The venue was earX-tacy and the entertainment was pure, local, hip-hop talent. The show was open to all ages with refreshments from Sprite to Coors and even a visit from the Lil Cheezers Gourmet Grilled Cheese Truck (the best homemade thing between two slices of bread you’ll find).
Starting at 8pm, DJ Always got things warmed up on the 1’s and 2’s while we waited for all of the groups to arrive. Jalin Roze and Lexington’s J. Cannon and Tarik Adams hung out with friends and mingled with guests. I spoke with Roze and Cannon before the show and both were very excited to get on stage and perform some stuff they’d been collaborating in front of the crowd of 100+.
DJ Always made an announcement that the last of the performers had arrived. Everyone that was scattered around the record store gathered at the stage. Just like that, with a quick mic test, the BST Gang began throwing down some serious crowd-pleasers that brought the show to life. The BST Gang went hard for about 20 minutes and performed 4 songs.
You can listen to hip-hop on the radio and buy @liltunechi’s latest multi-platinum record, but there is something about witnessing hip-hop literally walk right off the street and let its soul bleed right into the stage mics that makes you appreciate it so much more. At earX-tacy on Friday night, you could see the passion sweat right out of these artists’ pores like their lives depended on it – and for many it really does.
After the BST Gang wrapped up, Lexington artists Tarik Adams and J. Cannon took the stage with Louisville’s Jalin Roze for a new joint called “Tigers and Girls.” Afterwards, Roze left the stage for Adams and Cannon to show off their flow. The killer duo got the crowd hyped with a couple of hits from Lexington and impressed with their high energy and clever wordplay.
After a short break, Jalin Roze re-took the stage and ripped it in half with his crowd favorite “Rocketeer.” From there Jalin continued to tear it up with a couple of hits from his earX-tacy best-selling album The Brilliance including F^#k That Hilfiger. The end of Jalin’s set was a new J. Cannon track he’s featured in with Fatal (member of The Aviation with J. Cannon) from Cannon’s new upcoming album “Morning After” dropping on September 1st. This lethal trio left a tough act to follow, but the LEP Bogus Boys were up for the challenge.
LEP Bogus Boys are out of Chicago and were in Louisville kicking off a promo tour they’re doing for their Now or Neva EP releasing in August.
You can really tell that rappers J. Cannon and Jalin Roze are some high-caliber talent just by the way they perform. You can listen to a lot of artists’ mixtapes and think that they’re good. These guys perform with an impressive level of confidence because they know that they spit fire. The confidence really shows through in an artist’s performance and I saw a lot of that at earX-tacy Friday night.
If you love music and you haven’t checked out earX-tacy, I’m not sure what you’re waiting for. They have just about every type of music you can think of and if they don’t, they’ll order it for you. It goes without mentioning that earX-tacy is an excellent supporter of local music. If you’re not catching a local artist’s show, you can buy their albums there. Check out their site for a schedule of upcoming shows.
Be on the lookout for a new project from Jalin Roze coming soon. Check out his music at jalinroze.bandcamp.com.
You can also check out all of last night’s performers on Twitter:
