Kid Ink Headlines Ramapo’s 2016 Spring Concert

By ANDY CHO

MAHWAH, N.J. – Ramapo’s College Programming Board (CPB) announced this year’s performer for their annual Spring Concert on February 24^th.

Hip hop and R&B recording artist, Brian Todd Collins – better known by his stage name Kid Ink – will headline the semester’s concert.

Ramapo sophomore, Pragun Tuladhar expressed his excitement upon hearing the announcement. “I’m very excited to see Kid Ink for this Spring Concert. I’m a huge fan of his songs and his new album came out not too long ago, so I’m looking forward to it,” said Tuladhar.

In the past four years, Ramapo saw performances from B.O.B., We The Kings, Mayday Parade, Big Sean, New Politics, and MKTO. This will mark the third time in those years, where a major hip-hop artist has been selected for the annual show.

Tom Mannion Jr., On-Campus Programmer for the CPB, provided insight on the process of obtaining performers for the college’s spring concerts. “We get a list of artists from our middle agent Adam from Concert Ideas and we go from there. He usually gives us a list of about 15 to 20 artists and [this year] 3 of them were within our budget,” said Mannion Jr.

He continued, “We just had to do extensive research on all the artists to see who we thought would be the best pick for Ramapo, and came to the collective agreement on Kid Ink. After we made our pick, we contacted Adam and told him to reach out to Kid Ink’s agent so a contract could be signed.”

The overall response from the student body was mostly positive, according to Mannion Jr. However, like every year, there were plenty of people who weren’t too fond of the selection.

Artist’s Profile
Signed to RCA Records, Kid Ink quickly rose to fame in 2012, when he released his debut studio album. His second album My Own Lane debuted at third place on the Billboard 200 chart and sold 50,000 copies in the first week.

The rapper is no stranger to commercial success. He has rolled out a handful number of hits with songs like “Be Real”, “Show Me”, “Hotel”, and “I Just Want It All”. He has also been nominated for several musical awards, including “Best Song of the Summer” at last year’s VMAs (MTV Video Music Awards).

The concert will be held on April 2^nd, with tickets priced at $10. They will increase to $15 after spring break.

Additionally, auditions for the opening act will take place on March 7^th, targeted specifically for Ramapo-originated bands.