Lied Recreation Center will be filled with “The Wild Thing” and “Funky Cold Medina” Wednesday night during Veishea, because rapper Tone Loc is coming to town.

Tone Loc will give a free concert Wednesday night at the Lied Recreation Center, joining fellow national acts Goo Goo Dolls and The New Radicals as this year’s Veishea entertainment.

“This show is filling the variety void of this year’s Veishea entertainment and in years past,” said Corey Moss, co-music coordinator for the Veishea entertainment committee.

Moss, senior in journalism and mass communication, said the committee members wanted rapper Tone Loc to perform because of the recent popularity of “old-school rap.”

“It’s something people have a good, positive attitude about,” he said.

Ames bands Mr. Plow and 35″ Mudder will open the show.

“They are two local bands that are both hip-hop flavored,” Moss said.

He said the process of securing Tone Loc, who is known for his late-’80s hits “Wild Thing” and “Funky Cold Medina,” has been lengthy.

“We’ve been working with his agent from the very beginning of the year,” he said.

This event is funded differently than other musical acts for Veishea.

“None of the money is from the university,” Moss said. “We had to solicit sponsors. It took a long time.”

Moss said Tone Loc was his first choice, although he had a couple of back-up bands in mind.

“We wanted to have someone who had some songs that were huge, so it’s really going to excite people when they hear them,” he said.

Moss said this concert will be new and different because it is in the middle of the week, free to students, funded by sponsors and because Veishea has never had a rap star before.

“The reason the Veishea committee is so excited about this event is it just stands out from our other events,” Moss said. “The … committee came up with this concert idea to do something different and to have something free … to kind of kick Veishea off.”

Kyle Moss, co-music coordinator for the Veishea entertainment committee, said choosing a performer for the Wednesday event was exciting.

“I’ve learned there are a lot of hurdles you have to jump to do something like this,” said Moss, freshman in journalism and mass communication.

Corey Moss said the free Wednesday evening Veishea concert is an annual tradition with a consistently high turnout. Last year, he said Tim Mahoney played to more than 400 people under a tent by the Campanile.

The Tone Loc concert begins at 9 p.m., and students must show their ISU Cards and current fee cards to be admitted.

The concert is sponsored by the Iowa State Daily, Alpha Lambda Delta/Phi Eta Sigma honor society, Interfraternity Council and the Government of the Student Body.