Lupe Fiasco needed no introduction Saturday night.

After openers Ian “I2K” Winston and Shwayze performed, the crowd of more than 2,000 began chanting “Lupe.” Once he took the stage, the crowd erupted with cheers.

Fiasco performed 17 songs, including “The Cool,” “Kick Push,” “Go Go Gadget Flow” and “Superstar” off his two albums “The Cool” and “Food & Liquor.”

Before singing “Superstar,” which received a Grammy nomination for best rap song this year, Fiasco made it clear the song was for the crowd.

“I dedicate this song to all my fans because without you, there is no (me),” he said.

Fiasco also received a Grammy nomination for best rap album for “The Cool.”

He performed some of his newer songs and an encore for the crowd.

“I feel that Lupe Fiasco is the new enterprise of hip-hop,” said Lamont Holden, of Champaign. “He has what the new generation is looking for as far as instrumentation, and for the old generation, he still has that lyricism.”

Winston, the first opening act, said the show was alive, and he loved watching every minute of Fiasco’s performance.

“Lupe has such amazing energy and stage presence,” Winston said. “He really rocked the show like a rock concert, and the live band made it even greater, like you were a part of the show.”

Winston performed some of his tracks called “Turn It Up,” “She Mambo” and “Don’t Want to be Right.”

Ceci Brinker, director of Student Life, said the concert went smoothly and the acts were good to work with, overall.

“There were some issues with security of people not communicating, but that is not out of the ordinary,” Brinker said. “Some minor things going on backstage will happen with every concert.”

Brinker said when a concert gets students singing and dancing around and getting into the energy, it is a plus.

In the end, 2,250 tickets were sold out of a total 3,000.

Brinker said there were probably around 2,600 people there, with complimentary guest tickets, crews and so on.

“This is by far one of the better, well-attended shows,” Brinker said.

Lily Choi, a student at Illinois Wesleyan College in Bloomington, loved Fiasco’s dance moves and his “swagger.”

“It (his music) is great to move to and it’s got great beats and lyrics,” Choi said.

Jacob Unterberger, a freshman music major, said he really liked that Fiasco kept the hip-hop culture alive.

“There was a real message of positive influence,” he said.

Shwayze performed a set of songs that included “Corona and Lime” and two new songs: “Livin’ It Up” and “Get U Home.”

Shwayze consists of two leads, Cisco Adler and Jerome Alexander. Alexander said the stage name Shwayze was a name that Adler came up with.

“I needed a stage name, so first it was my stage name, then it became the band name,” Alexander said.

Adler said the name sort of came out of nowhere.

“It was like a bolt of lightning,” Adler said. “It didn’t come from anything,”

Alexander said the band has been performing for two and a half to three years, since Adler was about 20 years old.

“Cisco produced and co-wrote the whole record with me,” Alexander said. “I wasn’t sure I would necessarily be a rapper, but when I met Cisco he was a serious producer and that’s when it got serious.”

Adler said the name of the new album could not be released yet, but that it will be out in May.

“We are going to try and put out a record every summer and a mix tape every winter,” Adler said.

Alexander said every time they perform, it is different.

“It’s like musical songs,” Alexander said. “We just wait to hear the crowd’s reaction.”

At Saturday’s concert, Alexander and Adler said they liked playing “Corona and Lime” the most.

“We have a set list that we try to stick to and this creates a rhythm for us,” Adler said. “Tonight, the crowd reacted the most to ‘Corona and Lime.'”

Click here to read the activities blog for more Lupe Fiasco.

Heather Holm can be reached at 581-7942 or [email protected].