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Young Dolph Concert Review

Young Dolph
August 7th, 2015
CrossroadsKC at Grinders - Kansas City, MO

Young Dolph

Consider this review a bit of a sequel to the first SHUTTLECOCK concert review of Rae Sremmurd earlier this year, a fun show that just tested my patience a little.

Local rap promoters often pull many of the same tricks. With no formal announcement of opening acts, the show was overrun by them. At 9pm a familiar character wandered onto the Crossroads stage. Good old T-Rell, an artist I'd seen open the Rae Sremmurd show. The Topeka-based singer stuck to his shtick of singing R&B hits a cappella and performing a couple original songs. T-shirts were thrown out to the few audience members singing along with him.

Hot 103 Jamz' DJ Brian B. Shynin' spun radio rap hits in-between sets, one of which included an audience dancer with some impressive moves. Local rappers Devi and Bird performed a very mediocre joint set of outdated, uninspired hip-hop.

Adrian Marcel
10pm soon came with the first of the night's touring acts, Adrian Marcel. Marcel, a 25 year old Oakland R&B crooner quickly stole the hearts of many young women in the audience. A group of teenagers standing near me jumped and screamed multiple times throughout the half-hour set, including an extended period when Marcel pointed directly at one of them as he sang. While the guy certainly has pipes, I couldn't help but chuckling after he grabbed his crotch as he passionately sang about his "killa." Marcel closed with his biggest song "2AM", an admittedly catchy song and his most energetic performance of the set.

Next to perform was a very rambunctious group by the name of Loudpack Money Gang, three Kansas City rappers and many friends they let on stage. Their songs draw heavily from Atlanta and Chicago's aggressive trap and drill sounds. The boys were jumping up and down, shoving their faces into on-stage cameras, and smoking blunts for the majority of what was one of the more entertaining opening sets. After a handful of songs they asked that you follow one of them on Instagram, shook hands with the DJ, and left the stage.

Kansas City's First Family Of Rap
I didn't even catch the name of the last group (or rapper and posse) to open. They offered a similar version of unoriginal Kansas City hip-hop as Devi and Bird. The one tight part about their set though was two of the rappers' elementary school aged family members (or friends?) hopping the barricade and joining the guys on stage. The kids knew almost all of the profanity-laced lyrics by heart, reciting them until the music cut out. The crowd ate it up, but you might see it on the local news later and witness your racist aunt ranting about it on her Facebook.

Finally, by 11pm, the South Memphis Kingpin himself joined in on the party. Young Dolph, while never having a chart-topping hit, has quite an impressive resumé. He has worked with producers Zaytoven and Metro Boomin, recorded songs with 2 Chainz, Juicy J, Paul Wall, and Gucci Mane, and dropped ten full-length mixtapes. While performing a succinct set, the crowd was hyped on every second of it.

The stage quickly flooded with photographers, dancers, and several of the show's openers. Dolph didn't seem to mind the company. He slowly crept from one side of the stage to the other, frequently waving a towel around over his head to rile up the crowd. While the artsy First Friday events were entertaining suburban tourists outside, Young Dolph was entertaining those more concerned with the guap and reminding us that "real n****s make the world go 'round." That's a lot more fun if you ask me.

Dolph masterfully performed his boastful raps with a sort of power that only a veteran of the Dirty South could, and that's all that anyone could've asked of him.

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