A Boogie ‘Swervin’ to URI this April

(Left to right) Students Michele Zabian, Kelly Licul, and Gina Giles sell A Boogie tickets in the Memorial Union. Photo by Kayla Michaud.

Emerging Rap Artist is Set to Perform at The Ryan’s Center this Semester

Artist Julius Dubose, an American rapper, known by the name ‘A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie’ will be coming to the Ryan Center on April 25 thanks to concert curators, Platinum Entertainment.

The concert will be the fourth time this school year that the Ryan Center will host a rap concert, with Lil Baby, Sheck Wes and Rich the Kid having performed this past fall. However, students were disappointed by several aspects of these shows, including the short runtime and late start times of each of these shows.

Despite this, students are hopeful about A Boogie’s turn to take the stage in April.

“I’m excited, he has a couple of bangers in his new album,” Mannan Bhattia, a University of Rhode Island sophomore said. “If you wanna get a taste of his music listen to ‘Swervin.’”

“Swervin’” is a collaboration with fellow rapper 6ix9ine and is from A Boogie’s most recent album “Hoodie Szn” which came out in 2018.

A Boogie got his start all the way back in 2015 when, after graduating from high school, and taking odd jobs here and there, he met fellow rapper Quincy “Qp” Acheampong, and he started their own label, Highbridge the Label.

A Boogie has worked with many high profile members of the rap scene including opening for Drake and Future, and having Kodak Black, 21 Savage and others appear on his 2017 debut album, “The Bigger Artist.”

“I like A Boogie for his pitch variation and his flow,” Bhatti said. Flow, for the uninitiated, is the term for, “The rhyme, rhyme schemes and rhythm (otherwise known as cadence) of a rap,” according to the book “How to Rap” by Paul Edwards.

If a rap flows well it means that it works well with the beat, and other instruments, it doesn’t sound out of time or as if it is clashing with the key.

“In regards to his pitch variation,” said Bhattia, “I like the way he plays with the autotune in such a creative way.”

Freshman Gifty Blo said she liked A Boogie’s music for no particular reason but was excited that he would be performing.

“I don’t know. I don’t really pay attention to his music like that, I don’t know why I like it,” she said, “I guess I just like it because it’s good.”

Tickets are already on sale for the concert and can be purchased through the Ryan Center.