Lil Wayne performs at Billboards Hot 100 Music Festival on August 22nd, 2015 (Benjamin Esakof/Roman's Rap-Up).
The sun was shining bright on the Nikon at Jones Beach Theater in New York for the first annual Billboard Hot 100 Music Festival. Day 1 of the jam-packed weekend brought A-list artists like Lil Wayne, Jason Derulo, Axwell^Ingrosso, The Weeknd & more.
Check out photos below:
Berner performs at the Middle East in Cambridge, MA on July 28th, 2015 (Jenna Cavanaugh/Roman's Rap-Up).
If you were anywhere near the corner of Massachusetts Ave and Brookline late last night, you could hear the faint sound of fire alarms echoing from a nearby building. The rings seeped under the closed doors of Middle East Upstairs, a well-known Cambridge music venue connected to the Middle East Restaurant and its sister venue, Middle East Downstairs. Behind the closed doors, plumes of smoke filled the intimate space as rapper Berner laid out lyrics onstage. The alarms screamed at the increasing smokiness, but Berner and the crowd couldn’t have seemed more pleased to let the show go on as they strongly chanted, “Let us smoke!”
Hours before Berner’s "Cookies or Better Tour" stop in Boston, the rapper spoke on his first headlining tour. “We feel like Cookies is some of the best weed out right now, and if you’re going to come to the show, bring Cookies or better, if you got something else, come smoke it up, come share it.”
The leafy green plant pokes its head into every aspect of the business that Berner is so successfully a part of. Instead of using weed as solely a drug to get high, Berner and his boys create a social bond and experience in order to connect to fans. Have weed? “Come share it.” This leads to Berner’s version of meet-and-greets; instead of solely taking a selfie and talking for a few minutes, Berner has offered a deal where fans can get high and hang out. He put simply, “If I was a little kid, and I could pay to go smoke with Snoop, I’d definitely do it. Not comparing myself to Snoop or nothin’, but there are people who just want to smoke.” The rapper connects with his fans on that personal level by taking time to embrace the common interest: getting high. “Just seeing how far music reaches,” Berner acknowledged, is the difference between a microphone in a studio and onstage.
As he mentioned Snoop, Berner has collaborated with many other iconic artists including Wiz Khalifa whose record label, Taylor Gang Entertainment, signed Berner years earlier. “If you’re in the room with a bunch of rappers, you’re going to want to rap dope… every time I’m in a room with all rappers, I come tighter than I usually do.” The nature of the small group at Taylor Gang Entertainment, including Juicy J who toured through the House of Blues Boston earlier this summer, seems to push Berner as an artist. In response to a possible next collaboration, Berner hopefully answered, “Ghostface Killah. That’d be tight.”
The rapper has dropped a new track recently that producer Scoop Deville played during the show. “Murda Murda” is a new collaboration with Paul Wall and Demrick that stemmed from a session in Houston. Berner explained, “We just met up with Paul Wall in Houston, poured some syrup, popped a Xanax, smoked some weed, and just made a song… it wasn’t a planned release or anything.” Berner’s career as a rapper stemmed from his extensive background with weed. It begged the question: does he have a favorite type? “Right now… Skittles… you know, you move around… I’ll go for Skittles or Lemon Tree.” Joint preferable.
The crowd was nothing short of ecstatic to see Berner and his boys lighting up onstage as he laid down hits such as “20 Joints.” “We wanna say thank you on this tour,” Berner noted, “for everyone who pushed the envelope, meaning in these cities where weed is not legal… where venues don’t let you smoke, they fire it up and risk their little freedom… so we appreciate it.” You heard the guy. Let them smoke.
Taylor Swift performs in Foxboro on Saturday, July 25th (Angela Smith/Patriot Ledger).
Taylor Swift brought her sold-out “1989 World Tour” to Foxborough, MA on Friday and Saturday for a double header.
Opening with her song “Welcome To New York,” Taylor stood at attention after each line, taking in the energy from the over 55,000 people in attendance. Electronic bracelets, given to fans as they entered the stadium, lit up in unison for a dazzling light show— but that wasn’t the only light show the Boston crowd was in for.
After making the crowd go crazy with her radio hit “Bad Blood,” the singer slowed things down with a dark, acoustic rendition of “I Knew You Were Trouble,” before speeding things up and getting back to her heart-pounding set.
Addressing the crowd, Taylor said that she’d been “counting down the days to these two [Massachusetts] shows,” and how excited she was to be back. “I’ll never forget that this was the first NFL stadium I sold out,” the singer said.
Swift quickly got back to the music, but not without a surprise. The singer proudly introduced her surprise guests for the night, pop-duo MKTO. Oller and Malcolm, assisted by Taylor, sang their radio hit, “Classic.”
Swift soon rose above the crowd to sing “15,” with the stage rotating around the entire audience for the following song, “You Belong with Me.”
You can only say so much about a Taylor Swift show. Hit after hit, seamless transitions, getting the crowd to belt every word to “Bad Blood,” it’s how the singer connects with the crowd that makes her show so special. Swift said to the audience, “You’re going to make mistakes over and over and over again in your life.” She continued, “One thing I can tell you is the mistakes you make do not make you damaged, they make you wiser if you take something from them.”
“I think you’re amazing,” was the vibe that the “Love Song” singer made sure everyone felt before they left.
The show ended with a bang (literally) as fireworks shot above the stadium with Taylor performing “Shake It Off” to a rainbow-lit crowd.
Kehlani performing at Boston's Sinclair on July 13th, 2015 (Benjamin Esakof/Roman's Rap-Up).
"Can't learn to love somebody until you learn to love yourself."
Those were the words preached Monday night when R&B up-and-comer Kehlani brought her sold out "You Should Be Here" tour to Boston for an evening full of positive energy. The Oakland-star opened the set with her emotional intro from her recent mixtape release, "You Should Be Here." "They say, God gives his toughest battles to his strongest soldiers," lyrics from the intro, set the scene for the night of unforgettable music. Kehlani transitioned seamlessly from song-to-song, all while showing off her powerful vocals and impeccable choreography.
Kehlani ended the night by telling her fans that she will be releasing her debut album in 2016.
See photos and a video from the show below:
Imagine Dragons performed for a sold-out crowd of almost 20,000 at Boston's TD Garden on July 1st, 2015 (Benjamin Esakof/Roman's Rap-Up).
"Radioactive" hitmakers Imagine Dragons came to Boston on July 1st in support of their new album, "Smoke & Mirrors." The set, opened by Halsey & Metric, transitioned flawlessly from song-to-song as the crowd sang every word. Their set ended with their hits "I Bet My Life," and "Radioactive."
Check out photos from the show below:
Didn't make it to the Boston show? Not to worry! We've teamed up with Interscope Records to get you into another one of Imagine Dragons' shows! Enter to win free tickets by clicking here.
