S. Samuel
Young Money star Drake helped add more fuel to rap mogul Jay-Z's Made In America Philadelphia music festival over the weekend by closing out the event with a jam-packed set which included surprise appearances from 2 Chainz and French Montana.
Drizzy took the stage Sunday (September 2) night and showed off his on-stage work mentality.
During a festival that operated like clockwork, Drake came out five minutes early. The rapper’s meteoric rise and two massively successful albums earned him a mainstage spot headlining for Pearl Jam, and he rifled through a medley of hits in front of easily the largest crowd of the day. Dressed all in white, he delivered the same levels of melodrama live as on his records, with the wailing guitar solos and cymbal crashes only adding to the display of emotion on stage. “I don’t need no water, I don’t need a break. I’m ready to do this,” he told the crowd, before bringing out collaborator 2 Chainz to drop a raucous version of summer smash No Lie. 2 Chainz hijacked the stage to perform Spend It, and minutes after he walked off the stage, Drake introduced French Montana to perform Pop That. (USA Today)
After the guest spots, Drake took to the crowd and contined to own the night.
Finally retiring his guests, he took center stage for a sleepy middle section of his set that dragged with R&B cuts that flagged in energy live. At times Drake’s pained facial expressions and lovelorn stage banter touched on ridiculous, but for a star so obsessed with realness, his performance was anything but, emitting star wattage far larger than the festival stage. And as momentarily thrilling as the novelty guests were, Drake functioned best with the stage to himself, bounding around as fire erupted around him during HYFR and jumping into the crowd for Lil Wayne‘s verse of The Motto. Ultimately Drakes ego stole the show, but for all the other faces he brought on stage, never once did anyone in the crowd forget who the star was. (USA Today)
Within 48 hours, Jay-Z has managed to showcase a flurry of different genres and music stars.
Over the course of the weekend, Jay-Z seemed to enjoy watching the success of his eclectic lineup of performers which ranged Miike Snow to Jay Electronica, Odd Future to Skrillex and Drake to Pearl Jam. He’d gathered many hometown favorites including Meek Mill, Jill Scott (who was joined by Eve) and Santigold plus some international favorites like his Roc Nation artist Rita Ora. According to festival organizers there’s a good chance of seeing a repeat festival next year, and in the meantime fans will be able to catch the upcoming Made in America documentary, directed by Imagine Entertainment partners Ron Howard and Brian Grazer. (MTV)
On Friday, Philadelphia rapper Freeway gave SOHH a hint at what Jigga could have in store for concertgoers.
“Just be there, man, that’s all I’m going to say,” Freeway told SOHH. “It’s going to be electrifying. I know I’m gonna be there. Just be there, man. It’s just good to see all different types of genres of music come together. It’s good to see people doing something positive and it’s good. I’m a part of it no matter what. I’m a part of it Roc-A-Fella’s history. You can’t mention Roc-A-Fella without me and I’m a party of Philadelphia history. You can’t mention Philadelphia music without me, so, it’s big for me, it means a lot to me, you know? I’m happy that it’s going down.” (SOHH)
Check out a portion of Drake’s performance below:
