Interesting things are happening at “the farm.” Following the announcement last week that indie rock darlings MGMT will perform at Stanford, it was announced today that rapper Future will make an on-campus appearance for Blackfest.

The annual spring concert returns May 4 at Levin Field with the Atlanta-based rapper, along with other performers and campus dance groups. Admission to the event is free.

The show marks another fresh break from Stanford’s normal lineup of well-coiffed classical and jazz shows. Future’s biggest hits include a syrupy and flashy slow jam (“Turn on the Lights”), a gangsta rap homage to coke film Scarface (“Tony Montana”) and tracks with some of the biggest names in rap, including 2 Chainz, Lil Wayne and T.I.

Blackfest has a history of bucking Stanford’s normally conservative music performance bookings, bringing top-tier acts to the university since its 2003 debut. Previous headliners Kendrick Lamar, Big Sean, Wale and E-40.

Campus dance groups performing this year include Alliance, HD Crew, Jam Pac’d and Catch a Fyah. A new addition to the show this year will be a cypher showcasing local rappers, according to organizers.

Black Fest starts at 2pm on May 4 at Levin Field on Mayfield Avenue in Palo Alto.

One of the biggest hip-hop shows of the weekend arrived at an unlikely venue yesterday as Bay Area rap legend E-40 headlined Stanford’s BlackFest with one of L.A.’s hottest new MCs, Kendrick Lamar.

Metro photograph Aron Cooperman was at the university’s Frost Amphitheater to catch the action, which also included dance performances, vendors and a 3-on-3 basketball tournament.

Stanford is known for their labs, clinics, sports teams and ubiquitous sweatshirts—not hip-hop.  And certainly not two huge West Coast rappers, the legendary E-40 and rookie-of-the-year lyricist, Kendrick Lamar. Bother perform at the university Sunday, May 20.  

This year’s Stanford’s BlackFest Music Festival will be the largest yet, capping a long history that began as a family style picnic that started 20 years ago with activities that were centered around music, a  3-on-3 basketball tournaments, kids’ activities, dominoes and the like. It was fun and safe and simply grew as attendance multiplied. Through the years, it began fostering local acts and campus organizations as word spread beyond the campus.

In 2009, Day 26, an R&B group from Diddy’s reality show, Making the Band 4, headlined.  The following year, rapper Wale headlined and both events drew crowds of approximately 1,500, respectively.  Last year, Southern drawls and slumpy, keyboard beats boomed from the event as Big Sean and  Travis Porter headlined.  It was huge and, by then, a different monster.

The upcoming event, held at the Frost Amphitheater, features a balance of acts; veteran taste-maker and Vallejo icon E-40, known for verbose lyrics and his own lexicon of street slang is matched with Kendrick Lamar, Compton’s newest prodigal son; an MC with raps that skew more conscious than gangster. Both are heralded with huge followings. Local acts Black Greeks and Catch A Fyah will provide additional entertainment. Check out the newest (and most timely) collab between Kendrick and E-40 and Droop E (40’s son) “Catch A Fade”.

BlackFest is at Stanford University’s Frost Amphitheater on May 20. Tickets are $20 and doors open at 1:30pm.