Smile-ier, pre-pepper spray times with Lil Boosie.
Young Buck / Lil Boosie
July 3, Statehouse Convention Center
It’s not everyday that a national recording act comes to Little Rock, let alone two well-known rappers. Then again, it’s not everyday that police break up a near-riot show at the Statehouse Convention Center. Yep, Lil’ Boosie and Young Buck came to town.
I went into the Governor’s Hall with high hopes for some quality, mainstream rap music. What I got was a marathon of local artists (607 outshined all of them with originality) who took large chunks of the crowd on stage to aide their performance of slurred, repetitive rap and a blazed Young Buck talking over his own songs. It wasn’t a night for the music itself, but rather one for observing the ignorance and impatience of local concertgoers and that mainstream rappers suck live.
You could see the trouble coming. A chest-high metal fence lined about 75 feet around the stage to make room for an exclusive, $40 a person VIP area. With a $30 door tag, anything more is pushing already loyal patrons. Shouldn’t Southern rappers treat those in the South like their own kind and cut ’em a deal? Apparently not.