Columbia rap fans get ready. CampusMUsick.com will present Ohio’s own Machine Gun Kelly on Friday night at The Blue Note.
This marks CampusMUsick’s second Columbia concert, which will feature performances by local artists Goone, June, GraMattyK and KAM Royal.
“(Machine Gun Kelly’s) live shows are unbelievable,” founder of CampusMUsick Chase Lauer said. “His shows are high energy, completely hyped-up. He has a 45-minute set, and it will be a nonstop party the entire time.”
CampusMUsick began in August after Lauer and his partners started a blog to promote the music of local artists at MU and quickly found a niche in college music around the country.
“We wanted to focus on college music,” Lauer said. “Any kind of music that college kids are into, we feel like that’s what we knew best. That’s the music the people we’re working with are making and that’s the music that we liked, anyway.”
The website has spread quickly among artists nationwide and transformed into something Lauer said he is trying to make a legitimate business.
“Even though we are relatively new, we are still competing with bigger music blogs and have established ourselves as a major presence in the music blog scene,” Lauer said.
GraMattyK, a.k.a. Matthew Smith, is an MU freshman, and this will be his first concert in Columbia.
“I know MGK is gonna throw a pretty large crowd, and everybody is going to come out and support all the local artists and everything, too,” he said. “So, I feel like this is a really good opportunity to get out there and be heard.”
The Bloomington, Ill. native said he grew up with a love for music. GraMattyK and a friend formed a group his freshman year of high school. In 2008, he won a Bloomington talent show in front of a crowd of around 3,000 people.
“That was when we realized that we should probably be more serious about music,” GraMattyK said.
After arriving at MU, GraMattyK heard about campusMUsick through Goone and he has been working with the site ever since.
Goone and Lauer, both recent MU graduates, have known each other for a long time, and Lauer became Goone’s manager in August.
Marc Goone began taking rap seriously after his barber took him into the recording studio for the first time his sophomore year of college.
“(Music) has involved into a full-time job, basically, without a lot of money so far,” Goone said.
Full-time is certainly the right word, as Goone will release his first full-length CD, titled “Grapefruit Starship.” Everyone who attends the concert Friday will receive a free copy.
CampusMUsick held its first concert, a local showcase of artists from MU, in October.
The group decided it would draw larger audiences by combining local artists with a nationally known headliner. Lauer spent the last few months working to get Machine Gun Kelly here.
“He is going to be a huge star,” Lauer said. “So, this is a chance to see him before he really blows up onto the national scene.”
Tickets for the concert Friday are $16 and can be purchased at The Blue Note, the MSA/GPC Box Office or online. The concert is open to ages 18 and older. Doors open at 8:30 p.m.