On a casual Thursday night out in Long Beach, CA the crowd starts to come together for a night of music at The Blue Cafe. Lush Up Your Life presents Kosher Kris & Just Jae Raw no 4 Play album release along with guest performances from Verbs, Melziah Dia, Niceguy x Vinny, Stevie Crooks, Aston Matthews, and Gibby.
As I started walking into the venue, I started to think about how exciting of a night this will be. The lights were dimmed, Niceguy x Vinny was already on stage with his set playing some music while the crowd was lounging rocking to the beat, sippin’ on drinks, interacting with one another, and vibing out to the atmosphere. Melziah Dia walks up on stage, grabs the mic, and starts communicating with the crowd. His aura is an energetic natural coolin’ that intertwines with mother nature. His fashion sense combines styles that he embraces in his culture through his clothing with a blast from the past with a mixture of the future. Now let’s rewind to a few days back when I in fact sat down on my desk and played multiple tracks of Niceguy x Vinny. Let me tell you this guy has talent no doubt about it. His beats blend in with the different sounds he joins together screams out creativity and relaxation to the mind. These two have been working together for a while and on stage they drop knowledge from the beats to the lyrics. Their music brings out two-step head bopping moves that in a weird way made you feel like you were watching A Tribe Called Quest performance. Another dynamic performer is Verbs whom y’all may know from his Bananas nights event held in Leimert Park. Verbs showcases a tradition of true hip-hop intelligence that is partially left out in this era. During his performance Verbs was like a bee in my eyes because in his performance you find him buzzing around interacting with the people in the audience and then stings the audience when he gets a hold of the mic. He comes out like a speeding bullet and later slows down just a bit to tune in with the crowd and jumps out from stage to give everyone a piece of his energy and some sweat as an added parting gift before returning to the stage. Either way Verbs has been one of the most chill, impure and well-done performers I have met where each track he delivers then pauses for a bit to speak and continues with his lyrics.
The next artist was Aston Matthews who came out wearing a Stone Cold Steve Austin 3:16 shirt. Each individual at the venue was buggin’ out with their hands in the air waving them around like they just don’t care. It became a rush, as if you were sippin’ slow and then back to the rush. Aston Matthews and his people on stage had everyone going bananas. While I was standing with the audience, we were all on Lil B’s cooking dance master chef level straight buggin’ out with the performers. The entire audience were showing off various cooking styles, slapping hands, spinning and how some would say it “swagging.” Aston Matthews mos def released those hidden movements everyone had inside of them during the night. Gibby was another artist performing to grace the stage that was quite funny and interesting who performed a few tracks that had everyone laughing. Following Gibby’s set, was an artist by the name of Stevie Crooks I had the pleasure to see perform at another show. Stevie Crooks is a standout up and coming artist that always brings a twist to the stage with his steeze and fast pace lyrics. The crowd was engaged to his flow and rapping to every single beat that was dropping.
As Stevie ended his set the performance that everyone had been waiting for finally arrived. Kosher Kris & Just Jae walked over to the stage and stood there soaking up the crowd. Kosher Kris & Just Jae’s outfits had me interested throughout the night. One had that vintage fresh chill look while the other had a more East Coast-West Coast street culture wear with some funk. The duo collaborated and after all their hard-work a masterpiece was created. Raw No 4 Play album release show had each listener listening to some organic, raw lyrical concepts that gave some type of exploration to the mind. This duo broke that cliche “hip-hop” scene that is proclaimed to be nowadays. They had the crowd into each and every single act. They combine together their insight on their actions, thoughts, behavior, and self-knowledge. Plain and simple the crowd was wild and after that track Strawberry Shortcake, ladies probably went home and downloaded that album. Aside from that, The Wood Class whom is a clothing based out in Los Angeles were on stage throwing out some goodies. Kosher Kris x The Wood Class did a collab on a hoodie and even a promo video on the album before it was released. Luckily I got a sticker from their collab but either way go ahead and check out The Wood Class and go cop one of their hoodies.The night was a successful night and myself along with Illsociety Magazine, is proud of Lush your Life for her hard-work and making this event a success. We are also glad to be part of each and every single artist that performed that night.
-Tania Espat
Photos by Carolina Isabel
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