The month of April means springtime, tax season, and 4/20 to some, but at Indiana University the month of April signifies our most favorite time of year… the LITTLE 500! For those of you unfamiliar with this notorious event, the Little 500 is an annual bicycle race modeled after the Indy 500. But more importantly, it is the # 1 college party weekend in the nation. Although the actual race takes place on the weekend, the students celebrate Little 5 all week long. IU students, along with the hundreds of other college students that migrate to Bloomington this week, come together to take part in the raging festivities. There are house parties, dance parties, frat parties, day parties, but the best part of Little 5 (for me at least) are the concerts. In previous years, artists like Wale, Fat Man Scoop, Feist, DMX, Ludacris, Young Jeezy, have all come to IU to help get the party started. This year’s line-up included The Flaming Lips, LMFAO, Mike Posner, Kelly James and Tha Doggfather of rap himself, Snoop Dogg.
On Friday April 23, at the Zeta Beta Tau and Sigma Alpha Mu parking lot, the crowd waited impatiently to see the one and only, S-N-Double O-P D-O-Double G. The threat of thunderstorms and weeklong hangovers did nothing to stop the hundreds of people who came out to see the show. Sponsored by ZBT, Sammy, All Around Entertainment and Blue Ocean Live, the show kicked off at 6 P.M. with opening acts Sam Adams and Jeremih. By the time I walked across campus to the Jordan extension, pushed my way through security and found my way to the VIP section it was already 8 P.M. I waited around for at least another hour and I could tell that the crowd was starting to get a little nervous. According to B-town policy, the noise ordinance requires all outdoor public events to be shut down by 10 o’clock. For those of you went to DMX two years ago, we all know that 10 P.M. really means 10 P.M. and getting mased really puts a damper on things.
But anyways, a little after 9 o’clock, Snoop hit the stage opening with “Next Episode” and the crowd went wild. With a mix of old school classics and new school hits, Snoop rocked the stage with tracks like “Nothin’ But A G Thang”, “P.I.M.P.”, “2 of Amerikas Most Wanted”, “Gangsta Luv”, “Sexual Seducation”, “I Wanna Love You”, “That’s That S**t”, “Let’s Get Blown” and my favorite, “Gin & Juice”. With left over party favors from 4/20 filling the air, along with Snoop pausing for the occasional “smoke break”, everybody was groovin’ and having a good time. Towards the end of the show, Snoop hit us with “I Wanna Rock”, a track off his new album, Malice N’ Wonderland and then left the crowd with a few words of Doggie wisdom…”brush your teeth, thank god, and smoke some weed.”
As the show ended, the crowd slowly dispersed, I pushed my way through the drunken masses and walked all the way back home with “Gin & Juice” stuck in my head. Following in the words of wisdom laid down by the father of rap, when got home I brushed my teeth, thanked god, and laid back (with my mind on my money and my money on my mind).