THUG TOWN, WHATTUP?
As I said in the last post, I had a temper tantrum about he lack of shows in my beloved home state on, and ended up with 2 shows booked by the end of the night. Lashanta, a young ambitious sister who is just entering the game, but very astute and easy to work with, hits me up and says she wants to help. I finally get the info for Soundpony, we book the show. I reach out to all my homies from Tulsa who really get busy in Verse, Steph Simon, and Mr. Burns, and add Ayilla to the bill, who is managed by Lashanta.
I've had really good experiences in Tulsa the last two times for shows, and I've always had a love for the city, accept for the time I went to Night Trips and the drinks were trash, and the only Black fine girl had hair like Showtime Lakers Pat Riley. And the other time was when Booker T beat us in the Class 5A finals my senior year. I spent some time in the 918 when my cousin and aunt moved to Tulsa my junior year I believe, and it was lit af. I also knew a lot of Tulsa people from Math & Science cam and my semester at Langston, so I'm somewhat familiar with the city.
Tulsa had one of the strongest Black business districts in the country in the 1900's, blocks they called "Black Wall Street." O.W. Gurley, one of the first Black nationalists on American soil, was instrumental in building this Black nation for those African people post slavery who didn't go west or further to the mid west cities like Chicago or Detroit. in 1921, a white woman lied and said a Black boy tried to rape her, and white folks used that as an excuse to burn Black Wall Street to the ground, murdering mad Black folks. I grew up in Oklahoma K-12 and these Oklahoma schools which taught us Oklahoma history never taught us this. But the think I love about Black people in Tulsa is that they live with this in their spirit and it permeates in their Black pride and there sense of Black economics. As a unapologetic pro-Black empowerment conscious emcee, I've always felt comfortable around this type energy, and though I'm from southern Oklahoma, I'd like to think some of brother Gurley's spirit is somewhere in my soul.
THAT MF GOUT....
So yeah, we went to the strip club in OKC, I threw some ones, drank too much Henny, and ate terrible at Denny's. That gout in my ankle was was like, "Hold up wait a minute, ya'll thought I was finished?" That bih went full pre-joce Meek on a real nigga, and I just had to accept it. Once again, I throw back like a quarterback, and Mark drives us up to Tulsa.
Upon arrival we go to check in and Super 8 was acting stupid with us, so we call an audible and hit a lick at a nice Clarion situation, for damn near the same price!!! I normally don't do Clarion Inn, by this one was on it mane. I limp my big ass up to room, pop a few more pills, take a SCRONG ass nap, wake up refreshed as a bih, get dressed, head to the venue.
#CULTUREOVEREVERYTHING
We get to the venue, walk in , and there's a dark skinned nigga with dreads taking his shirt off. The Ardmore nigga in me immediately gets ready to engage in amateur pugilism, because A-Town raised me crazy. Turns out he's the door man shooting a music video in the bar, and he was just changing tops. Good. Buddy to be mad cool. Verse a.k.a. DJ Why Not? pulls up, Mark & I eat TNT Wangs and then set up the merch.
People start trickling in pretty consistently, and we start at 11 PM on the dot as advertised. I introduce myself and the host for the night, LaShanta, and she brings up her artist Ayilla to start the night on. Li'l sis did her thing. More of a soulful/folky/Hip-Hop vibe, kinda like the sister from Oakland who came out in the early 2000's named Mystic. I was very impressed, and look forward to bringing her to BR for #SlayTheFlow in March.
Next up is Mr. Burns, a guy from Louisiana, but moved to Oklahoma when he was 18 and has been there every since. Pretty much the opposite of me. Burns come out in a Doom mask and absolutely kills. Burns is that good kinda crazy nigga that you need on your squad to win a championship. Imagine Dennis Rodman with a crossover like Filayyyyy. Super duper high energy performance, and he really got the crowd hype for the night. The crowd is pretty thick at this point. It's lit.
Now it's Verse's turn, who's also been running sounds all night as DJ Why Not?. At certain points he's rapping while manning the music at the same time, and he does a few joints with Burns. Verse is one of the coolest most laid back brothers I know, but is very intentional and sharp as a lyricist. I love him as a writer and his delivery always sticks, without have to do a lot of jumping around to when the crowd over, an emcee's emcee.
