Some college students are unsure of who they are voting for in this year’s election, but the crowd at Riverfest on Saturday night said they wanted Soulja Boy to run for president.
“Who are y’all voting for this year?” DeAndre Cortez Way, better known by his stage name Soulja Boy, asked the crowd. In response, festgoers began to chant “Soulja Boy” in unison.
The rapper, whose
Soulja Boy was the final act to perform during the fest, which was presented by S.W.I.M. Team, but there were several acts before
Saturday’s Riverfest was sponsored by the same group who held Indiefest in 2015 and took place in a River Gate Apartments parking lot.
Beginning at 2 p.m., Jarman “DJ Smit” Smith played for a crowd of three, excluding the event staff. Smith, a senior studying
“I expected more people to show up (for my performance), but there will probably be people by Soulja Boy,” Smith said.
Smith was asked to play the event by Mike Carson, who is the owner of local Athen’s hot dog vendor Mike’s Dog Shack. Carson, a 2001 OU graduate, planned for the event a year in advance with Aaron Thomas, who is a 2007 graduate.
“We wanted to bring something different to the area, but also give people the opportunity … to go somewhere safe and near campus,” Carson said.
Those admitted to the venue could purchase food and drinks from several food trucks, including Ali Baba’s, Mike’s Dog Shack and Burrito Buggy. Jackie O’s Pub and Brewery offered alcoholic beverages to festgoers over 21.
Throughout the afternoon and into the early evening, some people flowed in the venue out of curiosity.
“We heard music and thought it would be a good idea (to come to the concert),” Colin Echard, a junior studying biological sciences — pre-professional, said. “I’m so pumped I can’t even stand it.”
Other performers were excited to see the fest’s celebrity headliner.
“I’m like, so pumped. I want him to sign my forehead,” Romeo Beatty, an 11-year-old who performed under his rapper name, “
By 6:30 p.m., a crowd of about fifty people had filed into the parking lot and assembled in the pit below the stage, on which local student band Clubhouse was performing. The
Soulja Boy was scheduled to go on after Clubhouse finished its set at 7 p.m., but the rapper arrived an hour late. The crowd waited on Soulja Boy while Xclusive and
Once Soulja Boy arrived, he ran up the stairs to the stage and immediately began rapping. Festgoers, who now covered half of the parking lot and lined the railway of the complex’s catwalk, took out their phones to film the mid-2000s icon’s performance.
Crowd favorites included songs featured on the artist’s most played songs on Spotify , including “Kiss Me Thru the Phone,” "Pretty Boy Swag” and “Crank That (Soulja Boy).”
Soulja Boy frequently interacted with the audience, taking several videos with them for his Snapchat and borrowing a festgoer’s sunglasses complete with “Soulja Boy” written in white ink on the lenses.
“I’ve had
