I expect some king shit when I hit the El Rey Theatre. Big shows, big names and big crowds. It’s a venue that is typically reserved for royalty amongst artists. And when you think of royalty… nowadays you expect a king to push a Bugatti, or worst come to worse, maybe a Maybach. Stalley isn’t really the type of artist you would expect from Ashton Martin Music. He’s bearded up like Freeway, he’s introspective like J.Cole and he’s put it down in the independent leagues of hu$tledom for a minute now.It’s safe to say the young lord is earning himself a reputation for making intelligent trunk music. His merger with Maybach Music Group is like a graffitti artist keeping his krylon cans in a Gucci backpack with the signature red and green stripe. And with that being said, I had to be in the house to check out his performance and see what kind of crowd came out to support the function at the El Rey Theatre.Abstract Evolution had put on the event with the help of the good peoples at Mafmatiks clothing, who were all up in the spot slanging snapbacks in an assortment of now and later flavors. You can catch them on twitter @Mafmatiks
But back to the music…
There were several opening acts. The first group was repping Huntington Beach and blowing lah on stage. The second group was a hip hop band that did its thing but didn’t really hold my attention…
Then came Cesar Luciano, who finally started to warm things up with a little charm on the mic. Make sure to catch him if you can online. Sahtyre got on stage next. He had girls in the crowd screaming out how much they loved him. He kicked some raw raps and held the El Rey Theatre down representing L.A.’s own brand of independent hip hop at its finest. If you haven’t checked out his latest release, The Buddah, make sure you go here and do that with the quickness.
Sahtyre’s fellow Swim Team member Alpha MC happened to DJ the set for the young king. Alph-Boss was swagged out in some Hugh Hefner robes. Make sure you check out his new ”I Don’t Give A Fuck Mixtape” online.
After Sahtyre burned the stage down, Thurz stormed the set. He kept it trill rocking some fly camouflage Guerilla shit and performing songs from his LA Riot mixtape. He began with his first couple of single off the mixtape and followed it with an interactive performance with one of his standout tracks titled “Dope” where he got the involvement of the crowd going back and forth yelling out what section was the dopest. In addition, Thurz had a secret up his sleeve midway threw his performance and brought out BJ the Chicago Kid to rock the stage for a couple tracks that got the crowd hyped after he sang a few ballads.
I caught up with Thurz after his performance and chopped it up with the God for a quick second.
You just performed at the Stalley and Chip the Ripper show here at the El Rey Theatre… for the people who might not be familiar with Thurz, can you let them know who you are?
”What up? This is Thurz outta Inglewood California, representing the 92 crew. Make sure you go get that LA Riot off of iTunes. That would be a good introduction to what I do. We got Blood on the Canvas coming real soon, Lead Sketches and a whole bunch of dope shit.”
So LA Riots.. they happened maybe almost every 30 years or so…
”Truuue… No doubt….”
Do you got any tips for our readers out there on how to survive a riot?
”Um… Stay low and keep firing.”
(laughs)
Word. We know you’re gonna keep firing. Do you got any new music on deck that people can check out?
”Definitely definitely. A lot of joints man, I did a lot of features for some of the homies. I got a lot of dope music coming out right now in the next few months. Just stay tuned man, yeah.”
And where can we find all of that good stuff from you?
”Follow me on twitter @Thurzday, soon to be just Thurz on twitter, when twitter hooks it up and verifies me and shit. They taking too fucking long. You can also check me out on facebook at Facebook.com/thurz92 and on youtube and all that.”
Chip tha Ripper took to the stage shortly after Thurz. What made Chip’s performance so epic was his use of a guitarist and live drummer to accompany his set. The other performers all threw down, but Chip finally got everything bubbling and turnt up enough that the crowd was actually showing love and acting more than too cool. Chip got a lot in common with his cohort Kid Cudi, except his flow is a little more rugged. He definitely got joints to smoke to, and you could see the chronic smoke in the air at the El Rey during his performance.
After Chip did his thing, Stalley came out with DJ Bandcamp, who was solid on the one’s & two’s and an ill ass hype man. Stalley was kicking cerebral raps over trap house sounding production. The bass hit like a drop quick square in the chest. Just when the crowd thought that it couldn’t get any better Stalley brought out Pharrell’s newly signed artist Buddy along with Cool Kids representer and super producer Chuck Inglish who killed their performance of “Party Heart.” Buddy helped lace the hook while Chuck Inglish cooked up the beat and Stalley added the finishing touches with his no-holds bar lyrical skills. Once they hit the stage together it was all said and done. One thing I liked about Stalley’s performance is that he keeps it humble and able to deliver a solid show show. A little more touring in his schedule and everything should be savvy.
Ohio is best known in hip hop circles for DJ Hi-Tek, Bone Thugz N Harmony, and most recently Machine Gun Kelly. Stalley is leaving his own mark and representing the Buckeye state across the country. Overall, the show was a success. Street brands were in the house putting their seal on the game, drinks were served, pretty girls stayed fly and some real hip hop got knocked out the speakerboxxes.
If you want to find more out about Stalley, check out his ILLsociety mixtape. And if you need another dose of ILL nasty shit to bang out your stereo, look into any of the artists who rocked the mic at this show. Once again, big ups to Mafmatiks, those snap backs were way too cold. The El Rey Theatre has preserved its reputation for hosting great live music shows.
Put your lighters up…
– you know your man’s Drop Jewelz.
All Photographs shot by Bianca Giovanna and Courtney Lauretano
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