Last Friday night the six men of Nappy Roots served several thousand of their loyal fans something nappy — a little watamelon, some chiken and a side of gritz, to be exact.

Their concert opened with a handful of amateur acts to keep the sold out crowd occupied as Nappy Roots prepared for their first hometown performance since becoming a household name.

Just minutes before Nappy Roots took the stage, lighters glowed throughout Diddle Arena. Flickering flames reflected off the faces of eager fans.

Jim Ellis and his son D.J. sat side by side high in the bleachers of Diddle, each with Nappy Roots shirts on. The two came to the concert together from Hart County.

“I think they’re great as role models for kids…somebody from their home town making it big,” Jim Ellis said. “I’m glad they came back.”

The event was D.J. Ellis’ first rap concert. The seventh-grader gave the concert a good, but not perfect, score.

“I’d give it a seven,” he said. The quality of the amateur acts was his reason for withholding three points.

Even though D.J. Ellis was expecting more from the groups who performed before Nappy Roots, he said, overall, he enjoyed his first concert.

“It’s pretty good,” he said before the show ended. “I think it’s great for them (Nappy Roots) to come back here and perform for us. They’re great!”

Although many were satisfied with the show, some felt it could have been better.

Nashville sophomore Justin May left the concert about an hour early.

“I really didn’t care for many of the performances because of the sound system…bass and a lot of echo,” May said. “I left after the first two songs because I couldn’t hear. There was no point to even sit there.”

Despite those who felt the concert’s acoustics were lacking, many were bobbing up and down and side to side during Nappy Roots’ performance.

Bennie Beach, adviser for the Campus Activities Board, would not comment about the concert, but he did say that the community of Bowling Green reacted positively to the event.

CAB concert chair Tony Davis, a senior from Louisville, said he hopes to get a gospel explosion, maybe a local rock band and local rap artist with what is left in the budget.

“It’s gonna enable us to do something like that (Nappy Roots Concert) in the future,” he said. “It’s gonna be a while before something else happens in Diddle because it’s still under renovation.”

Herald reporter Shawntaye Hopkins contributed to this story.

Reach Zach Mills at [email protected].