When Hoodie Allen came to campus on Friday, Nov. 6 to headline MOB’s Fall Concert, it was not actually the first time that the hip-hop artist had visited Dickinson.

“I had a friend who went here, I visited her back in the day, and I had a lot of fun,” said Allen in an interview after the concert. Allen, who attended the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia from 2006 to 2010, said that while he said Dickinson has been “great” his second time here, he admitted that “it’s not like I remember it.”

At the concert, which drew around 500 people, Allen performed some of his better-known songs, such as “No Interruption” and “No Faith in Brooklyn,” a song from his most recent album, “People Keep Talking,” and even responded to a fan request to perform “You Are Not A Robot,” one of his earlier songs. Allen also created a Dickinson-themed freestyle rap that mentioned things like squirrels, Drayer and the SNAR line.

Before Allen took the stage, Alex Schechter ’18 and Allan Kingdom each performed as opening acts. At one point during Schechter’s set, he was joined by Lucas Paiva ’18.

Students reviewed the concert favorably.

Meg Moran ’18 said she came only to see Schechter and Paiva perform, but ended up staying for the rest of the concert.

“It’s not really my style, so I thought I was going to hate it, but it was actually kind of fun,” she said.

“I’ve been to every concert and this was honestly one of my favorites,” said Maddie Chandler ’16. “I only knew a couple of [Allen’s] songs prior but…his songs were catchy enough I felt like I knew every one.” She said that the crowd had a great energy which added to her overall experience.

After the concert, Allen also gave some insight into his decision to quit his job as an account executive at Google in 2011 to pursue a career in music full-time.

“It wasn’t the easiest decision, but it was something that was sort of coming,” he said. “I was multitasking both jobs…. At some point, when you do that, you’re not really doing either thing very well.”

Allen had some advice for “anyone who’s got a creative passion.”

“Find a way to explore that while you’re in school and have a lot of time….Get a degree, too, so that your parents don’t feel like they wasted all their money,” he said.