Baby, don’t worry.
British hip-hop artist Jay Sean plans to perform at the Last Day of Classes celebration April 28, his day-to-day manager Thara Natalie confirmed Monday.
“More than anything, Jay is just really happy to get out to the colleges and meet his fans and see everyone up close,” Natalie said. “That’s why he’s really excited to do the colleges, to meet the older crowd, not just his teeny-bopper fans.”
LDOC Committee co-Chair Christie Falco, a senior, said a contract with Jay Sean has not been signed, but she confirmed that the committee has spoken with him.
Falco said she expects a contract to be finalized “soon” and to announce an LDOC lineup by Friday.
“No contracts have been signed with Jay Sean, so he is not coming to LDOC at this point,” Falco said.
Duke University Union President Zach Perret, a senior and member of the LDOC Oversight Board, said there are currently no binding contracts to ensure that any artists will perform at LDOC.
Although he could not comment on the specifics of LDOC artist recruiting, Perret said DUU generally contacts agents of available artists and submits a formal offer. Perret said that if the artist accepts the offer, it is usually a verbal commitment to perform, not a legally binding contract. Duke will then send the artist a contract to sign, and the returned contract is binding, Perret said.
“We don’t release [performer information] until we have a contract because it’s not finalized,” Perret said. “The issue is, we don’t want another Lupe [Fiasco] thing.”
Hip-hop artist Lupe Fiasco backed out of his signed LDOC contract in 2008 to tour with rapper Kanye West.
Perret added that DUU will sponsor Cameron Rocks, a concert in Cameron Indoor Stadium, April 1. He said the partial concert lineup should be confirmed this week, and the full lineup will be announced in two weeks.
“I can confirm that it’s happening and that it’s going to be awesome, but I can’t tell you who it is yet,” Perret said.
Natalie and Falco declined to say how much Jay Sean would receive for his LDOC performance.
LDOC will operate on a smaller budget this year. Last year’s LDOC committee overspent its budget by $17,000 and had to borrow money to cover the shortfall. The committee has since repaid its loans in full, and at its Dec. 1 meeting, DUU approved a $5,000 optional loan to lessen the impact of the repayment on the committee’s budget.
Perret said the budget is not yet finalized, and Falco declined to comment.
“The budget is about the same [as last year], give or take about $10,000... but keep in mind that last year’s LDOC was in debt,” Perret said. “That said, the quality of LDOC shouldn’t suffer this year. I’m confident that this year’s LDOC will be as good if not better than last year’s.”
LDOC 2008 cost about $130,000 and LDOC 2009 cost approximately $142,000, according to Chronicle calculations.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.