This week brings Seattle a bit of a millennial Fresh Fest—a package tour of A$AP Rocky, Tyler, the Creator, Danny Brown, and Vince Staples, all dudes who could headline midsize spots on their own in Seattle, all playing the WaMu Theater on Wednesday, November 11. Should be a good time—there’s a gang of hits (well, YouTube hits) between them, and they’ll likely be competing for who’s the most energetic onstage. Even though he’s on first, I hope nobody forgets that Vince is the only one to put out one of the year’s best rap albums.
That said, it’s been interesting to me to watch how corporate rap shows work as of late, when I do happen to emerge from my carbonite deep-freeze. I think of, say, the recent Young Thug show at Showbox Sodo, which was fucking awesome (he really rapped, y’all). I have noticed, though, that more and more, these shows start quick and end early, on a dime, like the fucking police just showed up…