When I last covered a musical event, I went to the Juicy J concert, and afterwards thought it was the loudest experience of my life. But this 21 Savage concert was on a whole other level, in every way. The music was louder, yes. But the crowd was bigger, the stage was bigger, the clothing was better, the security was tighter and the people were interesting-er. You could take one look at the entourages and roadies and conclude that everything was at a higher status.
Early in the day, young people were at the doors of the Stroh Center (one individual who was first in line showed up at least 2 hours before the opening of the doors. The entrance opened and people rushed inside. In a matter of 20 minutes, the crowd already outnumbered that of the Juicy J event. Soon would begin the event dubbed #nosleepBG.
It was a cornucopia of hip-hop, rap and trap artists, both locally and nationally recognized. Dancers, disc jockeys and radio personalities alike spent hours entertaining the crowd, all in anticipation for 21 Savage. There were plenty of opening acts to warm up the crowd. So many I thought the crowd would become restless. The crowd had an insatiable hunger to see 21 Savage, but they would have to wait. It would be more than 3 hours before 21 would appear (thus the event named #nosleepBG; the crowd became restless).
On a more personal note, I never made 21 Savage’s acquaintance, much to my dismay. To quell the rumors swirling around campus as well, Snoop Dogg, Tee Grizzley and Soulja Boy were not in the building.
The dancers were beautiful, the rapping was fire and the music was popping. And to be quite frank, it was certainly worth your time and money to get floor tickets. Nothing compared to watching these artists perform up close.
The crowd eventually got into mid-show form, cheering and screaming, raucous shouting filling the arena. The show turned into a hip-hop marathon, only this time it wasn’t on VH1. It soon became like Dick Clark’s New Year’s Eve show.
“Only one hour to Savage.”
“15 minutes to Savage.”
“7 minutes to Savage.”
Soon minutes became seconds. The proverbial crystal ball was finally going to drop.
Throughout the show, the hosts would make the running statement that 21 was stuck in traffic. My initial thought was that this was something the hosts would do to work up the crowd. And for a few hours, it was working. But the more the hosts promised 21 Savage, the more irritated the crowd became.
It soon became the time that Savage was scheduled to perform. By 10:30 there were rumors about his whereabouts.
Everything from him eating at El Zarape to not even being in the state. It was at this time, a security guard revealed to me that 21 Savage was not even in the building. He might actually be stuck in traffic. This hailed thoughts of every musical movie where the main character must rush through traffic and get into the arena just in time for their big performance. (Drake and Josh Go Hollywood, anyone?)
Chants of 21 echoed throughout the building. It was confirmed by one of the hosts: 21 Savage was in our presence.
As if the Beatles finally appeared, 21 Savage made his way onstage (45 minutes late). A beat dropped. The crowd had finally reached the climax and went berserk. A short but memorable set, 21 Savage was the act everyone had patiently waited weeks, days, hours for. The crowd was jumping like the beginning of the show, chanting every lyric. He had rocked the show late, but everyone would agree it was worth it to be in his presence. For a short while, a few hundred young people in BG went SavageMode.
