YG
14th June 2017
Logan Campbell Centre, Auckland, New Zealand.
Review by Sarah Kidd. Photography by Doug Peters.
The streets outside the Logan Campbell Centre are tonight swathed in red as California West Coast rapper YG rolls into town. Born in Compton and better known as Young Gangsta, his songs are in every club in town, but before he hits the stage tonight on his whirl wind stop of New Zealand the audience are treated to a full night of off the chain music.
To get the crowd bouncing and in the mood Dj Reminese and Dj K-Swiss are on hand to bust out mixes and snippets of songs ranging from the old school right through til 2017. The volume was noticeably lower than what one would normally expect for a gig such as this – but it hinted at the fact that things were going to get much, much louder as the night went on. The venue filled up pretty fast with a sea of red hoodies and bandanas flooding through the doors. Security was on high alert and had obviously beefed up their numbers in anticipation of any trouble, which unfortunately tends to be inevitable at a show such as this.
Before the next act could even hit the stage a lone pocket of young guys in the crowd started to chant YG, and within seconds it was being echoed in unison by all in attendance. Host for the night, Flava FM’s Athena (who looked absolutely stunning!), strode out onto the stage and acknowledged the crowds love for YG; even encouraging them to continue the chants, before asking them if they wanted to hear some true local talent. The crowd realizing who was coming out next started to cheer as Athena announced that SWIDT were in the house.
The Stoneyhunga 312 crew came out to massive applause and while they appeared to be lacking in their usual numbers (the six piece seemed to be missing a couple of members) they sure as hell made up for it in sheer presence. ‘See What I Did There’ was being chanted by the first few rows as the boys broke out ‘No More Parties in Stoneyhunga’; Boomer-The-God striding around with his shirt off as per the norm.
‘Little Did She Know’ had the crowd jumping as the Hawaiian Shirt Mafia worked every inch of the stage, never missing a beat as they spat their rhymes. “Who’s got the biggest nuts? I said, who’s got the biggest nuts? SWIDT!” the crowd going mental as the boys called out their signature phrase. If you don’t know who SWIDT are, then you missing out on some genuine New Zealand Hip-Hop talent who are making waves wherever they go. Their debut album SWIDT vs Everybody is chocka full of beats and clever rhymes from the crew who grew up a few houses apart on the streets of Onehunga.
As the first notes of ‘Level Up’ with its old school gaming soundbites ricochet across the room the crowd breaks out the dance moves. Not wanting to lose the momentum the boys quickly follow it up with club hit ‘Drippin’ whose explicit lyrics would make your mother blush. “If you are looking to get wasted tonight, say fuck yeah! If you have to go to work tomorrow, say fuck that shit” probably not the motivational speech many parents or employers would want to hear but the crowd tonight were loving every second of it and raised their cups in their air in agreement with SWIDT’s sentiments. After a few more “Go YG, go YG, go!” chants as a shout out to the headliner, SWIDT closed with their hit ‘312’ with its nod to Salt n Pepa‘s ‘Push it’ in the chorus.
As Athena once again came on as MC, stage hands quickly changed around wires and laptops for the arrival of Australian DJ Noiz who has the illustrious position of supporting YG on all seven dates of this Australasian tour. Athena introduces DJ Noiz who the crowd goes wild over. Known as the King of Remixes and Mash Ups, Dj Noiz often flies back and forth to NZ for events. Tonight we are treated to more of a ‘club set’ with Noiz playing all the club bangers one would expect to hear (Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Humble’, Migos ‘Bad & Boujee’ etc.) the fans loving the chance to flaunt their vocal skills as they rap along to the choruses, phones held high. Unfortunately dressed in black and against a black backdrop it was hard to make out Noiz on the stage, but that seemed to make no difference to the crowd who were too fully invested in the tracks he was dropping to care.
By now the audience was becoming frantic, a sea of bodies crashing up against the barrier as they demanded that YG come out onto the stage. The lights dropped and the screams were almost deafening, but instead of YG, a tall man dressed in black arrived on stage and took up position at the top of the podium. DJ Vision had arrived and he was not letting YG onto the stage until “NZ gets turnt the fuck up!”, as with DJ Noiz, Vision begins to play a selection of club hits, many of them repeats of what the crowd has already heard tonight. However the vibe is so high that no one seems to mind and again they sing along.
