Cypress Hill to headline at Spring Fling

The waiting is finally over. After keeping anxious University students in suspense until almost three weeks before Spring Fling, the Spring Fling Committee and the SPEC Concerts Committee finally announced this year's Fling Band yesterday. And the winner is Cypress Hill, the funky rap group with a distinctly hip-hop style. Fling Committee co-Chairperson and Wharton sophomore Gil Beverly said the decision came after a short list was finalized from the campus-wide questionnaires distributed earlier in the semester. He would not say what other bands were on the short list, but added that the most requested band on the questionnaire was REM, which was "not quite obtainable." Cypress Hill, which is made up of Mixmaster Muggs, B-Real and Sen Dog, has released two albums, both of which have been branded with "parental advisory" stickers for explicit lyrics. Cypress Hill, which was released in 1991, and Black Sunday, which was released last year, contain songs including "Insane in the Brain," "I Wanna Get High," "Legalize It" and "Hits From the Bong." Black Sunday contains 11 reasons to legalize marijuana in its jacket. Still, Kofi McCleary, Fling Committee co-chairperson and a Wharton senior, said students will not be offended by Cypress Hill's lyrics. "They're not your typical band like a 2 Live Crew -- they don't go out to offend," he said. "Cypress Hill has a huge, widespread audience, and that's one reason why we're very pleased with the selection." McCleary added that students should not be worried about the performance being aimed at fans of only one music genre. "Music by its very nature is segmented, so nobody can appeal to everybody," he said. "But some groups, like Cypress Hill, can appeal to a wide range of people." Chairperson of the Concerts Committee chairperson for the Social Planning and Events Committee and Wharton junior Haile Johnston also said there will be "one or two opening acts that will balance the card." The coordinators all said the opening acts have not been chosen yet and will be announced soon. But Beverly said there will be more than 50 musical groups on stage in the Quadrangle during the Fling carnival, about a third of which have record deals or released CDs. The main concert will be taking place in a new venue this year -- the Palestra -- to eliminate the possibility of a cancellation due to weather. Last year's Living Colour concert was cancelled after rain soaked Hill Field all day, making it unsuitable for an evening performance. "We thought we needed a better venue to get a better act and to produce an entirely better show," McCleary said. "The Athletic Depart- ment granted us special permission to use the Palestra this year, for which we are eternally grateful." College sophomore Lucy Laird, who works at Discovery Discs in Houston Hall, said she was not thrilled about Cypress Hill when she saw them in concert. "I saw them [and] I didn't think they were great," she said. "If it were a normal concert I wouldn't see them again, but since it's Fling, I'll go." Laird did say that she likes the band in general. "It's good music -- I like it," she said. "Given the limitations that we have, I think it was probably a pretty good selection." Drexel University junior Scott Boone, also a Discovery Discs employee, said Cypress Hill differs from other rap groups in that it incorporates heavy metal music into its songs. "A lot of people can't get into the lyrics of hard core rap," he said. "It's definitely rap without a doubt, but it has a little edge on it that makes it different." Johnston said Cypress Hill could be Fling's best concert to date. "I think this is without a doubt the highest quality concert Fling has ever had," he said. McCleary said there will be two types of tickets available -- assigned seating tickets in the stands, and general admission seating on the floor, where there will be no seats. Tickets will be $12.50 -- up from $8 last year -- and approximately 6,500 will be available. General admission tickets will go on sale Friday on Locust Walk, and assigned seating tickets will be sold in the Annenberg Ticket Office starting Monday.