Rapper Fetty Wap will be coming Eastern’s way for the spring concert at 8 p.m. Saturday in Lantz Arena.

Mariah Marlar, one of the concert coordinators for the University Board, said the UB chose Fetty Wap to be the performer this year based on a student survey that was sent out in October.

“After viewing the responses to the survey, we used the data to determine who, and what genre of music to look into, for the concert,” Marlar said. “We chose Fetty Wap because hip-hop was the number one choice for genres on the survey. When we looked at the other artists, we decided as a whole that Fetty would be the best choice for Eastern because of his popularity.”

Marlar said that so far, the UB had sold around 800 tickets as of Wednesday afternoon.

“We estimate that about 1,000 people will be coming to the concert,” Marlar said. “I am really glad with the turnout of tickets we have sold so far, and I am happy that we were able to choose something our student body can enjoy.”

Jordan McLaren, chair of the UB, said the cost of getting a performer for the concert is based on the available budget of student fees and projected income. She said the UB spent a lot of time this year in picking the right artist.

“Hip-hop and rap were both rated top genres of music on the survey,” McLaren said. “Fetty is popular among both of those categories, and he is currently very popular as a whole.”

Fetty Wap rose to fame in 2015 when his Grammy-nominated, triple-platinum hit track “Trap Queen” reached number two on the U.S. Billboard “Hot 100” chart. The single eventually earned Fetty Wap two Grammy nominations for “Best Rap Song” and “Best Rap.”

Tickets can be bought at www.universityuniontickets.com or by calling the Union Ticket Office at 217-581-5122. They are $20 for Eastern students and $25 for the general public.

Andrew Paisley can be reached at 581-2812 or at abpaisley@eiu.edu.