Written and Photos by Israel Lerma
For a peaceful Sunday in Houston, Texas, I got a photo pass notification for some of the modern hip hop goats, YSL, and them. Welp, let me clarify who they are: Young Thug, Nav, Teezus, Diamond, 1300Saint. Thug, as we know, is one of the iconic artists, and now he's here showcasing his YSL crew and the GOAT NAV. And oh boy, this concert was way better than people judged it. Let me explain how this night basically got me physically hit by Teezus himself, the intense eye contact Thug was giving me.
To start, we had the openers, who were okay at first, but I totally respect the sound and what they are going for. One thing I will comment on is that the flow of who was coming was so confusing, as there were way more YSL members and the entourage up there that I was lost on where we were. Also, they were behind schedule by like 45 minutes lol. But 1300Saint was cool, but Diamond ...
was better for sure. This new generation (hehe) is quite solid, a different sound of early Thug, but they are paving their own similar sounds to be something great that is for sure. The biggest start was for sure Teezus, and holy he is a star. He is one of the few new-age rappers who genuinely impressed me. Why? Well, man, his energy is nuts. I have never seen a live performer like him, frankly. He is new to the game, but his energy and stage prese nce do not feel like it. He is like prime UZI type of energy! His 25-minute setlist was also the best out of the openers, and he delivered in his performance, actually rapping along. Also, the fans went crazy, people in the stands love bro, and he had the same amount of pop when Thug came out. Also, while Teezus was interacting with the fans, he tried to go backstage, and lowkey smacked me lol. This lowkey upset me, but I gotta respect the energy at the end of the day lol.
Moving on, we then had the goat NAV come out, and yeah, he is quite good. Lots of people complain about him coming, since it's not YSL and his music sucks, but nah. His music is good, and he is an experienced fellow in the game. I will complain, his songs were practically all featuring someone, from Uzi to Travis, he kinda relied on their bangers to carry rather than a solo set. But even his own personal tracks like Myself, ehh, lowkey that was it lol. Yeah, looking back, every song he played had a big modern trap feature and just Nav. He also played one of his iconic features, Beibs in the Trap, an iconic bird's song that was appreciated and loved in the H. Still, Nav knows what the people want, and he lets them bang. I respect that a lot. Not everyone in the audience was loving that, but I sure did. He did not really interact with anyone in the audience, but his constant energy and confidence made it pretty worthwhile. I mean, if you look at the track record of his set, it is insane that he can just perform these songs lol. And welp, he can support that, as can what I experienced.
Now,
finally, Thug! was on the verge. So as Thug came out, everyone came out, I mean, it is called the YSL tour. The first 10 minutes of his set were him and the YSL boys playing their new stuff, which I really think is just okay. It was quite a boring 10 minutes, with many repetitive tracks and just them ad-libbing their parts, trying to get stuff lit. It really fell flat, and most people would agree. It felt more of a showcase, which I respect, just not a good one whatsoever. BUT then finally, everyone left, and it was just Young Thug. That's when he made the night special. First performance in Houston after all the Rico stuff, this was monumental for the H. He started playing his bangers, Lifestyle, Hot, Mamacita, Surf... and wow, that is what we call a TRACK RECORD. His performance was lit, he loved the fans, interacted with us, made people's days, it was awesome. He also had this confident swagger, moving around the stage, trying to get everyone involved and hyped up even more. Like he was hitting pretty much everything correctly, and the crowd was finally all in sync, all hitting that peak groove.
Rating Young Thug's show, Letterboxd style
- Setlist - .75 --> Okay, he had most of the best songs in his catalog, frankly. I would get rid of the YSL songs and add more Slime Season 3. But other than that, it was solid!
- Stage Presence - 1.00 --> He did everything an artist should. Talked, Checked, Confident, Awesome background and set. The background was really awesome, it was this atmospheric thing I did not expect.
- Performance - .75 --> For a long setlist, he did a great job in keeping up with the tracks. No crazy flows, but he did his part, you know.
- Audience .75 --> Yeah, for the most part, these were real fans. But nothing in the audience stuck out per se. Some people did pass out tho. Also, some people were more fans of Teezus rather than Thug Surprisingly.
- Overall Experience / Vibe 1 --> Good times, man. I was kicked out of the pit after the first three songs, but my boy Diego, who was personally taking pics for his team, let me slide hahah. Keep that between us, but the whole show, I was vibing when I wasn't supposed to be. Also t, Teezus smacked me, Thug looked at me a good amount, and I got $15 laid out by Teezus 🙂
- Total 4.25/5 Stars
