and so we had got $20,000 cut from that price. I felt it would have been great to get as many bands as we could. I understand the financial rut that we’re in for clubs and everything; so if Student Senate wanted to go forth with it that would have been great but they didn’t want to and that’s fine as well.”
Although Kid Cudi won’t be a part of Wabash’s Spring National Act, David still feels the night will be a success. He commented on the tickets sold so far being just a little less than Lifehouse, but he feels many tickets are yet to be bought.
“We’ve done a lot of more promoting this year than any other year. The thing with Three 6 Mafia is that a lot of people who like the hip-hop genre generally buy tickets on the same day as the concert. It’s a different demographic so that affects the presales.”
David said he is not sure about the amount of tickets sold now because of different factors that play a part with different bands.
“We sort of knew that the presales weren’t going to be as high as they would be for Ben Folds which has a bigger fan group that follows them around. Three 6 Mafia doesn’t have that type of fan group that follows them around everywhere.”
Three 6 Mafia will ultimately create a cheaper option than Ben Folds, being around $6,000 cheaper even after production costs and other aspects.
“We’re going to get roughly around the same amount from ticket sales as Lifehouse. Ben Folds sold maybe around $1,000 more in ticket sales, which really isn’t that much more in the long run.”
The concert will be in Chadwick Court. Director of Student Activities Steven House provided insight on the question of “Why not in the Knowling Fieldhouse?”
“The College administration will not allow us to use the fieldhouse. Too many security issues, doors to monitor, track and playing surface etc. . . . If we ever rolled the dice to have a super group whereas they may even pay for themselves we could explore the opportunity in the fieldhouse.”
House expressed that his expectations for the concert are not about the concert itself, but on the behavior of the students.
“My hope for the concert is to provide a social event that is entertaining to our students and guests with the ‘Gentleman’s Rule’ being respected and carried out. Our kids have been great in the past, and we take great lengths to provide proper security and supervision to provide a safe and wholesome environment.”
“The Gentleman’s Rule will be especially imperative when prospects are on campus and campus is not dry like Honor Scholarship Weekend. It’s a ‘catch 22’ in regards to recruiting and having high schoolers as guests. We want them to realize this is a social campus but since high school kids are not of age, and this is not a “dry” weekend as is Honors, it’s a tough call. Fraternities have parties and such, yet they also do not want to subject themselves to liability issues. Some sport teams will provide tickets for recruits, while it is entirely left up to the guest of the College if they choose to attend or not. I do not think these events are a healthy environment for those not of college age, however; we also do not want prospects to think this is a monastery or prison!” House said.
The concert will take place in Chadwick Court on March 27 and will start at 8:00 p.m. Tickets are available at the bookstore and will be available at the door for $20.
