The Ying Yang Twins were at The Hump last Friday night, but fans never saw them.
The duo traveled to Starkville and even to the Humphrey Coliseum, but never performed due to an unspecified mix-up, organizers said.
The concert would have marked Mississippi State’s first major hip-hop performance.
Something happened before the show that caused the Ying Yang Twins to cancel the concert, Phi Beta Sigma president Marcus Simon said. Phi Beta Sigma booked the group over the summer.
Simon would not say exactly what happened, citing legal reasons. He said the cancellation was due in at least some part to the promoter of the concert.
“(The Ying Yang Twins) said they’re going to end up suing the promoter and we’re probably going to end up taking legal action, too,” he said.
Simon said the cancellation was not due to the Ying Yang Twins taking the money from ticket sales and leaving, a rumor that had been circulating campus.
All tickets will be refunded with proof of purchase, Simon said. Simon said he did not know how many tickets were sold for the concert.
Simon said fans at the concert were disappointed.
Only a few stayed to hear rap groups from Tupelo and Jackson perform.
Simon said he would like to have the Ying Yang Twins back to Starkville.
“We’re going to see what the future holds, see if we’re in the position to do something like that next semester,” he said.
Kelly Nesbit, the director of Campus Activities Board, which co-sponsored the concert, said she doesn’t know what happened.
She said she hopes it won’t have an effect on future hip-hop acts coming to Starkville.
“I think this happens every once in awhile, and we’ll just have to pick up and go forward from here,” she said.
As far as the concert goes, the acts that did decide to play entertained the few devotees of the Ying Yang Twins in the Twins’ absence. Inside the Hump, it was obvious that the concert drew a slim crowd.
The first few rows of one end of the coliseum filled up, but the rest of the available seats were sparsely populated. The aisles filled with people sportingT-shirts that advertised rap artist Kamikazee’s new CD 2 Broke 2 Ball, which they sold for $10. Various songs from today’s popular hip-hop artists such as LL Cool J, Terror Squad and Ciara boomed from the many speakers on the reasonably small stage.
Around 8:45 p.m. the concert started with two maudlin rap songs by D-Yellin, a hip-hop group from Tupelo. Following D-Yellin was the Jackson-based rap group The Shock. They played a few songs, which at one point were assisted with a scantily clad woman in a hot-pink thong that exposed her butt to the crowd and proceeded to shake it for the duration of the song.
Shortly thereafter, Kamikazee took the stage, urging the audience to support concerts by hip-hop artists such as these so more events and concerts could continue to take place on campus because, “the powers that be” at MSU don’t want events like these to happen again.
After Kamikazee’s performance, many people got on stage, danced and shouted and passed out CDs and T-shirts. Many people left their seats and either went to the concession stands, stood in the lobby or left the concert altogether.
After an hour and 15 minutes of stalling, a man got up on stage and read sheets of paper that stated: “Due to circumstances beyond our control, the Ying Yang Twins will not be performing tonight.” Boos and shouting followed the announcement and everyone left among shouts of “I knew it!” and “This sucks!”
The announcer then told everyone that their money could be refunded by going by the ticket office at Humphrey Coliseum after Sept. 22 and those persons who bought their tickets by credit card would be automatically refunded.