Pouya
7th September 2019
Powerstation, Auckland, New Zealand.
Review by Sarah Kidd. Photography by Chris Zwaagdyk.
Having kicked his fear of flying last year, Pouya aka Baby Bone finally touched down in Auckland last night for his first ever New Zealand show, the Powerstation selling out in anticipation of the South Florida SoundCloud rapper.
Bringing along a couple of friends for the ride as is customary, wybmf aka marcitos brigante/DJ Sancho Villa opened the night with a heady mix that threw in a few surprises; tracks from Lil Peep knocking up against ‘I Write Sins not Tragedies’ from Panic! At The Disco and Blink 182’s ‘Always’ for a hit of that EMO flavour, the crowd fully throwing themselves into hollering each and every line.
Taking it down into darker territory City Morgue’s ‘Shinners13’ made way for ‘Kill Yourself (Part III), a little ‘The 3’ from Devilish Trio and ‘Take A Step Back’ from none other than Ski Mask The Slump God entertaining the masses as Boobie Lootaveli made his way out onto the stage.
Laying down some of that southern hip hop and trap combos that have often seen him collaborating with other members of the Buffet Boys, Lootaveli dropped ‘Fema’ on the fans before demanding that they pick a side; ‘Wait!’ featuring Shakewell and produced by Mikey the Magician soon seeing the room bounce harder than a Florida lowrider. Calling for the house lights to be put out and the crowd to turn their phone lights on, Lootaveli got shirtless so that he could ‘feel the energy’ during ‘Chirp Chirp’ before he delivered fresh from the oven just four days ago ‘Grandmas Boy’, the Auckland crowd proving just how well they already knew the track before ‘Rey Mysterio’ took it home in style.
Already behind schedule wybmf only had time to drop a couple of tracks between artists, ‘Virginia Tech’ from Shakewell leading into yet another chorus of voices as System Of A Down’s ‘Chop Suey’ blasted its way across the room, Pouya himself exploding onto the stage a mere few moments later. Having quickly risen in popularity since releasing ‘Get Buck’ in 2013, Pouya’s visit to New Zealand has been a long time coming, fans clambering at the barrier to be noticed by one half of the Ren & Stimpy of Rap.
Spending the last couple of days skating in a Brisbane park, Pouya appeared energised as he traversed the stage in his BAIT Astro Boy jacket, ‘Suicidal Thoughts in the Back of the Cadillac’ soon followed up with the older collaboration featuring Fat Nick, ‘Middle Of The Mall’. Joined once again on stage by Boobie Lootaveli for ‘SIT UPS’, Pouya teased the audience with a few lines from ‘PE$OS’ before the two of them smashed the track out.
At only twenty-four years old, Pouya the underground underdog of South Florida has slowly been gaining more and more traction, his creation of the Buffet Boys along with long time friend and collaborator Fat Nick soon seeing the duo turn it into their very own record label. An advocate for transparency and being open about one’s true feelings, Pouya took pride in remaining part of the underground scene with his numerous mixtapes such as Stunna and South Side Slug. His debut album Underground Underdog followed up two years later with Five Five, a record that showed greater maturity for the young rapper in both his lyricism and approach of the beat.
Influenced by such acts as Bone Thugs, OutKast, Three 6 Mafia and Chief Keef as well as regularly collaborating with fellow Florida natives $uicideboy$ has seen Pouya not only deliver his renowned double and triple time flows but crafted choruses that are definably catchier. With his latest work The South Got Something to Say (the album title itself a dedication to OutKast), Pouya has yet again taken it up a notch, his sound on tracks such as ‘SUPERMAN IS DEAD’ definitely heading into mainstream territory.
‘Stick Out’ featuring Ghostemane (who recently played Auckland himself) saw Pouya hit the crowd with more of those explicit lyrics that he is so fond of, ‘FIVE SIX’ and ‘Cyanide’ keeping the crowd hyped as Pouya enquired as to whether they all fucked with City Morgue, ‘BULLETPROOF SHOWER CAP’ proving that yes they did.
Unrelenting, Pouya continued to drop track after track, wybmf punctuating each conclusion with a series of gunshots from the decks as Lootaveli took a break on the floor; ‘95’ requiring a restart after Pouya berated a fan for throwing a sweaty t-shirt at him. All was soon forgiven, as Pouya climbed up the left hand side of the stage to give those upstairs in the all ages area a better view as he delivered ‘Energy’, his demands for a circle pit being answered with gusto as he dropped $uicideboy$ ‘$outh $ide $uicide’ before finishing on ‘Void’; Auckland being gifted just the one track encore of ‘1000 Rounds’ to finish them off.
Staying on top from start to finish, Pouya proved live that he was well worth the wait.
Were you there at the Powerstation for this hectic hip-hop gig? Or have you seen Pouya perform live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Pouya Setlist:
- Suicidal Thoughts In The Back Of The Cadillac
- Middle Of The Mall
- Daddy Issues
- Sit Ups
- Pe$Os
- Vice City
- Stick Out
- Aftershock
- Torch
- Superman Is Dead
- Florida Thang
- Five Six
- Cyanide
- Bulletproof Shower Cap
- I’m Alive
- 95
- Great Influence
- 41
- Handshakes
- Energy
- Mood Swing Misery
- Run It Down
- $outh $ide $uicide
- Cold Turkey
- Runnin’ Thru The 7Th With My Roadies
- Void
- 1000 Rounds [encore]
Boobie Lootaveli Setlist:
- Fema
- Wait!
- Chirp Chirp
- Grandma’s Boy
- Rey Mysterio
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