This Sunday evening, Maroon 5 will journey to Ithaca with Fitz & the Tantrums as part of the band’s Back to School Concerts series. Sun Assistant Managing Editor Jasmine Marcus ’10 interviewed Maroon 5 guitarist James Valentine and heard all about the group’s upcoming album, got the scoop on a new video game starring lead singer Adam Levine — and secured a tennis date.

The year was 2008 and Cornell was prospering. With the University safely past the halfway point in its $4 billion capital campaign and reporting double-digit returns on its endowment, top administrators were terming the era a “golden age” in higher education.

Little did Cornell — and the rest of the world — know what was in store next.

Toni Morrison M.A. ’55, the only living American writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, came to Cornell last week to read from her newest novel, A Mercy, and to participate in a panel discussion. Renowned for her unique, poetic style and for interrogating the past and its legacy, Morrison has established herself as a novelist, critic and publisher. On Friday, The Sun sat down with the 78-year-old author to discuss language, history and writerly superstitions.

Hey music lovers! Swine flu got you down? Never fear! We’ve got just the thing for you: Indie dance-rock maestros Ra Ra Riot, in concert at Castaways tonight at 9 p.m.! (Side effects may include head-bobbing, foot-tapping, uncontrollable laughing and crazy dancing. In some cases, these side effects may be severe. Please contact a medical professional for a foot-tap lasting more than four hours.) (Swine flu not included.)

In the aftermath of the great Uncle Tupelo schism of ’94, I’ve always been a Wilco partisan. From A.M. to Sky Blue Sky, the band – in all of its various iterations and lineups – has produced some of the best music of the past 15 years (or of any years, for that matter). From traditional alt-country – if that isn’t a contradiction in terms – to the “sculpted soundscapes” of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and A Ghost Is Born, the band manages to stay true to its roots while reaching far beyond them.

Cornell may not always seem like the hottest place for up-and-coming rappers, but it has plenty of hip-hop history to boast of — not the least of which is True2Life, the trio composed of k. Words ’05, Concise ’05 and Slangston Hughes ’05. The Sun sat down with the crew — who make their own beats — and talked about hawking LPs at RPU, plans for the future and The Pussycat Dolls.

The Sun: How did hip-hop and music play a role in your lives as undergraduates here at Cornell?

This week Cornell Cinema will be screening Medicine for Melancholy, a film by relative newcomer Barry Jenkins. An IFC production, the movie follows Micah and Jo — two 20-somethings in San Francisco — after their one night stand (which by the end of the movie is more like a one-night-and-one day-stand). As they day goes on, they explore the city together, debating and discussing issues of race, gender, identity, gentrification and art.

Barton Hall got rocked on Sunday night as first GZA and then Girl Talk graced the stage for the Cornell masses. The former, a Wu-Tang Clan legend, was affable and loose, freestyling about our fair alma mater and wading through the crowd — though he did botch his encore, yelling “Fuck it” and tossing his mic back onstage.

A founding member of the legendary hip-hop group the Wu-Tang Clan, GZA — also known as the Genius and famous for his laid-back drawl; his complex, multi-layered lyrics rife with metaphor and literary illusions; and his now seminal 1995 hip-hop album Liquid Swords, which features samples from classic Samurai films — dropped us a line this week to chat about his creative process, kung fu films and his absolutely favorite past-time: chess.

The Sun: What do you expect from Cornell? In terms of the student body, are you excited?

GZA: Yeah, I’m looking forward to the show.

Sun: What do you think of Girl Talk?

GZA: I don’t really know much about him. I just started learning. He’s the DJ, correct?

Sun: Yeah.

It’s not easy being a rap superstar, and it’s even harder being an award-winning thespian. So maybe Ludacris had a lot on his mind when The Sun sat down with him on Saturday night. Slightly distracted and eager to move on, the Mouf of the South indulged us for seven minutes in his “dressing room” — an ROTC classroom replete with whiteboards and fluorescent lights — just before he jumped on stage. We talked about politics and the future of rap, the good old college days and some character named Girl Talk. Plus, we got to brush by Shawnna. She’s really hot.

The Sun: When did you get into town?

Ludacris: Literally about two hours ago.

Sun: What do you think of Ithaca?

L: I love Ithaca, the crowd is always crazy. It’s a good crowd, it’s good people.