It wasn’t all peaches and cream, but Hip-Hop hits its stride on day 1
The reports first came in on Twitter, via a few bloggers. Then some Instagram pictures began to surface, and one particularly gruesome snapshot of one-half of Rae Sremmurd, Slim Jimmy, lying on a gurney with his knee split wide open, began to circulate. It was a somewhat appropriate microcosm of what Rae Sremmurd’s career has been to this point: turn up the party or injure yourself trying. Thankfully, he’ll be just fine, but it came at the expense of most of their set. No worries, we don’t doubt that they’ll be back.
Future brought the sun out on Day 1, and a crowd bummed out by rain and cloudy weather quickly forgot the mud slowly seeping into their Chuck T’s. The Atlanta rapper, donning somewhat of a cowboy hat, ran through a bevy of his hits, both old and new, eventually warming up the crowd for his grand finale of “Commas.” There’s something to be said about Future‘s current set. Whereas his huge radio hits and pop efforts were previously what huge, outdoor and arena crowds gushed over, it’s now his deeper cuts, songs like “March Madness,” and “Monster” that get the biggest reaction. Not to mention “Commas,” a mixtape cut that has blown up so much, Epic Records has released it as a one-off Hendrix single.
Drake hit the stage at exactly 9:30 to a feverish crowd that had just witnessed Florence and The Machine tear it down as the sun set. Donning a lime green hoodie and a jacket–it was a bit when the sun went down–Drizzy took off from “Legend,” went straight into “Trophies,” and never looked back…until he did.
For whatever reason, his set hit a bit of a lull during his features segment. Whether it was because people were let down when Big Sean didn’t trot out for “Blessings,” or because of “Tuesday”‘s elongated introduction, the crowd didn’t appear to quite enjoy that particular bit of Drake’s set, and they weren’t exactly elated when he went straight from his assists to his Top 40 efforts, featuring an acoustic version of “Find Your Love.” “Madonna” would’ve been good here, especially if he threw in the “Rihanna” replacement, just to draw some “OMG he did do it” screams from the crowd, but alas, to no avail.
Still, a win is a win, and Drake knows how to close out a show. “10 Bands,” “HYFR,” and “0-100” all reinvigorated a restless crowd, waiting for “Know Yourself” to cue up so they could prove that OVO Fest’s next stop has to be NYC. And when “Know Yourself” dropped. It dropped.