The air was alive this past Saturday night at The Troubadour in West Hollywood, Los Angeles. It was a celebration; a gathering of souls that all had a few interests in common: good vibes, good music, and good times. LA-grounded producer, singer, composer, & writer Iman Omari kicked off the release of his new souled-out space trip of an LP, (Vibe)rations, with a hell of a show.
The team here at ILLSOCIETY Magazine had the pleasure of bringing it to you. Hosted by MoRuf, sponsored by Miss Wax, Mookee By Yuske, TLR&Co, Livevil, Atlas & Mason, Mafmatiks, Cha Cha Covers, Nena Soulfly, Nu-Soul, & Project Live. We hope you were there (or, at least, told the homies to go). If not, here’s what you missed:
The lights were low, the air was full of smoke, and the stage had a glow. Tripped out visual projections by Major Gape danced all over the wall behind it.
Anticipation was in the air. A young power force in the New West movement, Iman’s reputation drew in a gang of heads to The Troubadour on this particular night, some quite notable. Aside from his Overdoz & THC counterparts, Zeroh, K Roosevelt, and yes, Jill Scott (wow), were spotted in the place to be, just to show love. For those unfamiliar with Iman’s work, that should be hint enough of its potency. From the jump, there were plenty of signs this would be a night to remember.
After sound checks, the doors to The Troubadour opened and the evening began with a DJ set from LBC’s Dustdigg. Turning tables and spinning all-vinyl selections from Dilla to Sa-Ra to everything dope in between, homie kept the mood well-set and heads noddin’ on top of necks upon entering the spot.
As his playlist faded, up came songstress Neijah Lanae, who laced the early crowd with a sultry little set of bass-laced and dripped out songs from her debut EP, Trouble In Paradise. She met the stage with a warm voice, graceful energy, and a surprise guest appearance from spitter Raven Sorvino (of Language Artz) as they performed their song, “Mind Heart Soul.” She closed the set out to woo’s & claps with an acoustic tune featuring a guitarist on both sides of her. Fly, it was.
A turnt up set from DJ Val the Vandle followed. His well-chosen selection of trap bangers & ratchet noise helped get the crowd amped for the hooligans about to jump on next. Those hooligans? Grown Azz Kid$. The turnt up rap trio had a whole gang of heads in the crowd bouncing, yelling out “G.A.K.” and reciting the words to their anthem, “Bout That Life” and a collection of joints from their upcoming EP, Eat, Sleep, Sex, Weed, Music, Fashion before leaving the stage wet with a puddle of Hennessy. Grown adolescence at its finest. It was hype.
While the henny was getting wiped up, rising beat legend Knxwledge, praised by all the beat heads in the house, quietly ascended to the DJ booth. Filling the room with his signature tripped-out boombap collages of layered drum loops, fluid bass lines, remixed rap verses & finely chopped samples, he kept the room in a headnod hypnosis until leaving the stage just the way he went up, in his typical humble and laid back fashion.
While the chill vibe Knx induced gave heads a chance to unwind a bit after the Grown Azz Kid$ set, the next artist to hit the stage came to amp things right back up. iLL Camille, in all sense of the phrase, bodied the stage. With her sharp lyrics, razor flows, powerful voice and soulful (yet so gangsta in a good way) demeanor, her set, by all means, displayed why she’s a force to be reckoned with. Backed by a full band (that she assembled just two days earlier for the special occasion) along with her DJ, she ripped through a medley of bangers from her free album, ILLUSTRATED, released earlier this year. The man of the night, Iman, even made an early appearance onto the stage to help her perform her latest single and crowd favorite, “Live It Up”, which he’s featured on. Heads went wild.
The last and definitely not least of the openers, Tiffany Gouche (known to her homies as GooCH) only kept the energy moving. Accompanied by her band and three back-up singers, she rattled the stage with a beautifully soulful performance that had Jill Scott’s hands up in the air on the balcony above. Her voice, the harmonies, and the energy, were enough to raise the roof and it felt like they did. She ended her set to a wild applause.
By this point, The Troubadour was a full house. Next up was the guy everyone came out to see. Iman Omari hit the stage to a whole lot of love. He then proceeded to display exactly what that love was for. Drifting over his palette of textured, jazz-infused, and electrolove-warped instrumentals, Iman grabbed hold of the crowd from the very jump to the end. He was backed by the same band that held it down for Tiffany Gouche, except instead of backup singers, he laced the set with a live horn section (yap, live horns). He proceeded to shift through selections from the new LP and a few from his previous one, on some cool cosmic shit. A couple of his dope friends also added to the wave. MoRuf jumped on to help him perform a joint from their collaborative tape, Euphoria and Gouche joined him on a couple of their jams together. Very good music was in occurrence. The whole room was moving and everyone in it could clearly feel the (vibe)rations. Pun intended. It was an organic night of new and refreshing music. One to remember.
Peace to everyone who came out, vibed and showed love.
It was ILL, to say the least.
-Absent Avery
All photos shot by Tatsu
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