The Ohio Union Activities Board is catering to a slew of musical genres Fall Semester, lacing rap with electronic music and a touch of country.

The organization announced Thursday at its Summer BBQ event, held at the Ohio Union at 6 p.m., that Big Sean with special guest 2 Chainz and Krewella are scheduled to perform at its Welcome Week Concert 6 p.m. Aug. 23 on the South Oval.

It later announced country artist Trace Adkins is scheduled to perform 8 p.m. Sept. 13 at Lifestyle Communities Pavilion.

Per its usual reveal process, OUAB started dropping hints via Twitter about its performers the afternoon of the reveal, including tidbits such as the artist had a 3.7 high school GPA and suggestions such as, “You might want to practice your twang for these concert tickets!” It later revealed the performers on Twitter and Facebook as well.

Last year’s Welcome Week Concert, which was themed to throwback music, featured Smash Mouth and Boyz II Men. In 2010 and 2009 OUAB welcomed Weezer and Kings of Leon, respectively, as its Welcome Week performers.

 “OUAB aims to bring different artists to campus each year based on what we have done in the past, the artists we think students would like to see in the upcoming year, and how the talent fits with our entire semester calendar,” said Mia Grube, OUAB president. “Our main goal in selecting artists for this year’s Welcome Week Concert was to provide OSU with a Top 40/pop sound in order to reach the interests of as many students as possible during their first week back on campus.”

Rappers Big Sean, whose real name is Sean Michael Anderson, and 2 Chainz, whose real name is Tauheed Epps, are both signed to Kanye West’s G.O.O.D Music record label, which is a part of the Island Def Jam Music Group.

Big Sean hit the music scene in 2007 with the release of his first mixtape “Finally Famous: The Mixtape.” The Detroit-raised artist released his first studio album “Finally Famous” last year and has collaborated with artists such as Lupe Fiasco, Pharrell and John Legend.

2 Chainz showed indication of performing at OSU Aug. 23 when he posted the event on his Facebook page July 17. The post was later taken down, and at the time, OUAB said it had not confirmed 2 Chainz for Welcome Week.

The rapper got his start in the music industry performing under the stage name Tity Boi with Playaz Circle, which was signed to Ludacris’ record label, Disturbing tha Peace. The group is most arguably known for its 2007 hit song “DuffleBag Boy” which featured Lil’ Wayne.

Electronic dance music g
roup Krewella, which is based out of Chicago, released its first EP “Play Hard” in June and is scheduled to play several music festivals this summer including VELD Festival in Toronto, Canada, and SOCIAL Music Festival in San Diego after its stop at OSU.

Trace Adkins, who sings widely known 2005 hit song “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk,” has garnered four Grammy nominations and has had a stake in television as a contestant on NBC’s “The Celebrity Apprentice” and as the voice of Elvin on Fox’s “King of the Hill.”

Grube said about 300 students attend the Summer BBQ Thursday to hear of the reveal and it seemed many attendees were pleased with the performers.

“(Students) were very excited to hear about our Welcome Week schedule, especially the Welcome Week Concert.  We were also very pleased to see lots of buzz created on both Twitter and Facebook about our events,” she said.

Grube did not disclose what portion of OUAB’s budget from the student activity fee went toward bringing its performers, but said, “The funding for the Welcome Week Concert came from our Fall Semester allocation of the student activity fee.

The events are free to students with a valid BuckID.