- Red Bull Music Academy’s United States of Bass - July 19, 2016
- Red Bull Sound Select: Adrian Younge, No ID, Joey Dosik - April 14, 2016
- LA Red Bull Sound Select: Stormzy, Lizzo, and Kauf - March 28, 2016
Another night, another venue, another show curated by Red Bull Sound Select. My first time at the Belasco Theater, I was enamored with the old school, ornate Hollywood theater decor. It was a perfect juxtaposition for the gritty, raw rap energy that was to be unleashed.
LA Native Hip-hop trio Warm Brew took the stage first. Coming fresh off of some European show dates, the crew was glad to be back in their hometown. Before they could even get through their first song, a fan had jumped up from the crowd, hopped on a subwoofer, and then proceeded to jump down to the stage and party with Warm Brew, before being dragged off by security.
The crowd vibed out to their laid back smoker’s anthem “Wanna Get High,” which got the party started. Warm Brew’s set continued to grow with more people hopping on stage to party, including a dude spinning around on a hoverboard.
Lil Herb’s set was his first big performance in LA, and he definitely came out with lots of energy. Although his music is very different from that of the headlining act that night, Herb still repped Chitown to the his best of his ability, even bring out Dreezy, a young, hungry female MC from his hometown, for a duet.
I didn’t grow up in New York City during the golden era of 90’s Hip-hop, but seeing Joey Bada$$ perform at the Belasco Theater may be as close as I’ll get to seeing a young Nas or Wu-Tang Clan member at SOB’s.
Backed by producer/DJ Statik Selektah, Joey Bada$$ took the stage shortly after 11pm. The energy of the crowd chanting “Joey! Joey!” was incredible. They rapped every lyric bar for bar on “Paper Trail$,” and rocked along with Joey on “Big Dusty,” screaming out “Check my style! Check, check my style!” That song felt the most indicative of his deep New York Hip-hop roots, but Joey also showed love to the west coast rapping over Tupac’s “I Get Around.”
Joey Bada$$ did some stuff from across his catalog, including “Waves,” a popular track about the struggle, from his debut mixtape 1999. His showmanship and presence over the crowd was evident when he called for the crowd to start a mosh pit, which happened right when the beat dropped on “No. 99,” and when the audience obliged him with a moment of silence for friends and family lost, including Capital Steez and A$AP Yams. Bada$$ closed out his set with a few minutes of crowd surfing and chanting “Pro Era!”
Joey Bada$$ proved to us that classic New York raw boom-bap Hip-hop is still golden even in 2015, especially in the hands of capable MCs like him.