After what was probably a tad too long a ‘hype session’ the man himself YG 4K finally bounded onto a stage drowned in red lighting; lots of red lighting. Basically one giant wall of red lights. Dressed in a long sleeved black 4K shirt and black jeans, a white baseball cap pulled low over his glasses, YG ran back and forth along the edge of the stage, providing the people in the front row a chance to glimpse him up close; two very large bodyguards on either end watching his movements like a hawk.
Dropping straight into ‘BPT’ from his 2014 debut album My Krazy Life, YG had the kids hooked as they moved as one and sang the words straight back at him. Following it up with ‘Twist My Fingaz’ and the crowd were threatening to lose their collective minds as pockets of red scarves were thrown up into the air. “Do you dance YG, do you dance? Do you dance YG do you dance?” DJ Vision called out from the podium, YG indulging him by breaking out some smooth moves across the floor.
YG seemingly came from nowhere almost ten years ago with his debut single ‘Toot It & Boot It’; after signing to East Coast label Def Jam he shot to fame. Changing labels (and now under his own label 4hunnid, which also produces an entire fashion range) he is ruling the game with his sound which is often described as neo G-Funk. YG has the uncanny ability to put his own contemporary spin on the Parliament/Funkadelic 90’s sound without looking like he is just rehashing old songs.
Throughout the rather short set from the man himself, his hype men and DJ Vision joined him on stage, encouraging the crowd to get crazy and telling the girls “Don’t sit on no shoulders if you ain’t gonna show no titties – this is a YG show”; a few young ladies happily obliging. Half way through the set just after ‘Pop It, Shake It’ and a small group of guys down the front start throwing rival signs and a fight breaks out, security leaning in to try and separate everyone (A precursor to the violence witnessed outside the venue after the show perhaps. While I am sure caused by mixture of alcohol and testosterone just as much as Gang Pride, there is certainly no excuse for behaviour like this at a concert. I commend the event organisers for the extra security as well as the NZ Police for (mostly) keeping control of this very heated situation – Editor). YG walks over and stands over the top of them while calmly saying “Stop the fight, this show is for muthafuckers who get money & get pussy” repeating himself at least three times until everyone had calmed down.
As YG came to the end of ‘Why You Always Hatin’ he stopped and looked at the audience and began to tell them how he was worried he wouldn’t even make it to NZ after his visa was pulled at the last minute and his entry into Australia denied. He went on to state that he had paid extra and was unsure of the reasons until the authorities mentioned “that one song”, the crowd starting to roar as they realised exactly what he meant. A grin broke out on YG’s face, pleased that the crowd knew exactly what he was referring to.
And indeed YG was not exaggerating – when he originally recorded ‘FDT’ (Fuck Donald Trump) the lyrics caught the attention of the secret service and he was forced to change sections of the song before adding it to his second album ‘Still Brazy’ released last year. The crowd chanted as one, middle fingers in the air as YG spurted out the chorus jumping up and down on the spot as if to bring home his message.
Upon its conclusion YG stood stock still in the centre of the stage, waiting until all eyes were on him; “They call me YG 4K” he bellowed into the microphone and stretching out an arm slowly and deliberately he dropped the mic before striding off stage.
A fitting end for a man who has ‘I’m Already A Legend’ tattooed across his chest.
YG:
SWIDT:
Were you there at the Logan Campbell Centre for this hard edged Hip-Hop show? Or have you seen YG somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Setlist:
- BPT
- Twist My Fingaz
- I Just Wanna Party
- I’m A Real 1
- My Nigga
- Bitches Ain’t Shit
- Left Right
- Pop It & Shake It
- Don’t Tell Em
- Who Do You Love
- Why You Always Hatin
- FDT
If you enjoyed this content, please consider donating towards the running of Ambient Light, covering expenses and allowing us to expand the coverage you love by visiting our PressPatron page.