Did you guess that this year’s Spring Fling headliner would be Vic Mensa? Then you’re in luck! The Chicago rapper will grace us with his presence on May 11, along with garage rock band The Orwells and North Carolina hip-hop artist Rapsody. The show will open with a Wesleyan musical act, to be determined by the upcoming Battle of the Bands show.
Watch the announcement video, and read more about this year’s Spring Fling acts, after the jump.
Rapsody
You might know Rapsody best from her guest verse on the track “Complexion (A Zulu Love),” arguably the only guest track on Kendrick Lamar’s critically-acclaimed 2015 album, To Pimp a Butterfly. But since 2010, the North Carolina rapper has also been hard at work releasing four mixtapes, one studio album, and three EPs, including last year’s excellent Crown. An intricate lyricist and a talented storyteller, Rapsody is quite a name to get as this year’s Act 1, and her sun-soaked music is sure to be the perfect backdrop for a bright day on Foss.
The Orwells
The Orwells are five dudes from Elmhurst, IL, who play old-school garage rock revival for you to jam to. Their third album, Terrible Human Beings, dropped in February, and features Lennon/McCartney melodies mixed in a blender with grunge distortion, PBR, and a bad attitude. These aren’t your typical soft-spoken indie boys or glammed-up rockers, which makes them an interesting departure from Spring Fling’s usual guitar-centric acts. (Like BØRNS, for instance.)
Vic Mensa
Known primarily for his work with fellow Chicago artists Kanye West and Chance the Rapper, Vic Mensa is quickly making a name for himself as one of the latest and greatest musicians out of the Windy City. Fairly early in his career, he performed “Clint Eastwood” onstage with Damon Albarn as part of Gorillaz, and last year he debuted one of the tracks off his latest EP, There’s Alot Going On, at the Yeezy Season 3 fashion show at Madison Square Garden. Of his rapping style, he says he loves “cramming syllables into lines with obvious glee,” and you can hear that everywhere from his Chicago house-inspired first single “Down On My Luck,” to the exorcising “There’s Alot Going On.”