The Convocation Center has teamed up with the Big Time Entertainment committee to bring Ja Rule and Eve to perform on campus.

Charli Baltimore, female rapper and former girlfriend of Notorious B.I.G., will open for the hip-hop megastars at the concert, which is slated for Feb. 12. Baltimore’s album “The Diary (You Think You Know)” came out about six months ago.

a Rule and Charli Baltimore, both from the Murder Inc. label, performed a duet together in the song “Down A** B****.”

Ja Rule is widely known for his early hit “Can I Get A…”

The public can buy tickets at 10 a.m. Thursday at all Ticketmaster locations for $34. NIU students will be able to buy discounted tickets from the Convo Center box office for $28.

Joe Coots, marketing manager for the Convo Center, said that the main reason for the student discount is to allow more students to attend the concert.

“We waited to announce the event until the students came back from break,” he said. “We wanted to give students first dibs on the tickets.”

Although the concert is open to the general public, Coots said that he expects the majority of the concert’s audience to be NIU students.

The artists chosen to perform at the Convo Center are not selected by the students on campus, he said. Instead, the offers usually come to the university from different promoters and agents for music artists.

Coots said that the committee decided on Ja Rule and Eve because they are very popular acts that will interest many students on campus.

While the Campus Activities Board is another provider of entertainment on campus, its restricted budget was not able to compete with that of the arena.

CAB concerts coordinator John Ugolinisaid that the committee’s budget usually ranges from $63,000 to $65,000 per year. He estimated that to book Ja Rule alone would cost around $65,000 and probably another $40,000 to $50,000 for Eve.

Ugolini said that is why the Big Time Entertainment was formed, to supplement places like the Convo Center, so that they can team up to bring big names to campus.

In fairness to all students, a lottery will be held at 10 a.m. on Thursday at the Convo Center ticket office to determine who will get the first chance to purchase tickets. The rest of the ticket buyers will line up behind the winner.

Students are welcome to arrive at the drawing as early as 7:30 a.m. Arriving early, however, does not guarantee students the right to purchase their tickets first. That is to be determined by the lottery. This method is to prevent camping out, Coots said.

Students are looking forward to having big name hip-hop stars performing on campus.