No one cares – The always questionable Groovin’ on the Grounds ends its 2013 show with mindless violence

By 6 p.m., I had the feeling Groovin’ on the Grounds, an annual free concert on the LSU parade grounds, was going to be another laughable experience.

I didn’t go. However, reading updates on Twitter, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes.

While this year’s show promised the goods—what with talent like Grace Potter, Lupe Fiasco, and Yelawolf sharing the stage—those hints of fun quickly deteriorated.

Yelawolf, an Alabama rapper known for alternative hip-hop style, dropped off the show when the concert’s sponsor, the LSU organization Students on Target (SOT), asked him to censor his material. Yelawolf supposedly wanted nothing to do with censorship, and you can’t blame him. Telling an entertainer that he will have to hold back is like telling an excited dog not to bark at a cat.

However, if SOT knew this guy was provocative, why invite him? Hours later though, Lupe Fiasco is doing his thing, cussing and have a good time. Was Lupe not given his cut of money as Yelawolf was denied his $17,500? Where the heck did SOT get that much money anyway?

As you can tell, censorship of invited entertainers is one of many glaring problems with the concert. The biggest problem is with its head organization.

SOT has dedicated its reputation to being “thoughtful” when going out. Its slogan is a turn on a sentiment of “You can have fun, but…don’t do this.” The “this” in that statement meaning drink excessively, cuss (obviously in the case of Yelawolf, but not Lupe Fiasco, making it ridiculously specific who can and can’t cuss), take part in drugs, or be controversial at any turn of your life.

You can view the full Students on Target’s mission statement here.

Yet, the organization hosts these annual concerts, attracting major crowds with bands’ whose entire m.o. is to do one of those things mentioned in the definition of “this.”

Never mind that while living that healthy lifestyle you can visit Raising Cane’s booth at Groovin’ on the Grounds. If health isn’t a Caniac, three sauces, bread, extra fries, and 44 oz. sweet tea, I don’t know what is.

Although promoting “a good time not wasted” seems like a worthwhile endeavor, one LSU Reveille writer saw the hypocrisy as clouds of weed smoke “emanated through the crowd.”

That hypocrisy is a consistent problem. Over the years, Groovin’ on the Grounds has drawn big names like Wyclef Jean, Ludacris, Three 6 Mafia, Chevelle, and Saturday’s Lupe Fiasco. I respect and have or still listen to all of those acts. I would like to see most of them live.

But any of these fronting a concert put on by an organization whose motto is “be a straight-laced individual when you’re in college” seems questionable.

It’s the double standard the organization runs the risk of playing every year with the concert.

One would think it’s hard to sell that good-ole-boy image when Ludacris is fixing to come on stage, singing about sticky-icky-icky from his enjoyable hit song, “Saturday” or his anthem “Move”.

It’s hard to take SOT seriously when Lupe Fiasco’s best song talks about war, terrorism, and the lack of political discussion in the every day, or when Three 6 Mafia comes on stage to perform its classic “Stay Fly,” whose refrain also includes the advice, “I get high-igh-igh-igh-igh-igh-igh.”

No one cares about the organization when they go to the show, either. Groovin’ on the Grounds is an annual concert naively put together with the organization’s logo on it. People won’t ever visit Groovin’ on the Grounds for a message. They’ll visit for an act breaking the “rules.”

It’s mindless, free entertainment—all in the name of “having a good time,” even though Students on Target wants you to spend that time, drug and alcohol free, listening to proponents of the very messages SOT hates. It’s the weirdest Uncle Tom/Woodstock freak show debacle.

This year’s edition of the concert became more mindless when the show ended with a stabbing—an altercation at the intersection of Highland Road and Dalrymple Drive.

What’s alarming about the concert, and now this incident, is how SOT will never take responsibility for its actions and what happens at these events.

Though SOT wants to be at the forefront of your mind when you go to Groovin’ on the Grounds, when asked to comment Sunday, SOT replied: “As of right now we have no details from LSU PD. So we don’t have anything to comment about.”

What SOT lacks is responsibility for its actions, and in its entire run, SOT has been given a pass. People don’t care about the organization when they’re having fun, drinking, smoking weed, and singing along to Three 6 Mafia. If and when you mention the organization to another student, they’ll look at you with that befuddled, “What?” then simply keep living their lives.

Thanks to that pattern, SOT doesn’t comment on anything. Now, something larger than the organization—an attempted alleged assault on life—has happened in the midst of its grand event.

If SOT keeps up with its slogan of not caring about repercussions and the double standards it sets, you can expect more mindlessness in the future. Homicides? More stabbings? People tripping then maybe streaking in traffic? It’s all dramatic, yet fair game.

Do you care? No, probably not. But neither does Students on Target.