The DePaul Activities Board (DAB) announced during Battle of the Bands that Swae Lee will headline FEST 2024 on May 17. The rapper is most known for his work as Rae Sremmurd with his brother Slim Jxmmi and collaborations with artists like Post Malone, Gucci Mane and Jhené Aiko.
“We wanted to reveal the headliner tonight because we knew Battle of the Bands was going to be grand and have a large attendance,” said Carina Risiglione, senior and co-concert chair of DAB. “We knew this had to be something epic.”
DAB members took the stage at the end of Battle of the Bands on April 24 and encouraged attendees to huddle together for a photo. Just as the picture was about to be taken, the DAB members suddenly froze in place as Rae Sremmurd’s “Black Beatles” began playing over the speakers. This callback to the mannequin challenge, a viral internet trend popular in 2016, was DAB’s way of creatively announcing the FEST headliner.
Clev’anique Edwards, junior and co-concert chair of DAB, came up with the mannequin challenge idea for the artist reveal. Risiglione said they only scripted and rehearsed the challenge for the first time as a group two hours before Battle of the Bands started.
“I think the way we executed the mannequin challenge was more enticing and made the audience more suspicious of who the headliner was going to be,” Risiglione said. “(Swae Lee) is still huge in our generation, especially with an internet challenge like that.”
Risiglione said DAB began finalizing Swae Lee’s FEST performance in February after searching for a rap or hip-hop artist. From there, she researched artists within the desired price point for FEST and with enough monthly listeners to make them a well-known name in the music industry.
She said Swae Lee is a better artist for FEST than previous headliners like Flo Milli and 2Chainz because of his vocal and genre range, collaborations with other artists, and great stage presence.
“I feel relieved that the headliner is finally out,” Risiglione said. “I wasn’t ever nervous about people not liking the artist.”
The student opener at FEST 2024 will be JAY.WES & Goldy and the other opener will be revealed on social media May 1. Students can buy their FEST 2024 tickets on DeHub for $10 and one guest ticket for non-DePaul students for $20.
