I’m back after a three-year hiatus, (blame it on college) but yesterday was too lit for us to not take a trip back into Amari’s world.
Yesterday I was blessed with the opportunity to join the InFlexWeTrust digital team for the day. In other words, I had all access and a media pass for Summer Jam 17
Man lets get right to it... Here are the 3 highlights of Summer Jam 17 ya digg.
A Boogie wit da Hoodie is a PROBLEM
First things first, I’m late on the A Boogie train and I can admit that. I wasn’t in the city to witness his rise to fame first hand like I was for New York’s last solidified star A$AP Rocky. I remember coming home on breaks early 2016 and everyone in the city would play his music non stop. A Boogie really had the hood behind him for a minute, but I wasn’t messing with him at all tbh. I was hating on the whole singing/ rapping act, I really thought that nanananana shit was corny. Eventually I had to put my pride to the side and admit he was the truth... Easiest way to shut your haters up is with success and I was a fan by his TBA EP.
I knew A Boogie was really lit when all the white girls at my school were on snapchat singing “I’m not a regular person” and I wasn’t the one that put them on. It all happened so quick, soon my cousins in Atlanta were riding around the city blasting his tape and next thing you know, Drake brought him out at the Garden for the Summer 16 tour. I really knew he was gonna be around for a while when both my 11 and 16 year-old sisters were constantly playing him in the crib.
Having said all that, I understood A Boogie was official and the fanbase was organic and faithful but man did the crowd at Summer Jam confirm his star potential. When A Boogie hit that festival stage for the last performance, the crowd went crazy! I’m talking every dude rapping his songs word for word and every girl wyling out for him. It was obvious he’s who the majority of the crowd was there for. He easily had the best stage presence and swag out of everyone on the Festival Stage, “drowning” in diamonds down to the studded Christian Louboutin's
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| A Boogie wit da Hoodie |
SB(SideBar): Main difference between A Boogie and other recent successful acts out of NY like Bobby Shmurda, Young M.A and Desiigner is that he has complete projects, a valid foundation along with an organic come up. He released both his projects to streaming services in 2016 and can already perform a 6-7 song set that’s straight fire, keeping any crowd engaged. He’s here to stay, he isn’t a one-hit wonder, he has a formula and lane that is working lovely for him. Yesterday assured me that he will continue to finesse and keep his foot on the gas. Right now, his only single from 2017 “Drowning ft Kodak” has produced his best chart success thus far. Flex brought A Boogie out on the main stage during his Flex and Friends set and he tore the whole MetLife down this time. I’m calling it right now, he gonna be on that Summer Jam stage next year on his own. I respect the come up and really wanna see how far he can take his career. Y’all think he can reach ASAP Rocky level of success in the rap game? I say why not. Okay, that’s all I got to say about A Boogie. Only right I show mad love after all the hating I did in the past lol.
HOT 97 put on for NYC and we love our New York artist
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| Harlem native Dave East |
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| Young M.A in a custom Pacers jersey |
There’s been a narrative for years that HOT 97 and New York radio doesn’t support NY rappers enough. Even with previous summer jam lineups, people often say NY artist don’t get enough love. It's human nature to often complain about shit but you gotta give credit when credit is due, New York dominated Summer Jam yesterday and HOT 97 made an obvious effort to support their local artist. Phresher, Casanova, Dave East, Don Q, A Boogie and Young M.A all dominated the festival stage to start the day. I know it’s not the stadium stage but the parking lot was packed for the festival and everyone was there for our local stars. To keep it a stack the crowd could really care less for Yachty and D.R.A.M, that’s not really their audience anyways. However the ladies loved YOUNG M.A…she was in her bag, on her home court rocking the festival stage. Luckily for her, this is one of the few crowds that can actually rap along to tracks other than Ooouuu. The crowd also rocked with Harlem native Dave East, another rapper with a very solid fan base and respectable grind.
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| Joey Bada$$ and Mobb Deep |
In the stadium, proven city emcee Joey Bada$$ started the night right. He kept it real New York, bringing out the OG’s Mobb Deep to perform classics like Shook Ones and Quiet Storm. Very good look and underrated move by the young boy Joey.
French Montana is a regular at Summer Jam. He had a decent set and brought out Rocky to perform one of my favorites LPFJ2.
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| UNITY |
Fat Joe and Remy MA also bodied their set, easily bringing the crowd’s energy “All The Way Up”. Remy was definitely one of the highlights of the night. She brought out New York’s own Cardi B, Young M.A, Lil Kim, MC Lyte and Queen Latifah (although she’s from Jersey). It was lit, the crowd went crazy for New York’s new princess Cardi B and Young M.A of course, both managing to get some of the biggest reaction from the crowd all day. Remy ended her set performing sheEther.. Nothing says “U.N.I.T.Y” and uplifting NY female rappers than putting the most popular one of them all on that Summer Jam... Nah I’m just playing, Remy’s set was such a dope hip hop moment and great for the city.
