[I posted this on Tumblr last Tuesday but I think I’m done with my Tumblr for now.]
Watched J. Cole and Drake at Bumbershoot today. I had high hopes for both of them and they both met my expectations. I’m getting over being sick for the past few days, but I wasn’t ready to to stand in the drizzle for three hours, so I sat in the stands with Kuya. (More like drizzle Drake, right?!) So instead of yelling memorized verses and yell-mumbling unmemorized verses, I just sort of mouthed lyrics. Still a lot of fun, but I’m sure it would’ve been better to stand out there with the rest of my friends.
J. Cole did all the favorites and cut the beat on a lot of songs for the final verses. A lot of people were familiar with him, but not everyone, especially in the stands. Slowing it down a cappella allowed those less familiar people to really follow his lyrics. Not that every song is a graduate thesis or anything, but J. Cole has clever lines that can take a few listens to catch. Really though, I’ll stop because I hate when people overanalyze rap music; I’m pretty sure there’s rarely more thought put into writing other than thinking “this is gonna sound tight.”
Drake catered a lot to his female fans, which is understandable since catering to the jock riders (read: me) accomplishes very little. The problem is that it leads to Drake singing a little more than I’d want. I’d just rather hear him rap, because he’s excellent at rapping and decent at singing. I really enjoyed when he did his Paris Morton verse over the Find Your Love beat. Glad to see that Drake’s blown up and I’m glad to see how far J. Cole has come since he opened for Jay-Z last October.
Also, this is the 6 year anniversary of the Nas performance when I got hit in the face by a toilet paper roll that someone Tom Brady’d from the back of the crowd. I love Bumbershoot.