Posted Monday, Feb. 14, 12:40 p.m.
Rapper Lloyd Banks is bringing his tales of street hustling to GW’s largely middle- and upper-class population.
The rapper, a prot?g? of 50 Cent who released his own album last year, is slated to headline the Program Board’s annual Spring Fling on April 9, according to his Web site and an official at his management company.
Program Board Chair Eric Wiegand would not confirm booking Banks, saying he can’t talk about acts until they are signed.
“Nothing’s been signed yet,” he said.
Program Board typically gets rap acts to headline its annual spring concert in University Yard, Wiegand said, and looks for alternative bands and singer/songwriters for Fall Fest.
Last year’s concert featured Kanye West, who won best rap album and best rap song at Sunday’s Grammy Awards. Other past Spring Fling acts include Jurassic 5 and the Roots.
One rapper who won’t be coming to GW is 50 Cent, whose Web site is mistakenly listing GW as one of his upcoming tour stops. An official at Violator Management, which represents 50 Cent and Banks among others, said 50 Cent’s site is showing Banks’s tour dates.
“(50 Cent’s) Web site is completely messed up,” said the official, who did not want to give his name until the company resolved the site errors.
50 Cent’s site (50Cent.com) was showing GW as a tour stop as of 12:30 p.m. Monday. Banks’s site said he is coming to GW on April 9.
Banks entered the mainstream rap world in 2003, as a member of 50 Cent’s G Unit. The rapper’s first solo album, “The Hunger For More,” hit number one on the Billboard charts when it debuted in summer 2004.