Damn sure was a hell of a night.
Its safe to say ScHoolboy Q, Domo Genesis, BlackOutBoyz, and Tinashe‘s performances at Central Park in NYC for Summer Stage were emotionally charged, especially towards the end of the packed, outdoor house. The billed sets featured scintillating sub performances, which was great because most of the artist that showed up was unexpected.
After the DJ got the crowd warmed up, Tinashe took the stage and killed it, performing “Vulnerable”, “Stunt”, “Boss” and her most well known track “2 On”. Towards the end of her performance she full-on strutted her pride for her hometown of L.A., as the singer danced across the stage throwing up the West Coast sign while the DJ spun Tupac’s “California Love”, followed by Uncle Snoop’s “Gin & Juice”.
Then, Miss Info came out and introduced Mellowhigh‘s Domo Genesis. The rap collective includes others like Hodgy as well as Left Brain, who are all also affiliated with Tyler The Creator‘s Odd Future. Domo started out with one of his songs entitled “Prophecy”, then lead into “No Idols” followed by “F**k Everybody Else”. He was actually pretty funny on stage–he even did his own little version of “Too close”–before joking about leaving Odd Future. Sadly, there was no Hodgy appearance, but Domo ended with a high powered performance of a song off his latest album SS4.
This is where things really took off.
Drum rolls please.
A$AP Nast rushed the stage rapping “Trillmatic” at the top of his lungs. Then “Hella Hoes”. Flatbush Zombies was spotted near the stage, but their performance was quite abrupt. The crowd went crazy (of course) as they performed songs like “MRAZ” and “Bath Salt”. Meechy and A$AP Illz did their signature crowd surf, but they didn’t get too far.
Baltimore native A$AP Ant was on stage as well, and brought out Yung Gleesh, whose popularity is growing very quickly, to perform “Water”.
As A$AP Mob and Flatbush Zombies filled the stage, you’d think that would be enough surprises for one set.
No.
A$AP Ferg appeared, seemingly out of thin, balmy air, and began a soccer rally-like chant of “Trap Lord”, which ignited the crowd so much the electricity in the air was almost tangible. Then, “Work” dropped, followed by “Work (Remix)”, “Let it Go”, “Shabba Ranks”, and his freestyle to “Move That Dope”. Apparently the Summer Stage staff wasn’t feeling the same good energy as the crowd because they ended A$AP Mob’s segment a bit early.
“They trying to shut us down” Said Ferg.
After seeing all of these artist that weren’t even on the line-up to begin with, everyone’s expectations were all but eradicated at this point and options were open. “Unsure of what’s going to happen next”, was probably the best way to describe it. But that my friends, was only the half of it.
Kendrick Lamar‘s “Backseat Freestyle” had the speakers literally jumping, so of course, the first thing that came to mind was TDE. ScHoolboy Q surfaced on stage and the crowd filled with teenagers wearing bucket hats literally went wild. After doing two songs, he insisted the crowd “wanted some old sh*t” and he was right. “Hands On The Wheel” brought back so many memories from prior shows that ScHoolboy Q has done. Following an artist’s career and witnessing all of their progress has to be by far the one of the most amazing feelings, especially seeing them evolve from a hype man, to an opener, to the main stage artist. The most admirable trait about Q has to be his dedication and loyalty to his hometown and beautiful daughter, and how he’s managed to–so far throughout his career–remain humble, yet full of so much character.
He perfected his art on stage and also spoke out on the recent shooting that took place in Colorado:
I know y’all heard about the incident and sh*t, Ni**as thought I was gonna curl up in the corner and not perform, but I’m out here.
He later shared a joint with a fan, and to introduce his next song he actually made fun of the ladies that were claiming their boyfriends, and encouraged the crowd to say “F**k That Ni**a” before the DJ dropped “Studio”. After being dubbed Q’s “brother from another mother”, Ab-Soul appeared from backstage and performed a few songs on the day after the release of his latest album, These Days. Without warning, Action Bronson charged the stage, this is when it became over whelming. But wait, its not quite over yet.
“I think they trying to turn up on some old school shit” Said Q
“Brand New Guys” beat slipped into the speaker and just when you thought they were enough surprises for the night, you were wrong. A$AP Mob came back on the stage, but this time it was with Rocky. Every time Rocky performs, he never disappoints, and everyone was elated that he came out.
Last but not least, ScHoolboy Q requested the crowd to put two hands in the air, and you know why!
Because it was time for “Man Of The Year”.
Q took this opportunity to crowd surf and for some reason, fans thought it was a good idea to grab his bucket. He made one thing clear after security guards tussled with people to get him back on stage because they weren’t letting go.
Don’t you ever grab my mother f****g hat. I love y’all New York.
As intense as that show was, it was 100% the overwhelming heat and surplus of weed smoking, bucket-hat clad fans. Personally, I love it when artists stick together and remain true to they guys they started with. Summer Stage was definitely a refreshing start to an outstanding summer.
Asada thought twice about it but didn’t reach out to grab ScHoolboy Q’s hat. You can find her on Twitter (@sadablu).
