Rapper T-Pain will kick off Syracuse University’s Greek Unity Fest with a concert on April 17 in Goldstein Auditorium.

The event is hosted by the National Pan-Hellenic Council, which is formed by the historically black sororities and fraternities at SU.

‘We wanted to bring someone who touched on different interests across campus,’ said Cassandra Medard, National Pan-Hellenic Council president and a senior bioengineering major.

Tickets for last year’s Greek Unity Fest, which featured rapper Nas, sold out within hours. Other past performers include Juelz Santana, Jadakiss and Styles P.

The process of getting T-Pain to be this year’s featured artist was difficult at first, said Kevin Jean, the council’s community service chair and a junior accounting and entrepreneurship and emerging enterprises major.

After making a formal budget request to the Student Association, the group raised money for the concert through fundraising and alumni donations.

‘We also were thinking about getting Lil’ Wayne to come, but it was too expensive,’ Medard said. ‘But we were still able to get someone who is popular and multifaceted enough to satisfy many interests.’

T-Pain, a Florida native, is memorable for his use of the voice synthesizer in his songs, as well as his collaboration with artists such as Lil’ Wayne, Kanye West and Chris Brown. T-Pain was a part of the ‘I Am Music’ tour with Lil’ Wayne, Keyshia Cole and Gym Class Heroes. He was recently featured in the Saturday Night Live digital short ‘I’m On a Boat’ with comedians Andy Samberg and Akiva Shaffer.

He won a 2008 Grammy Award for the single ‘Good Life’ with Kanye West and has had more than 10 singles on the Billboard Top 100 List. His third studio album, ‘Thr33 Ringz,’ debuted in November at No. 4 on the Billboard Top 200 and at No. 1 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Chart. Later this year, T-Pain and rapper Lil’ Wayne are expected to release ‘T-Wayne,’ a collaborative studio album.

The weekend will include a step show, with an after party by the council’s step team and a barbeque event to close out the weekend. The group will also hold panel discussions and a penny drive in Schine in the week leading up to the event.

‘The concert is a big event, but there are a lot of different aspects to the week,’ Jean said. ‘There will be community service, forums. It’ll just be a giant week of events.’

Concert tickets go on sale at the Schine Box Office Wednesday, for $15 with an SU ID, $17 for staff and faculty, and $20 for general admission. The first two days of sales will be exclusively for SU, then tickets will be available for the general public.

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Published on April 5, 2009 at 12:00 pm