Rapper Yung Gravy to perform at Miami University’s Millett Hall
On March 30, Miami University students were buzzing over an Instagram post published by Miami Activities and Programming, which announced popular musician Yung Gravy would be coming May 5 to Oxford.
Before online tickets went live at 8 a.m. on April 3, some students felt the post was an early April Fools Day joke. But it wasn’t.
Sophomore Miami University student Meredith Perkins said she couldn’t believe it at first.
“My friend told me about it, and I thought she was messing with me because I hadn’t seen the post,” Perkins said. “And I’m like, ‘Why? What would he be doing at Oxford?’”
An unconventional performer, Yung Gravy’s modern-day rap music takes influence from songs of years past.
On his breakout 2016 hit “Mr. Clean,” Gravy samples the popular 1954 release “Mr. Sandman” by The Chordettes. The song “Gravy Train” samples the 1976 disco track “Right Back Where We Started From” by Maxine Nightingale.
“He’s a rapper who doesn’t take himself too seriously and is really, very playful,” Perkins said. “He’s very funny and very clever with his lyrics.”
Gravy’s process may seem unorthodox, but the results speak for themselves. Currently, he generates more than seven million listeners a month on Spotify.
According to the Recording Industry Association of America, he owns three platinum singles, which have sold 1 million units or more, alongside four gold singles, selling at least 500,000.
He’s also performed on some of the biggest stages.
In August 2022, Gravy performed at the MTV Video Music Awards. Later that year, he performed before the kickoff of the Thanksgiving Day NFL game between the Minnesota Vikings and New England Patriots.
In February 2023, Gravy performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
He’s also no stranger to performing at smaller Mid-American Conference venues, either. Gravy has performed at Kent State, Buffalo and Akron in 2022. He also performed near Bowling Green University in March 2023.
Ellie Minick, MAP’s Director of Arts and Entertainment, said MAP had expressed interest in hosting its first concert in five years. Its location would be Millett Hall.
In November 2022, MAP began weighing its options.
“I was so excited when the initial concert idea was brought up,” Minick said. “If you’re like a four-year undergrad, they’ve never been here for something like this. This scale is something a lot of us haven’t experienced or thought of planning before.”
By the time January rolled around the group narrowed down a list of musicians and decided on Yung Gravy. The selection was kept private between a select group of MAP personnel, to not disrupt any contract negotiations on either side.
“We really wanted to just have somebody that people think it’d be a really fun concert,” Minick said. “We’re hoping people just want to go because it’s really special for him to have a concert here.”
MAP’s initial post received more than 1,500 likes and just less than 50 comments from fans who were excited to see a popular performer visit the college town.
“Students had no idea this was going to happen,” Perkins said. “So when it was announced, everyone was texting each other, it really created a buzz on campus.”
After months of planning, Minick was pleased with the reaction.
“Me and my team, we’ve worked so hard on not saying anything, and signing these contracts and sending these emails to work to secure him for Miami,” Minick said. “There’s so much excitement and pride when we posted it because I knew everyone was gonna be excited.”