DURHAM – The Student Committee On Popular Entertainment (SCOPE) has announced Lil Tjay and Flipp Dinero as performers for their Nov. 12 show. The concert also marks a return to the Whittemore Center for the first time since Fall of 2019. 

“I’m really excited for this because they’re both amazing artists,” said Harrison Flagg, SCOPE’s executive director. “It’s gonna be a fantastic show. It’s a hot bill, and I think it’s going to be a great time.”

The opener, Flipp Dinero, is a rapper, singer and songwriter best known for his hit song “Leave me Alone,” which was certified 4× platinum by the RIAA and peaked at 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2019. The 26-year-old Brooklyn native has put out two albums, one in 2017 and one in 2019, along with his most recent single “Ain’t My Dog” released in July 2022.

Lil Tjay, a fellow New Yorker hailing from the Bronx, is a rising star in the rap scene, captivating audiences with his melodic flow on platinum-certified tracks like “Leaked”, “F.N.” and “Brothers.”  The most popular song on his latest album, “Calling My Phone” featuring 6LACK, debuted at three on the Billboard Hot 100 and received over 60 million streams globally in its first week out. Across all releases, Lil Tjay has accumulated over 6 billion streams and was featured as one of Billboard’s 21 Under 2020 and XXL’s Freshman Class 2020. After a tragic incident this summer, though, SCOPE was unsure if they could bring him to campus at all. But Flagg believes he’s coming to Durham at just the right time.

“Tjay is a really fascinating artist for a lot of reasons. He had an album in 2019 that did really well and his album in 2021 was his kind of uptick,” Flagg said. “Now he’s at the point where he’s just about to break through. He’s at that, like, top-tier headliner without being the headliner type stage.”

The return to the Whitt also brings the return of public tickets, a pre-pandemic staple of the organization. Flagg said the public aspect of SCOPE’s shows is a key part of their overarching goals: bringing entertainment not only to UNH students but the UNH community as a whole. Tickets will go on sale on Oct. 31 at 9 am, with student costs being $15 for bowl seats and $28 for the floor. General public tickets are $50 for the bowl and $68 for the floor.

“It is a different experience [with the public], and UNH is a public university, so it’s not just our job to be supporting the students,” he said. “It’s also our job to be investing in the community, and having public tickets back is just huge for us to be able to feel like we’re hitting our mission statement and being able to bring these big names to our community that we’re a part of.”

The show also brings back a sense of normalcy for the group and UNH. SCOPE putting on virtual conversations with the likes of David Dobrik, Pete Davidson and Alexandra Cooper was commonplace during the 2020-21 school year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, the group was able to provide in-person events, albeit scaled-down versions in the 400-person-capacity Granite State Room and the 4,000-person-capacity A-lot. But a reunion with the newly renovated, 5,000-person-capacity Whittemore Center has invigorated the group.

“Since I’ve been in scope, I started out with virtual concerts, and then the Granite State Room was my first, like actual in-person live music concert. Then A-lot was my second, so I haven’t done a Whitt show before,” said Anna Robinson, SCOPE’s publicity director. “So personally, I’m really excited. I’m excited for the experience. And I think that the entire org is excited and that will definitely show in how we go about making the concert experience.”

The ensuing weeks are where Robinson’s work really takes full force, as marketing and publicizing the show will be the key to a packed crowd come Nov. 12. In the meantime, SCOPE can only hope to contain their enthusiasm.

“I’m so excited to get back in the Whit. I miss it dearly. And it’s going to be great for the students to be able to just have a good time,” Flagg said. “It’s just about time that we returned to normal and had some fun, you know?”

Photos courtesy of SCOPE