Thanks to the guidance of News-Letter Arts & Entertainment Editor Kinney, I got to the Crown at the perfect time last Tuesday night. It was fairly full but not too crowded for me to secure a spot directly in front of the stage. I thought it would be much more crowded considering the show was originally scheduled to be at U Street Music Hall in D.C. but was cancelled only four days before the scheduled date. The Crown jumped in to host the rappers now performing for half the price ($10 versus the original $20) at a venue with less than half the capacity.
Anyway my timing was impeccable because Eu1ogy took the stage seconds after I entered. His music is as hard as it gets and was a perfect introduction to the evening. The producers he works with, like KENNY99, create glitchy or minimal, sometimes punk or Baltimore-club-influenced, experimental electronic tracks over which Eu1ogy sings, raps, shouts or generally makes noise, often with one or more distortions.
His work covers fairly wide ground and translates well in a live setting. I highly recommend checking out his SoundCloud (soundcloud.com/eu1ogy), which also lists upcoming shows.
After Eu1ogy’s set the two headliners took the stage — first Antwon then Wiki. Most contemporary rap fans are familiar with the work of Ratking, a hip hop group from New York. Wiki is a rapper/producer with the collective and works alongside Hak and Sporting Life. The group’s first album (they also have two EPs) So It Goes was released about two years ago. Since then Wiki has released a solo EP titled Lil Me as well as a number of remixes/singles and has appeared on such tracks as “AM // Radio” on Earl Sweatshirt’s I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside in 2015. He has collaborated with Skepta and Antwon among others. Needless to say, he is well-connected.
Antwon is currently based in San Jose but played in several bands before focusing his attention on hip hop. He has put out a lot of music in the last five or six years including mixtapes, singles and a studio album titled Heavy Hearted in Doldrums in 2014.
Although I was more familiar with Wiki’s work, I actually found myself more engaged with Antwon’s set. He played crowd favorites such as “Dying in the Pussy” and “Sitting in Hell” between tracks from his 2014 album. He interacted with the crowd throughout the set with short quips and by briefly performing within the audience. His energy was explosive, and the crowd caught on; By the time he left the stage, all of us in the front had shoved one another around and nodded (read: banged) like bobble heads.
Wiki’s set wasn’t quite as rowdy, but he was equally skillful in command of stage and mic. He started with “Living With My Moms” and progressed through Lil Me as the crowd listened with intent. I think a lot of fanboys were present (myself included to be honest) and with good reason: If you haven’t checked out Lil Me yet, you should.
I was kind of confused as to why neither rapper accompanied the other on stage at any point considering they are both featured on each other’s most recent projects. I would’ve loved to hear them go in together on “Patience” or “Metronome.” Still I was more than satisfied with each artist’s performance on Tuesday. Each performer showed skill in transferring their work to the stage. Make sure to check out Hak, Eu1ogy and other great artists at the Windup Space on April 24. It’s only $5 (!!) with a college ID.
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