Fabolous rapped, Common freestyled and Trey Songz was bombarded with negligee. Students, teachers and fans crowded around the stage at the Al Lawson Center last Thursday to sing along with artists at the Haiti Relief Concert.
The event was sponsored by Florida A&M’s student government association as a way to raise funds for relief and reconstruction of Haiti in the wake of the January earthquake. The disaster resulted in the death of more than 200,000 people.
“It’s important that we have this event because we have a huge Haitian population here,” said Senate President pro-tempore Eric Majors. “It’s important to show them that we care.”
The concert showcased a variety of local talents at its start, but the audience did not have to wait long before Fabolous burst onto the stage. He performed a medley of his chart-topping hits as the crowd chanted along.
Backstage, Fab recounted the day that he heard about the earthquake and the seeing the pictures and videos for the first time.
“I didn’t know the magnitude and after I got to sit down and take it all in I was like, wow,” Fabolous said.
He has also been an advocate for donating to charities for relief efforts in Haiti.
“I made it my business to keep up on Twitter and make people aware,” Fabolous said. “It also needed the everyday-American, the everyday-guy to give $5.”
Common was next up to rock the arena: and the former Rattler did that and more. During his performance he even took time to serenade a lucky lady in the audience, ironically on the eve of her birthday.
Common’s return to ‘the Hill’ has been anticipated.
“I feel excited and inspired,” said the Chicago native. “It’s like coming home when you haven’t been home in a long time.”
His participation in the concert was one of several efforts that he is doing to give back to the people of Haiti.
“I wanted to contribute to bringing relief and awareness and support the movement of trying to get finances and proper living conditions to the Haitian people.”
The finale of the event was to the highly passionate performance of Trey Songz.
The ladies crammed to get pictures and videos of the R&B sensation as he belted out the words to his Billboard top three album, “Ready.”
The concert also brought out politicians such as Senator Al Lawson, who stopped by to show his support.