The truth is finally (sold) out: Kanye West is coming to campus this weekend – the biggest name in music to do so since, well, we can’t remember when. PLAY sat down with A&O Productions Chairman and Communication senior Peter Kahn to learn more about what went into bringing today’s hottest hip-hop artist to a school full of non-college dropouts.

PLAY: How long have you been involved with A&O Productions?

Peter Kahn: I’d say a little over two years. My roommate sophomore year was involved, so that’s how I got involved. Then I was director of films last year. After that I applied to be chairperson and then I got it.

PLAY: What’s your job description?

PK: In theory, I oversee the function of the executive board. In a perfect world – if everyone could fulfill their designated tasks – I would not have any work at all. But above all my job is administrative. The committees brainstorm who they want to perform, and I just give them my vote of confidence.

PLAY: What did you think when they proposed bringing Kanye West?

PK: It didn’t come as a surprise. We did a survey last year and asked people what type of show they would like. We gave examples of types of concerts, and Kanye came in second by four votes.

PLAY: Who came in first?

PK: The Counting Crows, which I don’t understand because I don’t know anyone who listens to them. But they’re too expensive for us, anyway. Mayfest came really close to bringing him for Dillo Day before The College Dropout blew up. We got in before the buzz about the album got big, so we could still afford him.

PLAY: His coming to campus has been a rumor for awhile – why did this show take so long to be verified?

PK: NU has a policy where we cannot promote until contracts are done. It’s not like that with other schools – you can promote as long as contracts are being worked on. So at another school, we would have been able to put the tickets on sale a while ago. So it’s kind of frustrating. But it’s better than having to refund a lot of tickets when things don’t work out. We do our best to keep things on the down low until we can say something. For this we just let everyone do the reporting.

PLAY: Did you expect people to get there so early for tickets?

PK: I did not expect anyone to camp out. Someone on the exec board e-mailed me and said her friend was leaving Norris and there were people setting up to sleep there. We didn’t think it would sell out the first day. No one has seen a show sell out in one day. But of course, I’m not surprised – he is the No. 1-selling rap artist. He’s had the No. 1 single for eight weeks straight.

PLAY: What’s next?

PK: We have A&O Ball in the spring. It’s good to get people off campus. They usually come out and pay $10 for a good show. But we are still sort of in limbo about funding for that. But shows get put together two months before they’re put on, so we haven’t gotten there yet. We will start brainstorming in the winter. It will be interesting to see who we get. If we hadn’t got Kanye for this I don’t know who we would have had.

PLAY: How do you think the success of the show will effect funding?

PK: Historically, a sellout has never hurt a group, but I don’t know that it will help us either. I think SAFB (Student Activities Finance Board) knows what we do – it’s just a matter of the senate trusting SAFB’s choice to fund us. But I’m confident that at the end of this year we will be in a good position for funding.

PLAY: What are you looking forward to most?

PK: Well, there are a lot of things. There’s a feeling you get when thousands of your classmates are there and enjoying themselves, moving to the same music and you had something to do with it. The feeling is like nothing else. Also, this is the biggest crew we have ever had. I just want to make sure that it runs smoothly and that everyone feels involved and has fun. Usually the first complaint A&O gets is that we bring people that someone doesn’t like. And of course we can’t please everybody, but I think with this show we got it. We got an artist that everyone from every musical background can relate to.

Kanye West will perform at Welsh-Ryan Arena at 7:30 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 13.

– Niema Jordan