By Emmanuel Freeman

NASHVILLE, TN (TSU News Service) — Tennessee State University welcomes rap icon Gucci Mane for Homecoming 2018.

The Billboard Music Award winner, known for hits like “I Get the Bag,” “Wake Up in the Sky,” and “Kept Back,” will headline this year’s Homecoming concert in the Gentry Center Complex on Thursday, Oct. 18. Doors open at 6 p.m. Tickets are $25 for students, and $35 for the public.

Homecoming week runs from Sunday, Oct. 14 and culminates on Saturday, Oct. 20 with the parade along Jefferson Street, and the football game between TSU and Tennessee Tech at Nissan Stadium.

The concert, one of several entertainment events for the week sponsored by the Office of Student Activities and SUBG, will also feature big name recording artists like rappers NBA Youngboy and Jacquees, and R&B superstar Layton Green.

“We are really excited for the entertainment lineup for Homecoming 2018,” says Mon-Cherie Robinson, assistant director of student activities.  “We have an amazing lineup of entertainers that’s going to blow minds.”

According to Robinson, the week will kick off on Oct. 14 with the Homecoming Gospel Explosion featuring gospel superstars Earnest Pugh, Jonathan McReynolds, and The Walls Group. The Gospel Explosion will also be held in the Kean Hall. Show starts at 6 p.m. Admission is free for the Gospel Explosion.

Organizers say this year’s Homecoming Step Show on Friday, Oct. 19, will be the biggest ever, with all nine Greek organizations participating. They will be competing for a $1,500 grand prize, says Robinson. The step show will be held in the Gentry Center Complex beginning at 5 p.m. Tickets for students are $15, and $25 the day of. General admission is $20 in advance, and $25 the day of.

Tickets for all events can be purchased at ticketmaster.com, or the TSU Box Office in the Gentry Center Complex.

Like last year, and in addition to these student activities, Tennessee State University is gearing up for another spectacular Homecoming with a stellar group of grand marshals and honorees.

This year’s Homecoming begins Oct. 14 with the Robert N. Murrell Oratorical Contest. The football game between the Big Blue Tigers and the Golden Eagles of Tennessee Tech will take place on Sunday, Oct. 20, at Nissan Stadium at 4:30 p.m.

For just the second time, TSU has a Special Presidential Honoree: James Shaw, Jr. The other honorees are Dr. Calvin Atchison, retired vice president of development/Foundation Office; Mrs. Dorothy Lockridge, retired vice president of student affairs; Coach James Bass, retired health professor and swimming coach. The grand marshals are Mr. Robert Covington, NBA player with Philadelphia 76ers; Dr. Richard Lewis, TSU Board of Trustees member and owner of Lewis & Wright Funeral Directors; and Mrs. Delorse Lewis, former executive director of TSU Development/Foundation Office.

Besides the big game, another highlight of this year’s Homecoming is the Scholarship Gala on Oct. 19. The gala is the biggest single event by the university to raise scholarship money. Contributions swelled from $600,000 in 2016 to more than one million dollars last year.

This year, the gala welcomes back comedian Jonathan Slocumb as the master of ceremony. Legendary jazz artist Roy Ayers will be the celebrity entertainer.

Other Homecoming activities this year include the Coronation of Mr. TSU and Miss TSU on Oct. 17; official groundbreaking of new Health Sciences Building on Oct. 18; the Breakfast of Champions, the Charles Campbell Fish Fry, and the National Pan-Hellenic Step Show on Oct. 19; and the legendary Homecoming Parade on Oct. 20.

For more information on Homecoming 2018, go to https://www.tnstate.edu/alumni/homecoming/