Busta Rhymes Accepts UC Bid

Busta Rhymes has accepted Harvard’s $40,000 bid to perform at this year’s Springfest, said Undergraduate Council President Matthew W. Mahan ’05 today.

Any contract must still be approved by the College’s administration before it can be officially signed and the bid is only the start of the process of bringing Busta Rhymes to Harvard.

But Mahan is expecting the administration’s approval sometime within the next 10 days.

“I’m pretty confident that the administration is on board with this,” said Mahan. “Springfest has moved away from its focus on the undergraduate community and this is a way to bring the focus back to undergraduates.”

The council—which authorized the Harvard Concert Commission (HCC) to begin negotiations with nine artists at its Feb. 29 meeting—originally had rapper Busta Rhymes as its second choice behind Wyclef Jean.

HCC members learned the bid was accepted last night in an e-mail from HCC Director Justin H. Haan ’05.

Haan, also a Crimson editor, told commission members that Harvard scored a “sweet deal” in terms of the price, which is reportedly set at $40,000 according to Mahan.

In his e-mail, Haan wrote that Harvard will pay $5,000 less than other bidders and $10,000 less than Busta Rhymes’ asking price.

Haan could not be reached for comment today because he is out of the country.

HCC was able to secure this bid for Busta Rhymes, in part, because of funding received from the Office of the President.

Chair of the council’s Campus Life Committee Jack P. McCambridge ’06, who has been involved in the negotiations, said that there are still many more steps before Busta Rhymes is confirmed for Springfest.

He said Associate of Dean of the College Judith H. Kidd, who is ultimately responsible for granting approval of the artist, is on vacation and the contract won’t likely be finalized for a couple of weeks.

“Not only does it have to go through the administration, but also risk management, insurance and general counsel,” said McCambridge.

McCambridge said that he didn’t want to get students’ hopes up in case the negotiations with Busta Rhymes fell through, noting the situation that occurred in May 2002.

In that year, HCC and the council had lined up Wyclef Jean and Jurassic 5 to perform at the Bright Hockey Center. Delays in signing the contract stalled the start of ticket sales and the administration ultimately cancelled the concert because it was concerned that not enough tickets would be sold in time.

—Staff writer Jeffrey C. Aguero can be reached at aguero@fas.harvard.edu.