Lineup: Waka Flocka Flame/Oxymorrons
Venue: Paradise Rock Club Boston, MA
Oxymorrons: I would've strongly questioned your sanity if you had told me when I bought a ticket to this show that a rap rock band would be opening for Waka Flocka Flame, but that's exactly what ended up happening. They came out on stage and opened with a borderline indie rock song, which set a very odd tone out of the gate and left a majority of the audience in a state of bewilderment. Thankfully, things improved from there as they widely picked up their energy and tempo. Their other original songs were largely uptempo and had a surprising amount of amusing lines and their medley of rock versions of Migos' "Look at My Dab",Young Thug's "Best Friend", A$AP Ferg's "Work" and Drake and Future's "Jumpman" was surprisingly badass. I doubt Oxymorrons will enter my regular listening rotation, but they put on a pretty entertaining show.
Waka Flocka Flame: Anyone that's in-tune with the modern hip-hop scene knows that Waka Flocka Flame's live shows are among the most lauded in the entire scene. His off-the-walls energy, tendency to stage dive/go into the crowd and flawlessly perform all of his material have turned his live performances into the stuff of legend. After being a fan of his for the past few years, I was extremely excited to finally get the opportunity to see him. I don't know if it was due to the relatively tame crowd or Flocka's admitted drunkenness, but his performance last night largely didn't live up to the hype.
The biggest gripe I had with his set was the infrequency in which he rapped. I do respect that he didn't sit there and lip sync for the whole set like some rappers do and that he sounded pretty good when was he was actually rapping, but it was annoying to watch him rap a handful of lines then pause for a few seconds before starting again
The amount of time he dedicated to playing electronic/dubstep tracks was similarly obnoxious. I get that Waka Flocka has carved out a niche in the electronic music community recently, but watching him play covers of "Turn Down for What" and other stupid dubstep staples while he all but completely ignoring material from his spectacular 2015 mixtape Flockaveli 1.5 left a bad taste in my mouth.
On a more positive note, Waka Flocka's stage presence and ferocity was still enough to forgive a lot of the shortcomings with his performance. His energy may have not quite as overwhelming as I heard it was, but it was still pretty damn impressive. There was hardly ever a time where hasn't jumping up and down, running around the stage or trying to elicit some type of chant or gesture from the crowd. Flocka is a pretty great showman and I can imagine him being an unstoppable tornado of destruction when he's on the top of his game. I'm willing to give Flocka another chance live, but I'll definitely be tempering my expectations so I don't experience another letdown like this.
Scores:
Oxymorrons 7/10
Waka Flocka Flame 7/10
Setlist included:
Wildboy (MGK cover)
Hard in Da Paint
No Hands
Rooster in My Rari
50K
All I Know
Stay Hood
Turn Down for What (DJ Snake cover)
Ain't No Mountain High Enough (Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell cover)
Grove St. Party
Murda Something (A$AP Ferg cover)
O Let's Do It
Workin'
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