2 Chainz has been confirmed as the nighttime headliner for Dillo Day this year, Mayfest announced Tuesday
​evening.

Mayfest and Northwestern Ski Trip teased the name Tauheed Epps, 2 Chainz’ legal name, on the Dillo Day website Monday night.

2 Chainz, a rapper who hails from College Park, Georgia, released his debut solo album, “Based on a T.R.U. Story,” in 2012. He has collaborated with many well-known artists including Kanye West, Nicki Minaj and Jason Derulo.

Michael Bass, Mayfest’s director of concerts, said 2 Chainz’s performance at Lollapalooza, a musical festival in Chicago, solidified his committee’s desire to bring the artist to Dillo Day.

“The energy was just so incredible,” the Communication junior said. “This is something we want for our nighttime headliner. We want the energy to increase throughout the day.”

Although Chance the Rapper has already been announced as the festival’s daytime headliner, Bass said his committee was not focused on specifically having two rappers serve as the main acts for the event.

“We were trying to capitalize on trends,” he said. “Just through our understanding of campus taste – via polls, going to parties, talking to people – it seemed like both these acts just have massive popularity.”

Bass added that even though both confirmed artists are rappers, their styles are different.

“We do think that they have very different styles that complement each other very nicely, so it’s not redundant,” he said.

Mayfest spokeswoman Bri Hightower said the results from the group’s campus-wide survey played an important role in the booking process.

“After analyzing our survey results that we sent out in Winter Quarter, it became very clear that our hip-hop slots are one of the most highly attended slots of the day, so we put extra focus on that,” the Communication senior said.

In conjunction with the announcement of 2 Chainz’s performance, NU Ski Trip announced the dates of the 2014 trip, which will be held Dec. 13-19. Participants will be flying into Denver International Airport. The official location of the trip will be announced in early October.

NU Ski Trip co-president Harris Goodison said the partnership with Mayfest is an opportunity for the group to give back to the NU community.

“It’s really exciting new territory for us,” the Weinberg junior said. “Ski Trip has traditionally been confined to one short period of exposure, and we felt like we had a really great opportunity to give back to Northwestern.”

Mayfest co-chair Xander Shepherd said the partnership is “a two-way street” and will extend into future initiatives.

“We are both really working together to make sure we both get positive outcomes on Dillo Day and then in the future,” the Weinberg senior said. “I think there is good faith that we both have mutual interest in reaching each others communities and doing so in ways that make sense to both organizations.”

Dillo Day is scheduled for May 31.

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