Local residents and students alike gathered Saturday night at State Farm Center to attend the “Ludacris is Coming Home” concert. 

In addition to seeing Ludacris perform songs from various albums, concertgoers also saw Champaign-based rap duo Trouble Chasin,’ as well as charlieonnafriday, a 19-year-old rapper and singer from Washington, who opened for Ludacris. 

Trouble Chasin’ and charlieonnafriday separately performed many songs from their recent albums to hype the crowd up for Ludacris to take the stage. Trouble Chasin’ kicked the concert off with the songs “Bora Bora” and “More Bass,” and charlieonnafriday continued the excitement with his songs “Party Girl” and “Misfit.”

After the openers riled up the crowd, Ludacris and his fellow “Disturbing Tha Peace Records” crew member, Lil Fate, took the stage and performed a variety of songs from Ludacris’ discography. 

Ludacris and Lil Fate performed songs such as “Area Codes,” “Blueberry Yum Yum” and “Get Back.” The rappers also performed songs that Ludacris is featured on, such as “Glamorous” by Fergie and “Yeah!” by Usher featuring Lil Jon. 

Oxala Da Silva, a graduate student studying communications, and Eva Rubin, a graduate student studying kinesiology, were both concert attendees. Both said they did not know what was in store when they came across tickets to the Ludacris concert via their friend who could not attend. However, Da Silva and Rubin said they both had a great time. 

“I was pleasantly surprised,” Rubin said. “I didn’t know what to expect — it was really fun.”

Da Silva said her favorite song from Ludacris was the song “What’s Your Fantasy” from the rapper’s album “Incognegro.” 

Two other concert attendees, Shauna Miller and Analiese Hettiger, said the song “What’s Your Fantasy” resonated with them, for it was the first song they heard from Ludacris that turned them into fans when they were younger. Miller explained that although “What’s Your Fantasy” was her favorite song, her parents did not approve of her listening to it.

“I was about 12 years old,” Miller said. “I was not allowed to listen to that song, and I would just sneak in my room (to listen to it).”

Shivangi Ambardar, a graduate student studying economics, came to see Ludacris and charlieonnafriday. She said she heard Ludacris for the first time when he was featured in the song “Baby” by Justin Bieber and immediately took interest. 

“I was like, ‘Who is this guy?’ I want to know,” Ambardar said. 

At the end of the concert, Ludacris and Lil Fate exited the stage, but Lil Fate returned to take photos with fans and throw T-shirts into the crowd. Ambardar and Hettiger both took photos with Lil Fate to remember the night. 

Ambardar and Hettiger said although they had a great time, they wished the night would have ended with a goodbye.

“It was amazing, but I wish he would have said ‘bye’ at the end,” Ambardar said. “I didn’t get closure.” 

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