After Verse is Steph Simon's turn. Steph and I argue about OKC Thunder stuff via Facebook messenger constantly, as he was to trade Steven Adams, and I'm tryinna tell him he's playing like an all star this year. Steph dropped an Oklahoma classic last year with "Born on Black Wall Street," and is by far the crowd favorite with all the hit records. The venue is on swole at this point, and the people know Steph's songs. I'm like "shit mane..." No lie this is the best lineup I've been on in a while, where I know I gotta go up, bc I'ma drown if I don't.
Mind you my foot is still swollen, but I'm not no sucker, and these ppl ain't gonna see me limp tonight. I pretty much do the same set as OKC, but with much more vigor and focus. Acapella goes well, then "Bad Man." Wasn't alot of crowd participation through out the night, so it took a while for the crowd to see how I was coming, but they was all "bad motherfuckas" by the end of the record. Next is "Black God Fresh" which went over well, then "Henry Clay." "Henry Clay" is literally the story of how my Great Great Grandfather escaped slavery Texas to Oklahoma. With this being my homecoming show, makes perfect sense I rock it here, and it goes well.
WHITE PEOPLE WILD AF....
Side story: when I came in 2017 for my set at the Yeti, a white guy with a MAGA hat came to the show. He saw the artwork for "Seven" with an animated Trump on the front and started asking questions about my music. Whatever, you gonna shop or nah? After the set he was drunk, came back to my table this time without the red KKK hat. I'm always ready for the smoke so I size him up, he asks me how much do the CD's and shirts cost. I quote that mf full price on both, he then goes to his old lady and get's her card to spend a quick $30 with me. I successfully converted a deplorable, or maybe it was the alcohol? NDC regardless.
Look I know my state, and white folks here ain't always been the most progressive, but being that I'm so trill, I'm gonna do the "Fuck Donald Trump" record and be ready to fight if need be. I do the record and besides a 6'5 white guy coming to stand right in front up me with a blank face during the the song, it went over mad well. "FreeBLKPPL" next, then I go allllll the way back to church with "Stare & Whisper." I feel I had a really good set, but some of the local fans were more receptive to the local emcees with records they were familiar with, and I really can't do anything about that. Plus these Tulsa niggas can RAP.
Now it's 12:45 AM, we got about 135 people in a 150 cap room. 75 mins left, and Verse turns back to DJ Why Not? and goes IN. Mane these white folks and a few Black people was cutting up so bad I had to go leave my merch table to "host," (a.k.a. get on the mic and talk mad shit like I'm Diddy while Verse spins) which I'm sneaky good at. The DJ is spinning all the Panda/DieLit records I know nothing about, and NDC, bc these mf's in here #Wildin4Respect. At one point toward the end, a white guy stood up on some tall ass bar stools and started making out with a mannequin. Next, I hear Ayilla on the mic saying, "Go little booty, go little booty, go!!!" to a white girl who had neither a stitch of ass or rhythm, but gave all the effort in the world. It was like watching Rudy as we admired her desire and drive to shake that non existent tail feather with no idea with where the beat was. A true inspiration.
Finally the night ends with an older white guy who is a record collector who's done mad research on me, calling me Bryan (how tf do u know my government name?), talking about the war in Syria, and inter-sectional politics as it pertains to race, economics, and sexuality. All that and he STILL ain't buy nothing lol. Overall, it's the best show I've ever booked out of town, and I feel like I earned my respect. Can't wait to come back.
Ratings
Venue: 4.5/5. Perfect spot for an underground Hip-Hop show. My only knock is there isn't a ideal plae to sell merch.
Crowd: 4/5. If they woulda been familiar with my music, it woulda been lit af. Means I got work to do to cultivate a fan base here. Other than that, it was thick and they showed mad love.
Merch Sales: 3/5. Mane it was so lit and my merch table was so poorly situated, that I could barely sell shit. Gotta figure that out better next time.
Sound: 4/5. Shit slapped to me.
Set List
"Black God Fresh" (Unreleased)
Next Show
2/6/18 in Santa Cruz, California
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