CSUN’s biggest concert of the year, Big Show, returned to campus this weekend with American rapper and singer Swae Lee as the headliner. The annual event, hosted by CSUN Associated Students (AS), was held on the Library Lawn and brought students, alumni and guests together.
Swae Lee first reached his global stardom back in 2016 alongside his brother in their rap duo, Rae Sremmurd, with their most notable songs being “Black Beatles,” “This Could Be Us,” “Come Get Her” and “No Type.” After keeping fans entertained while performing these songs, Swae Lee caught the crowd’s attention with the “Mannequin Challenge,” a 2016 trend where people freeze and remain completely still when they hear “Black Beatles” play.
Many attendees expressed their excitement about attending Big Show, especially Diego Espinosa, a freshman music composition/commercial and media writing major.
“What excites me about being here is like de-stressing after midterms,” Espinosa said.
Organized for the last two decades, Big Show brings live music and entertainment to campus. James Forrester, AS programs manager, explained how the event used to be by the bookstore lawn and has now “grown from a small collection” to what people see today. The event now holds thousands of people, vendors, big headliners and various activities to look forward to.
CSUN Vice President of Student Affairs William Watkins was around when previous CSUN President, Jolene Koester, wanted to create a large event for students. Working with AS, Watkins played a part in making Big Show happen.
“Our students didn’t have anything that they were able to do on our campus where they could gather in very large numbers,” Watkins said. “That’s been what Big Show has been all about, creating community and having an opportunity for students to be exposed to entertainment.”
Having a major artist to headline the event is a long process. Forrester said how the team shared its budget with agencies, which sent back a list of 250 names. His team, the AS Productions team of students, reviewed it. The team also looks at their survey data collected at Big Show, which is based on who students want for the event, to narrow down the list.
“Once we have about five people, we run that list through the police department, background checks, make sure that everything is good with the artist on that end,” Forrester said. “Once we have a good list, we make the final decision. We reach out and begin negotiations, and ultimately start the contracting process.”
The process of contracting and booking an artist takes about two months, but Forrester said the effort pays off when everyone likes the artist and students have a great time.
Prior to Swae Lee’s appearance on stage, attendees were able to engage with activities such as cornhole, a bouncy house, a flower crown-making station, airbrush tattoos and photo booths, as well as booths from Matador Athletics and End Overdose. On-site vendors included Cali Craft Cocktails serving up free mocktails, Poppi giving out free cans of their prebiotic soda, Raising Cane’s giving attendees a chance to spin the wheel and win a free prize, FryDay selling loaded fries, fruity ice cream from CreamyBoys and Pepsi.
Swae Lee also performed some of his popular solo songs, such as “Unforgettable” with French Montana and fired up the crowd by tossing a bouquet of sunflowers during his performance of “Sunflower,” another solo song with Post Malone. Taylor Brooks, a sophomore political science major, said she not only loved that part of his performance, but also how inspiring Swae Lee was when it came to school.
“You have artists like Swae saying be smart and the smartest thing is keep getting your degrees,” Brooks said. “I think it kind of encourages us to keep going to school.”
For information about upcoming events hosted by AS, visit their calendar.
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