Music

Curren$y and Big K.R.I.T. kick off Smoker's Club tour in Toronto

by Chayne Japal

Nothing is more entertaining than watching musicians perform music they love. In the not so distant past, the average Hip Hop show would be more DJ than live performances. I have seen headliners, 4 albums deep into their career, hit the stage for 30 minutes and then leave with no goodbyes or thank yous. This was just another complaint to add to my long list of issues with Hip Hop. Luckily, things have changed and the Smoker’s Club Tour is a prime example of that. Blog king Curren$y is co-headlining the tour with young and buzzworthy Big K.R.I.T. and Smoke DZA, all guys doing their part to rebuild a struggling genre and working very hard at it. First stop: Toronto’s Opera House.

There were a lot of rappers on the bill including Toronto’s own JD Era. He has been making moves in and around the Toronto scene for around 5 years. His energy is right where it needs to be and his upcoming single, Lex Luger-produced “Yoga Flame”, was well received. After him, came Pittsburg natives Boaz and Mac Miller. In a recent interview with AUX, Wiz Khalifa brought up both these names when asked about the Pittsburg scene which is apparently bubbling with talent right now. Mac Miller in particular got a very positive reaction during his set and was even asked for an encore, which he obliged. Miller’s K.I.D.S. mixtape has been generating buzz for the 18-year-old this summer. Coupled with this tour, he should have a fairly large following by the end of the year. The undercards had the Opera House rocking with not that much familiarity but enthusiasm the crowd couldn’t deny.

Smoke DZA came next. He ran through songs from his mixtapes Substance Abuse and his new effort George Kush Da Button. After complimenting Canada on their weed, he proceeded to throw spliffs into the crowd to show his appreciation. DZA is from Harlem, something to note in a time when rappers seem to be coming from everywhere else but New York. What’s interesting is how comfortably he’s aligned himself with these out-of-towners for this Smoker’s Club Tour. His chemistry with Mississippi native Big K.R.I.T. is a complete conundrum but it has made for some very good music. Smoke DZA’s gritty New York flow goes over well with Krit’s down-south dirty beats, something like Raekwon on OutKast’s “Skew It On The Bar-B”. His set peaked when he asked “Where my [brotha] Krit at?” to perform the anthem “The Secret”. The crowd was screaming the chorus along with Krit which obviously had him excited. By the time he had reached his section of the show, he was beaming. He said “Ain’t it funny that an ol’ country boy from Mississippi can come up to Toronto and be representing Hip Hop with y’all?” No one really cared about that statement, they just wanted to hear more from his insanely well-reviewed self-produced album Krit Was Here (he did 8 tracks from the record), but Krit’s awareness of his situation is probably what will lead him to more success. This guy isn’t lucky. This is not the time when you show the right person that you have a bit of talent and get signed with an oversized advance. Rappers these days have to make a name all by themselves, then get signed. Big K.R.I.T. has done that and it remains to be seen where his recent deal with Def Jam will take him. I’m fairly confident that his talent and intelligence will allow him to shine.

Then came the man that has bounced around from label to label, from New Orleans to New York, and released mixtape after mixtape to finally be able to release an album with major label backing and headline a North American tour in 2010: Curren$y Spitta. Two things were obvious from Curren$y’s performance on Friday night: 1. that he’s a happy person and 2. he loves to rap. His spirits were high and he held down an entrancing set from front to back. The main reason Spitta’s stage show was so impressive was the use of his DJ, or should I say lack of use. He ran through portions of the set in acapella so the audience could hear who they came to see. Hearing Curren$y’s words was a treat. He has exceptional lyrical aptitude, and his flow and performing voice are as natural as they can be. In his records, the listener really feels like they’re just kicking it with Curren$y, and that wasn’t lost during the performance. For “Car Service”, one of his many Wiz Khalifa collabos, he had the DJ start the beat and then asked the audience to do Wiz’s verse. Then the beat was gone and it was just the crowd doing the entire first verse: “Clear the runway baby, I make money from Sunday to Sunday lady…”. I have never seen the audience play such an integral part of performing a song live. That must be why he cared about them so much. He said “PSA: if y’all decide to smoke up, that’s when y’all get put out” as he saw bouncers pick up too many of his fans and throw them out of the venue. When the crowd started booing the bouncers, he stopped them “They’re here to protect us. None of y’all got stabbed did you?” After bringing back Krit for “Glass House” he said “If you have something called the internet or you pay your cable bill, you’ll know the next few songs.” He then ran through the majority of Pilot Talk and closed with “Example”. At the end of the performance he jumped into the crowd and shook hands for about 2 minutes before leaving. One album out and he performed for over an hour, leaving the audience on a high as he meant to with his “jet life” slogan.

Curren$y set-list

Spit Vicious
Roll My Shit
Micheal Knight
Modern Day Hippie
Drug Flow
Elevator Musik
Freestyle
Famous
Bout It 2010
Jordan 3’s
Fat Raps
Car Service
Lemon Kush
Glass House with Big K.R.I.T.
Life Under The Scope
Skybourne with Big K.R.I.T. and Smoke DZA
Breakfast
4 Hours and 20 minutes to H-Town
Audio Dope II
Twistin’ Stank
Prioritize
Address
King Kong
Example