Minutes after Ludacris finished thrilling a fired-up crowd Saturday with a string of his biggest hits, members of Students on Target took the Groovin’ on the Grounds stage to send the audience off with a message: “Don’t forget to eat right, exercise regularly and act responsibly.”
The reminder of the group’s alcohol- and drug-free agenda was completely incongruous with what students had just seen.
Ludacris acknowledged that he was supposed to keep it clean, but only in defiance of the rule: “I was told not to do any drug reference songs,” the rapper told the crowd. “I’m trying to keep it as clean as possible.”
He then proceeded to perform “Blueberry Yum Yum,” an ode to marijuana featuring lyrics like, “get your lighters, roll that sticky, let’s get higher.” Mid-song, he shouted, “Where my smokers at?” The answer, apparently, was the Parade Ground — the smell of pot wafted through the air throughout the show.
Ludacris was particularly fond of encouraging students to leave Students on Target’s healthy-living message behind. By asking “Where my alcoholics at, LSU?”, he flippantly dismissed the “act responsibly” mantra and gave the night a festive flavor of debauchery.
Thank goodness.
Ludacris is a vulgar, profane artist — and that’s what students love about him. Trying to censor a rapper who boasts “Move Bitch” as one of his biggest hits stifles his artistic persona, and it’s especially nonsensical when he’s performing for college students, many of whom do much worse than smoke and drink.
Students loved Ludacris’ raunchy show, and so did The Daily Reveille. Unlike some of Students on Target’s awful past choices — Shinedown, anyone? — Luda’s raucous rap delivered a perfect party vibe mixed with the junior-high nostalgia of his hits from the early 2000s.
Students on Target should just ditch the anti-intoxication message and give students what they want every year. The organization’s promotion of health and responsibility rained on students’ parade in 2010, when Students on Target wouldn’t book psychedelic act MGMT, who they claimed advocated substance abuse, even though the band garnered the most votes in a student survey regarding prospective headliners.
Even the artists dislike the anti-alcohol stance. When Shinedown performed in 2010, drummer Barry Kerch tweeted a photo of himself and another man drinking from liquor bottles in the PMAC next to a sign that read “alcohol and drug free zone” with the message, “College campuses have become too PC. Really!”
We never thought we’d say this, but we agree with Shinedown.
Students on Target booked a fantastic headliner in Ludacris. They can maintain student satisfaction next year if they drop the pretense of denouncing alcohol and drugs and focus on the one thing students actually want — a good time.
