Concert Review: Trinidad James (Louisville, KY – 2/21/13)

Trinidad James
Louisville, KY
Diamond Pub and Billiards
2-21-13

I preface this article by saying that my personal opinion on trap/hype music is fairly negative. For the most part I don’t enjoy Waka, Jeezy, Gucci or many other artists belonging to that genre. I don’t find Trinidad James to be especially talented or his

mixtape to be anything groundbreaking, but I feel like experiencing things outside of your comfort zone is something worth pursuing. So when I was told about the show I said “what the hell” and went with a couple of my buddies.

After a two-hour drive to Louisville from Cincinnati, we arrived at the bar where the show was taking place about a half hour before the doors opened for two reasons. We wanted to get a good spot, but, more so, because we didn’t want to get caught in traffic on the way down. It was raining and seeing as how there weren’t a lot of people in line we figured they’d let us in based on the notion that the people at Diamond Pub & Billiards wouldn’t be complete assholes. We were wrong. As it turned out, even though the only people doing a sound check were two local rappers and a DJ, we were forced to wait in the rain for an hour just so we didn’t hear the sound check of some of the shittiest opening acts I’ve ever seen.

Getting into the opening acts each, with the exception of Jalin Roze, were terrible in their own special way managing to keep my friends and I laughing for an hour. First was Shah the Plaque who might have been nice had I been able to understand anything he was saying or been able to hear a beat that he played off his iPhone during his set. Next was local rapper John Hood and his crew of cokeheads would were a mix of MGK and Insane Clown Posse with (if it’s even possible) less talent. The last group to take the stage was (and I’m not making this up) The Bluntsquad. They were made up of two dudes who looked like Jersey Shore rejects and a third who dressed like Jesse from the first 4 seasons of Breaking Bad. They went on for about 20 minutes with songs filled with auto tune and references to blind R&B singers and their shades. After these opening acts, I felt like anyone could have put on a compelling show.

Trinidad entered the stage after about 10 more minutes and quickly did just that. He began with “Gold All On My Macbook” to help get him (as he put it) introduced to the crowd, who was sent into a fury screaming adlibbed “Explosions” and set the set off right. Next, the set cooled off a bit as he went into a few album cuts like ‘Tonk for the Money”, “Team Vacation” and “Sneaky and Selfish.”  These were followed by what was probably the most engaging song yet, “One More Molly” which the crowd was very eager to jump up and down to while yelling at the top of their lungs (even if most of them had never popped a “super” molly in their little hipster life).

After that he did a new song as well as his verse from Gucci Mane’s “GuWop Nigga.” That lead perfectly into “Givin’ No Fucks” which brought the crowd’s energy up once again. That was followed by “Females Welcome” which, during the hook, my friend actually had the mic put into his face and rapped along with the chorus. Next Trinidad’s friend, and Gold Gang affiliated rapper, FortieBowie went into “$outh$ide” telling the audience to rap for whichever coast they were representing.  This didn’t go too well and everyone seemed to just spit out the whole hook. Then…finally the moment I’m sure that most people came to see. The music cut out and Trinidad asked all the sexy ladies to come on stage to do this last joint with him. As they piled on, the beat to “All Gold Everything” dropped and the crowd expectedly went nuts. Every word was yelled out and, when the too often meme line, “popped a molly, I’m sweating” went by the resounding “WOO” afterword shook the floor.

Overall, I would say I was a bit disappointed more so by the experience than by Trinidad James. I find it annoying when 5 opening acts take up an hour and a half. I understand that’s where people have to get their start, but no one wants to go download your mixtape after you wasted 20 minutes of their night. Trinidad, as I expected, was hyped but I couldn’t help but feel that there could have been a little more energy. But, all in all, the show was pretty good.