Jadakiss will be performing on April 18. SPOTIFY / COURTESY
Mary Haley, Senior Writer
The time is here! Jadakiss will be the performer of the highly anticipated annual Springfest.
The Yonkers native will be performing at 8 p.m in Draddy Gymnasium, after the daytime carnival on the quad from 4-7 p.m. Jadakiss first came to fame in the 90s with his involvement in the group “the Lox.” He has been featured on records with Jay-Z, Mariah Carey, Nas, Kanye West, Snoop Dogg, Eminem and Swizz Beatz among others.
Christopher Parson, vice president of finance for student government, shared with The Quadrangle his thoughts on the selection of this performer and what it means for Manhattan University’s (MU) campus community.
“I feel like our age range doesn’t really listen to [Jadakiss] a lot, but I think a lot of people know who he is,” Parson said. “I think he has a lot of classics that we might not know the name of, but when they start playing, we’ll kind of be able to groove to and know a couple of the lyrics. So yeah, I’m happy with the pick, great artist, I’m happy he’ll be here for Springfest.”
Planning for Springfest began not long after last semester’s Manhattan Madness event wrapped up. Parson noted that student government didn’t handle most of the logistics, but they were heavily involved in shaping ideas and managing the event’s financial framework.
“This kind of started right after Madness was finished, because we like to have one big event in the back of our minds, while we’re kind of planning our small events and things,” Parson said. “Nicole [Brosnan] initially gave me the full Springfest budget – that’s with the carnival, with the performer and everything like that. So then I was thinking, all right, how can you chop this up? What money is going to production crews, sound crews, lighting, security and different things like that.”
Parson, who is a junior finance major, has only experienced two concerts for Springfest out of the three years he has been here. Two years ago, in the spring of 2024, “was the first year without such a concert,” besides the three-year-hiatus of springfest due to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to an article from The Quadrangle. After the past few years of uncertainty about the execution of events that have normally gone on in the past, Parson believes this Springfest marks a shift of consistency and progress in future Springfests.
“I think us having Jadakiss is the beginning of getting the ball rolling to have larger performers and make Springfest back into its kind of former glory,” Parson said.
Beyond Jadakiss’s performance, students can expect a packed late afternoon and evening of activities and plenty of food options designed with their feedback in mind. Parson said the planning team is focused on bringing back favorites while keeping the overall experience grounded in what students actually enjoy.
“When it comes to the activities and things like that, we’ve been throwing a lot of options out there,” Parson said. “I know students really liked the mechanical bull [from last year’s Springfest]. They liked the bounce houses and obstacle courses and things like that, as well as the food options. We’ve gotten a lot of good feedback.”
The student body is still waiting on an official schedule of the special day from student engagement, but in the caption of their Instagram post announcing the date, they made clear that “all students must bring student ID or present glance app upon entrance. No outside guests will be permitted.”
Parson is excited for this Springfest and what it means for the future of the university culture.
“Being able to give food that the students will like, activities that they’ll actually like, and performers that we feel like can resonate with them makes it more of a student-centered event, and not so much of just an event that we have to do for the school,” Parson said.