Rapper Tone Loc brought old-school rap to Ames Wednesday night in the second musical event for Veishea 1999.

Loc performed his signature songs “Wild Thing” and “Funky Cold Medina” during a free concert to an audience of about 3,300 people at the Lied Recreation Center.

Corey Moss, co-music coordinator for the Veishea entertainment committee, said the event surpassed committee members’ expectations.

“There was a good vibe in the Lied Center,” said Moss, senior in journalism and mass communication. “Tone Loc did a good job handling the crowd … it was a good party environment.”

Justin Wilhelm, co-chairman of the Veishea entertainment committee, called the concert “tremendous.”

“Just the showing, seeing all the people … There were a lot of good spirits … ,” said Wilhelm, junior in mechanical engineering.

Wilhelm said the committee members didn’t really have a clear idea of how many people were going to attend the concert.

“With a group like Tone Loc, it’s hard to tell what the reception would be like,” he said. “I guess a lot of people remember the old-school days and wanted to come out to reminisce a little bit.”

Loras Jaeger, director of the Department of Public Safety, said the evening “went OK,” although there were two public intoxication arrests.

“There were concerns about people surging toward the stage, ‘body passing,'” he said. “I also was told by the officer there that Tone Loc did a fairly good job of getting the crowd to comply without doing that kind of stuff.”

Moss said Loc and his crew’s handling of the crowd was outstanding.

“They knew when to bring the crowd up, bring the crowd down,” he said. “They were one of the keys to the success of the event.”

During the nearly hourlong concert, Loc made several references to smoking marijuana, a theme that may not be considered kosher by some in the second alcohol-free year of Veishea.

He also performed one song about smoking marijuana.

Moss said he talked with Loc before the concert and clued him in to the situation behind “dry Veishea.”

“He said, ‘That’s cool; I don’t drink,'” Moss said, although Loc did tell him he liked to partake in “weed” on occasion.

Moss said Loc’s drug references during the concert did not surprise him.

“[Marijuana’s] one of the things he sings about; that’s what rap is, what party-music is,” he said, noting Loc’s pot talk was “nothing you wouldn’t get from any other concert.”

Kyle Moss, co-music coordinator for the Veishea entertainment committee, agreed that the drug references were not harmful.

“It’s better than him rapping about violence,” said Moss, freshman in journalism and mass communication. “It just made the people cheer; it didn’t make them go crazy or anything.”

Veishea committee members were neither upset nor surprised by Loc’s remarks, Wilhelm said.

“Obviously, we don’t support the ideas behind what he said,” Wilhelm said, noting that an artist such as Loc has “freedom to say what he wants on stage.”

“We trust that the students know what’s right and all that,” he said. “We’d rather he didn’t say it, but we don’t have a huge problem with it.”