WHAT THE FUCK DID I SEE THIS WKND (CONCERT EDITION)

Shitty week at work. No particular reason. It was shitty because well, it's work. A dumb ass snow storm to add to the shitty work week. Normal thinking would be the weekend might be trash too. Nah my G. Things were all love. I'm known for the "What the fuck I listened to" articles where I tell the readers what music I was vibing to. This one I'm going a different route and telling you about performances I saw this weekend. 

RT-FAQ - EAST ST LOSER (LIVE AT FRESH)

I started my weekend by going to "FRESH" a showcase in "Cicero's" every last thursday of the month put together by my homies John Harrington, So'n'So, and DJ Smitty. A great showcase that I've had the honor and privilege of performing at twice. It's starting to look like the warm weather about to creep back up so I highly recommend you come to these showcases on Thursday at the end of every month because it's nothing but love in the place along with food, drinks, live graffiti art, painting, Dj'ing, breaking. All the elements of Hip-Hop are happening. Definitely a great atmosphere. RT-Faq and Netwurk were the headliners of this month's FRESH showcase. 

RT-Faq put on a dope ass performance with a live band, DJ, and backup singers. Sharing his journey through his upbringing in East St.Louis and breaking down each song and what it means to him and the significance it plays in his life today. My favorite joints were the tracks with Aloha Mi'Sho, a high energy performance about drugs with Indiana Rome and Rockwell Knuckles, and his son "Heir Jordan" rapping over a Travis Scott song about how his dad is slowly taking his time putting together his new bunk bed and he's growing impatient. RT-Faq is confused on how to put it together and that's what's taking so long. The chemistry between him and his son is very great and awesome to see for any young black fathers out there. He has involved his children with his journey and has them doing something positive. Always a blessing to witness love like that. Overall a great performance that gave helped me understand his purpose in pursuing music. 

Don't forget "FRESH" every last thursday of the month LIVE at "Cicero's" in the Delmar Loop. 

MVSTERMIND (LIVE AT THE DEMO)

Friday arrives. The night Mvstermind headlines at The Demo. I expect nothing but greatness from him and of course that's what the night provided. Let me break down these acts. All photographs posted of this show are by TMH Photography. He did an incredible job. DJ Nico with the jams all night. ColdBlooded. 

MAJOR MUSIC

Never heard of these guys. Honestly I have no fucking clue who's in the group or who does what. I don't even think they know. They just came to turn the fuck up. I came in the venue and all I see is shirts with "MAJOR" on them so I'm thinking those are the artists. NOPE! I was wrong they were fans. The support these young guys had were amazing. They have a legit following and the crowd knew all the words to every song and they were all just having a good time. I like to see things like that. It's a hip hop show. Fuck that looking cool shit and just have fun. St.Louis has 2 huge problems that I seen this group solve. 1) SHOW UP TO THE FUCKING SHOW ON FUCKING TIME! Major Music fans were deep way before the start time of the show. The sooner the show starts the sooner it can end and you can go do other shit like a kickback, or club, etc. Show up on time so the show won't delay. 2) THEY ACTED LIKE THEY WERE AT A CONCERT. Their set got crazy to the point where water was being thrown, shirts were coming off in the crowd, girls twerking, dabbing, whatever it was just craziness. They came to have fun and didn't care who disapproved. It really grinds my gears at people who just sit and stare at the artist then come up to the artist after the set and say "I really enjoyed your show." Shit, I couldn't tell. Fun set by Major Music, shout out to them. 

MONDO 

This kid is a interesting fellow. Last person I ever thought was a rapper (Never judge kids). Reminds me of a little bit of The Pharcyde's subject matter mixed with Shia Labeouf when he was freestyling while he was hiking and was stoned. This guy has flow and is very charismatic. He had a following in the building too and the support he got was dope. He doesn't take himself too seriously he just rapping about fucking girls and smoking trees. Normal things for a kid his age. He definitely put on a crazy set and I respected him after what I saw. He had one of his homies on stage singing and the kid couldn't really sing but the off pitch singing meshed so well with the track it was some brilliant shit. I couldn't stop laughing at how dope it was. He had on a Deadpool shirt too. Extra cool points for that kid. I think his name was "Happy" or maybe the song was named "Happy." No joke I think his name was really Happy. Happy is a awesome name if that's true. 

J'DEMUL

1st track I ever heard by J'Demul was "1995 til Now" I think that was about 2 years ago when I heard it and when I heard it I was extremely impressed. It's one thing to know how to rap but when you can really feel what the artist is saying it's another thing. He is truly ahead of his time. No kiddy rhymes or flow. He has in the words of battle rapper T-Rex "Grown Man Bars." Either he's been through a lot or he's seen a lot but either way you can really feel it. He did his whole set off Google Play on his phone so he really didn't have a real show set and that was impressive because he still killed it. If he had a actual show set, his performance would've been insane. The stage presence of a veteran, the beat selection, the lyricism, it just seemed like it was a walk in the park to him. J'Demul just has this mystique and aura about him. He's rapping about his life right in front of you and you still don't feel like you know him which brings you back to hear more and more. 3 white girls told him while he was performing that they loved him and it was their first time ever seeing him or hearing him. He had the juice that night. He was definitely my favorite set of the night and probably my top artist from St.Louis right now. I don't care about numbers or popularity this kid is special and I can't wait for his project to hit the streets. Check his latest visual "University Street" shot by Louis Quatorze.

NAJII PERSON

A very passionate and selfless guy. Every chance he got he was showing love to someone from St.Louis. Love travels so that's important. Very intricate on how he approaches his music and seems like a guy who really cares for people in general.  Whether he was cyphering on stage to instrumentals like he did in high school to the powerful words he spoke to finish his set about our culture he really loves what he does. The production he rapped over was dope and I think he produced all of it and the crowd really fucked with him heavy. A great show overall. 

MVSTERMIND/MME

Real shit bruh. I try to listen to what the fuck Mvstermind talk about and sometimes and I'll catch some gems but I miss a lot of shit he says because his production is so out of the universe that I'm focused on the beat more than him rapping. He can rap, don't ever play yourself but I be spazzing and trying to figure out how the fuck did he come up with this shit. He played some production to start things up and of course the production was nothing but heat. Con went through some of his joints and performed some burners. The homie and unpredictable Mir came on stage and blessed the mic and Mvstermind closed the show on the mic and killed and Najii came back for a feature on "Sway." Definitely wished my homie Ciej was back for this but he was there in waves and spirit. A great set by Mvstermind. He works harder than a lot of people out here and it shows. He paves his own lane and stays focused. Great show him and Con put together, was blessed to witness it. 

Saturday........... Steph Curry Was The GOAT 

My Weekend was the shit. 

- BENNY