Highs and lows

Students stood outside of Alumni Arena in a line as long as an exodus out of Egypt to see this year's Spring Fest Saturday. Amid the cold, wet weather students spread rumors of Jadakiss' withdrawal from the lineup in addition to The Game.

Unfortunately, those rumors were true and their departure left Cassidy, Elephant Man, and Snoop Dogg to entertain an already distraught UB audience.

The enormous UB crowd was bursting at the seams, stuffing most of the Alumni floor and filling much of the upper bleachers. The atmosphere was enthusiastic and energized for the much-anticipated show.

Emcee and UB student Rhyson Hall kicked off Spring Fest as the opening act. Hall performed a 30-minute set with three original songs as well as a DJ set. Hall's style is much like rapper Common, with his smooth rhymes and beats. The crowd didn't seem too into Hall and lost interest quickly into his stage set.

Ooh Wee, the second opening act was not appealing to the audience. The group added nothing to the show. In addition to the fact they were thrown onto the stage without anyone knowing who they were, their music was boring and poorly performed.

Cassidy came out to an excited UB audience, pleasing the crowd with some of his popular titles like "I'm a Hustla" and "Hotel." At times though, it was apparent that Cassidy and his entourage couldn't win the preoccupied crowd's attention.

Between sets, he persistently addressed the UB ladies, detailing the naughty things he'd like to do with them. Out of desire to dazzle the audience Cassidy disrobed, revealing his tempting manly contours and bling that hung down past his belly button. His music wasn't bad, but the sub-par applause after Cassidy's final song made it clear that the crowd was awaiting bigger and better things.

Elephant Man followed Cassidy with his style of reggae that blends with tones of hip-hop. The addition of Elephant Man gave Spring Fest variety within the hip-hop theme.

Elephant Man and crew danced in sync, waving shirts and doing dance moves by flailing their arms and erotically gyrating their pelvises, encouraging the audience to mime them. He picked up where Cassidy left off by spreading energy through the entire floor and pumping liveliness into the bleachers.

The songs normally amounted to thirty seconds apiece and, for some spectators, his Jamaican accent, combined with the inadequate Alumni sound system, made it difficult to understand anything that was said onstage.

Nonetheless, Elephant Man left the stage with exuberant applause, and the crowd was fluffed just right for Snoop Dogg to come give the audience their well-earned climax.

But Elephant Man left the crowd hanging in great anticipation, which the Alumni audience had to endure for over an hour and a half.

Minute after minute, the crowd grew more anxious wondering, "Where is Snoop?"

The long hiatus mixed with dissatisfied fans caused sporadic fights within the increasingly volatile crowd.

Spectator Erin Waite prophesized that Snoop might not even show.

"We're waiting for Snoop-a-loop. I paid good UB tuition for him and if I was Snoop, I'd be embarrassed to be here," she said.

"I thought the most exciting thing was watching the cops arrest people," said Victoria Adams, a freshman pharmacy major.

Finally the lights dimmed down and the crowd gasped in anticipation for the long-awaited appearance of Snoop Dogg. Instead of seeing the pimp daddy of them all, the two large television sets showed Snoop with two of his unclad hoes in a compromising situation.

Yes that's right. There was porn at Spring Fest.

The porn was soft-core and it felt unusual and out of place. After the final scene, Snoop Dogg walked out to the crowd with applause that shook the foundation of Alumni Arena, inspiring hope in many audience members that it was worth the wait and that the Spring Fest disaster would be averted.

Snoop mixed the play list with old and new songs. Opening with "Murder Was The Case," he then roused the crowd with popular titles like "Drop It Like It's Hot," and had more hands waiving than a dictator could get up at a propaganda speech.

Snoop brought a group of female dancers and even a bed into several of the songs, which added a visual element to the performance.

At one point Snoop asked, "Y'all havin' a good time?"

After a mixed response from the audience he said, "That's what we come to do, have a good time with you."

It was difficult for the audience to have a good time with the sound system in Alumni that was fashioned for distinguished speakers and basketball games, not musicians. The music thumped and echoed off the walls making sounds blur and words incomprehensible.

Snoop did manage to grab the audience's undivided attention when he played songs by Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac as a shout-out to his fellow fallen rappers. People went nuts when the familiar beats of B.I.G.'s "Hypnotize" and Pac's "Hail Mary" boomed through Alumni.

But when Snoop played his version of the "Nah, Nah, Nah" song, audience members left in droves. Snoop, obviously distraught, questioned those who were leaving.

"Why y'all leaving? Why y'all leaving?" Snoop asked.

He thereafter gave a special song for those who stayed, and his loyal fans appreciated his efforts.

"It was good but I didn't appreciate the wait and the music was too loud. I think people were leaving because of the wait," said senior Anthonia Bakare.

"It kinda sucked that Snoop showed up late. But he brought it," said Mike Krajewski, a senior pharmacy major.

Alumni's echoing acoustics sounded like they were performed in a cave, police raided the crowd intermittently on drug busts, and "boos" were almost as frequent as cheers. For some fans, Spring Fest was worth the waiting. For others, not even talented artists and stellar performances form Snoop Dogg and Elephant Man could clean up the Spring Fest mess.