Funk Flex represented the city to no surprise, he brought out Casanova, Juelz Santana and A Boogie to the stage. SB.. Casanova’s Don’t Run is a straight hit in the city, the crowd went crazy for that on both the festival and stadium stage. Overall NYC bodied the Summer Jam stage this year, we need to give HOT 97 and the artists credit for doing their thing this year.
Chris Brown is insanely talented
Last but not least, Chris Brown bodied his set. Ironically, the first artist I ever saw in concert was Chris Brown in 06’ for the We Ain’t Done Yet Tour. So the whole day when thinking about the bill, I completely dismissed Chris Brown’s set from my agenda. I’m a big Trey and Chris Breezy fan but I figured those would be the R&B sets for the ladies. I planned on using that time to charge my phone and go inside to upload posts for IFWT. Shoutout to Trigga but remind me to never disrespect Chris Brown like that again. His stage presence, star appeal, vocals, and effortless wooing of the ladies made me forget all about Trey Songz and Tory Lanez’s sets. Breezy was the most energetic performer on the bill, dancing up and down the stage and performing hit after hit after hit. I could easily name another ten songs he should’ve performed. Breezy also had the perfect amount and mix of special guests too. He brought out Playboi Carti to perform the biggest song of the summer thus far in Magnolia. Even when he stepped out the spotlight to let Carti perform all eyes were on Brown, milly rocking and moonwalking across the stage effortlessly. To end his set Brown brought out his “big brother”, Yonkers very own DMX and he shut down the crowd to no surprise with the Ruff Ryders Anthem. Breezy definitely had the best set of the night, in my opinion, he seemed so happy and free on the stage. My take is the stage is his element. All the negativity and personal life drama aside, that’s what he does best and he knows it. He left it all out on the stage and put on a legit performance. That boy has special talents man, to think what his career could’ve been if he wasn’t such a shitty… Nvm good performance C Breezy.
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| Chris Brown in the middle of some crazy move |
Couple SB’s:
Meek still got it
Meek shut the stadium down during the Flex and Friends set. No matter how much hate he gets on the internet and social media, Meek is that nigga in the streets and NYC loves him. Can’t wait to see him complete the bounce back and what he has in store for the fans this summer.
Crowd wasn’t dead
I saw a few people tweeting that the crowd was dead and even my boy that wasn’t there insinuated that the crowd was wack… Well if you not from NY or never been to Summer Jam you might not understand but the Summer Jam crowd is filled with old heads (like my pops who likes only Wu-Tang and ONYX). If you ever been to Summer Jam you know these niggas is not about to be jumping up and down raging and mosh pitting. Closest thing you’ll get to a mosh pit is an actual brawl. People probably think it was dead cause we been watching too many Travis Scott and Lil Uzi concert clips lately. You know the crowd is rocking with you by the amount of head nods the artist gets back from the crowd and the original reaction when the beat drops tbh… but yeah the crowd was into it, I was there all day and don’t think it was dead at all.
Migos was Lit
If you know me, you know Migos was easily my favorite artists on the bill for Summer Jam and their set was lit. I wasn’t tryna give ya’ll a 4-6 page essay on the concert though, I know how short our attention spans are nowadays. Migos was lit though, they’re all using the same autotune that Travis uses in concert now, so that was funny and interesting to say the least...
I left before the Faith Evans set
No disrespect to Faith or the Biggie tribute but I knew there wouldn’t be any crazy special guests for her set. Also, I’m really an OG with this Summer Jam shit by now and we hear that Mr. Cee set every year for the late great B.I.G. I decided to beat that traffic and get my ass home before the sold out obliterated crowd exited the stadium, plus I been there all day. So that was def a good call for me. |
| Real MVP |
Met Colin Kaepernick
I was entering the stadium in the cut and happened to walk in the same time as Kaepernick. I told myself I wouldn’t take pics with anyone cause I was working and I was surrounded by celebs all day but I had to take a pic with this man. Powerful…Didn’t even take much of his time, just told him I appreciate him, great man.
Special shoutout to Tat Wza
I appreciate you for bringing me along for Summer Jam. I know it was probably nothing for you and like your 20th summer jam, but you exposed me to a lot yesterday. Summer Jam 17 was special for me, thank you.
So.. that’s all I got, thanks for reading everyone. It’s been a while but it was only right I blogged about the show. This was fun tbh, it’s nice to write about something I’m passionate about once again, maybe I’ll be back soon.
