Cardi B headlines last-minute Hopkins concert after Daniel Caesar cancels

Cardi B performed at Johns Hopkins University on Sunday evening, substituting for a scheduled headliner who canceled due to unforeseen circumstances. The show took place at the Ralph S. O’Connor Center for Recreation & Well-Being as part of Hoptoberfest, an annual fall festival organized by the Hopkins Student Organization for Programming with support from the Hopkins Parents Fund. The event originally featured singer-songwriter Daniel Caesar, whose cancellation was announced by the student organization on social media the previous day.

The concert was restricted to Johns Hopkins students, who required valid school identification to enter. The performance differed from Cardi B’s typical arena shows, offering a more intimate experience for the campus crowd. She wore a green wig, black leggings, and a pink striped T-shirt during the set. Although the university had not disclosed the specific fee paid for the last-minute booking, the artist’s presence represented a major draw for the student body.

Cardi B, who holds the record for the most No. 1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 among women rappers, used her time on stage to address the student audience directly. She urged the attendees to prioritize their academic responsibilities. “Y’al better pass y’al motherf, in’ semester,” she said to the crowd. “And don’t ask ChatGPT for the answer.” This advice came while Johns Hopkins continues to invest millions of dollars in a new institute focused on artificial intelligence and data science.

The artist’s recent success includes the triple platinum certification of her album “Am I the Drama?” by the Recording Industry Association of America, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 last year. She also made history in 2019 as the first solo woman artist to win the Grammy for best rap album for “Invasion of Privacy.” Her performance in Baltimore added to her recent visibility in the mid-Atlantic region, where her partner Stefon Diggs plays for the Washington Commanders.

After the concert, Cardi B departed Baltimore on a private plane. She shared behind-the-scenes images from her green room on Instagram, along with a video timestamped at 4:08 a.m. In that clip, she displayed a large bag of Old Bay-seasoned crabs and commented on the late hour. “We gonna have a long night,” she said. “Or not we, just me.” The event included other festival elements such as carnival games, a pumpkin patch, and a haunted house experience alongside the main stage performance.