Top artists take on Panthermonium

Latricia Young/Contributing Writer

Music blasted through the myriad PK speakers at FIU’s Ocean Bank Convocation Center, blue, red, yellow, green lights flashing all around the stadium for this year’s Panthermonium, which took place Sunday, Oct. 28, 2017, at 7:30 p.m.  Thousands of students convened to witness the performances of three of the industry’s top young performers.

Tory Lanez, 21 Savage and Travis Porter were the special hip-hop artists, starting off with Tory Lanez who is a Canadian rapper known for songs like “Controlla” and “Say It.” 21 Savage is an American rapper who is known for songs such as “Bank account” and “X.” The last of these acts, Travis Porter, is an American hip-hop trio. Two of the artists in Travis Porter are stepbrothers, and they are known for songs like “Bring It Back” and “Make It Rain.”

The Homecoming Council provided free t-shirts, glow sticks and 3-D glasses that were handed out to each student as they walked into the center. A Geico vendor at the event handed out prizes such as socks and stress balls, while other such vendors provided small gifts as well. There was a trivia game that gave guests a chance to win small prizes. Some guests walked in dancing, and others walked in screaming or singing.

At around 8 p.m., Travis Porter took to the stage. Engaging with the crowd and stepping down from stage to show love to a few students, the performance was highly-energetic. The group started off with one of their older hits, “Walk Around the Club.”

“Bet you can’t do it like me!” the group belted out.

The students reacted by jumping and singing along. One of the group members hopped off stage and started to run around the fence to give the guests a better engagement.

Around 9:20 p.m., Tory Lanez jumped on stage, bringing the whole building to life. What really had the crowd roaring was the way he jumped in the crowd and the students carried him on shoulders in the air. With his pumped-up performance, the Canadian rapper started to talk to the crowd. He told them to hold their glow sticks up and start to move from side to side. The crowd followed along while singing along to one of his hits, “Anyway.”

Lanez’s performance was the best all night, according to students who attended.

Mara Luiza, a Senior majoring in Psychology, said that she was there for the excitement and also for 21 Savage. She suggested to students, “Turn up; it’s lit.” (“Lit” is a colloquial term for having fun, with no limits).
Between acts, the students cried out for the artists to take to the stage.

From the chants of, “Tory, Tory, Tory, Tory!” to “Savage, Savage, Savage, Savage!” The crowd seemed to grow impatient and eager for each artist to come out on stage.

Not only were the kids receiving free items, the custodians, vendors, and the homecoming staff were taking items as well. Some of the kids and guests thought they had to pay for the items, and the workers thought they couldn’t get any of the items. But the staff was nice enough to engage all in the gifting.

Kristen Miles, a sophomore majoring in communications, said, “As a student I wanted to come to this event. I wish I wasn’t working, and my favorite artist is 21 Savage!”

Stephanie Barr and Taylor Schell, both biology majors, with Barr being a sophomore and Schell being a junior, attended a few homecoming events before. Barr and Schell mentioned that this was the best event thus far, and they were waiting on 21 Savage.

As 10 p.m. hit, the guests started anticipating when the last and final artist would come on stage. All around the room the chanting began again.

“Savage, Savage, Savage, Savage!”

Then there was an interruption in the room, (thud, thud, thud.) A staff member on the Homecoming board had picked up the mic.

“Step Back from the stage, or 21 Savage will not come out. Once again, step back from the stage or he will not come out,” he said.

Five minutes went by and once again he picked up the mic. “Ya’ll ready for 21, I say, are ya’ll ready for 21?”

“Yea, yea 21, 21!” the crowd responded.

All around there were screams. 21 Savage was up on stage, and the audience went wild.

Homecoming brought out the community and its students and was able to put on a concert with a few of the hottest artists of 2017.