News Brief: Papoose added to SPEC-TRUM concert

Hip-hop artist Papoose will join Juelz Santana to headline the annual SPEC-TRUM spring concert, organizers announced late last week.

The concert will be held downtown at the Theatre of the Living Arts on April 20 at 7:00 p.m. Tickets can be bought either on Locust Walk or through Ticketmaster.

SPEC-TRUM is the branch of the Social Planning and Events Committee that focuses on minority programing.

"These rising hip-hop artists represent the bright future of hip-hop music and the changing landscape and diversity of content present in today's music," SPEC-TRUM co-director and College senior Ahmed Whitt said in a press release.

Papoose has received a number of awards in the underground music community and is known for such recent hits as "Alphabet Slaughter," in which he raps using all letters of the alphabet.

"He's definitely really new and hip," said College freshman Katy Knight, who plans to attend the spring concert. "He's just gained a lot of popularity and he's young, so he definitely appeals to people in our age group."

College freshman Amber Ashley Parker agreed, saying that, although she doesn't follow Papoose like she does other artists, she still sees him as a good choice.

"He started out as an underground rapper, and now he's doing big things with bigger names," she said. "He's getting a lot of respect for what he's doing."

"He's had a lot of underground buzz for the last couple of years and just recently signed with a major label," Whitt said. "A lot of the hip-hop community looks at him as a new voice for the New York area and East Coast area of hip-hop . We feel he has the potential to be really big."

Past SPEC-TRUM spring concerts have brought artists such as Keyshia Cole, Kanye West, Floetry and Penn graduate John Legend.

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