The mtvU Woodie Awards return to Austin, Texas this year where they’ll help kick off the South By Southwest music conference. Scheduled to take place on March 15, 2012 nominees for best music acts, as voted by college students, includes Jay-Z and Kanye West for the Performing Woodie, Steve Aoki for EDM Effect Woodie, Machine Gun Kelly for Breaking Woodie catagory and Mac Miller for Woodie of the Year (see the full list of nominees at MTV.com).
Artists scheduled to perform include fun., whose single “We Are Young” featuring Janelle Monae, is currently No. 3 on the Billboard chart, Santigold, Childish Gambino, A$AP Rocky, Kimbra, Chiddy Bang and nominee and Dim Mak Records founder Aoki, who will be the closing act.
On a Thursday conference call with reporters, Eric Conte, the show’s executive producer, said that moving the show to Austin allows the Woodies “to have a day full of music, from noon to 10 p.m.”
Pittsburgh rapper Mac Miller, who’s also up against Jay Z and Kanye West for the Performing Woodie, wasn’t ready to handicap his chances. “I don’t think I’m going to win but it’s just great to be nominated with people I look up to,” he said.
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Asked how the college audience influenced his career, Miller responded, “It’s that age group [when] you realize that your opinions are worth just as much as anyone else.” Rapper Machine Gun Kelly, who is signed to Bad Boy Records, echoed the sentiment, describing the college audience as one he can identify with, even if he didn’t attend one himself. ” Rap and hip-hop saved my life,” said MGK. “If I had the opportunity to go to college I would’ve been a leader in a different way.”
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