On April 19, Otterlands, Cal State Monterey Bay’s (CSUMB) premier annual concert hosted by Associated Students (AS) brought in over 350 eager attendees in celebration of music.
The main show headlined by Flipp Dinero, the 28-year-old rapper from Brooklyn, brought the hype you would expect from a New York rapper. Engaging with the audience between songs while encouraging them to throw their hands and middle fingers in the air, he performed a variety of songs including his hit “Leave Me Alone,” as well as some unreleased music.
At one point he ran down into the crowd and sang with them before quickly being escorted back on stage by his team. When his set ended, he jokingly remarked about asking CSUMB if he could enroll in classes, eliciting a mixture of applause and laughter from the crowd.
DJ Baby Dizzle opened the main show with a set including non-stop bangers from reggaetón to hip-hop to rap, getting the audience in a groove for the rest of the night. Along with opening, she DJ’d the event’s second opener, Pak Joko, CSUMB’s resident student-artist Cyan Erdita.
Erdita started his set strongly, sending the crowd, seemingly filled with his fans, into a craze the moment he got on stage. What followed was a great opening performance as his stage presence exuded the confidence you would instead expect from a headlining act.
He matched the audience’s energy, dancing and delivering his signature style. Erdita also brought fourth-year Akif Khaled on stage and performed one song together. During his performance, Erdita spoke about never thinking he would be where he is now as an artist and thanked his fans for coming out.
According to him, he was feeling under the weather before and throughout his performance, but was grateful for everyone making the night incredible.
“I used the last of my energy to perform but I am so grateful that I have the support of my friends and fans and the crowds that are always down to turn up for me,” said Erdita. “I was truly celebrating my music and my fans were there to make it poppin’ inside the venue and they carried the whole entire thing, it was all the fans.”
Fourth-year Oliver Draxton said, “This is one of the very few school events that I attend.” When asked what made him want to attend, Draxton said “Pak Joko, solely Pak Joko, that’s the only person I came to see … Pak Joko has been my favorite since the first year that I got here.”
Draxton was not the only one who came to support Pak Joko, as many other students attended wearing merchandise from the rapper. With very simple and comedic designs, Joko was selling white T-shirts that said “Pak Joko Loves Latinas,” and “BigGurlSZN,” a nod to one of his songs.
Before the main show, Otter Media hosted its second annual prefest featuring student-artists from across CSUMB and some artists outside of Monterey Bay for a more intimate evening of music and entertainment.
There were plenty of performers who turned up the volume on our typically quiet campus. “I liked Doll Riot, Sister Four Eyes and [The] Mystic Souls,” said fourth-year Hannah Anderson. “I’m having fun tonight … I’ve seen a lot of great bands.”
Even with the doors to the main show open, there were still gaggles of students in front of the Otter Student Union (OSU) and in the Divarty Quad watching the performances. Sitting with her friends on the large OSU steps, fourth-year Selena Florez seemed entertained by Doll Riot.
“I love that it’s just an all-girl band, and their music is very rock,” said Florez. “I’m not usually into rock but now I want to follow and support them.”
AS planned the event, and is already thinking of next year’s concert. Second-year Hope Reis, a representative and coordinator for AS, said “I’m already trying to think of artists for next year. AS puts a lot of work into these events and we want more students to come.”
