Lil Baby embarks on his first stadium tour, delivering an electrifying show at the Oakland Arena. He proves he is a powerful force in music and provides a challenge to the previous notions of men in rap being boring in their performances.
Lil Durk addressed this conversation in a recent Instagram story post where he said, “Make hip-hop fun again…shoutout the females who been working, salute keep going”. This gender disparity has been a larger historic issue in music, and social spaces in general, women are expected to do more. In music, women are put on a pedestal that their male peers do not have to perform akin to, especially women of color. Cultural critics and gender theorists have explained how women in music are expected to serve choreography, charisma, fashion, face, etc. Whereas men in music can simply come out in one outfit, do a two-step, then go home. Rapper Leikeli47 says she wears her mask so people will focus on her art, rather than anything else. Take two current famous musicians into account (Beyonce and Frank Ocean) and compare their respective Sunday headlining Coachella sets — both of which were similarly coveted and sought after. If Beyonce did what Frank Ocean did, her career would be in shambles. On the flip side, if Frank Ocean did what Beyonce did, he’d be hailed the new Freddie Mercury (honestly, probably something even ten times grander). It is undeniable how gender plays a massive role in our perception of musical performances, as well as how this disparity causes men in music to deliver lackluster performances in similar spaces compared to women. Lil Baby offers a refreshing departure from this minimalistic subpar set-dress we are used to and delivered an array of aesthetics. Performing multiple outfit changes, delivering several choreographed dances with numerous talented dancers, and utilizing different layers of the stage throughout his set— Lil Baby performed one of the best rap performances by a man I have ever seen.
To start, the crowd at the Arena was one of the most marvelous I’ve gotten to experience and is a testament to the culture and community of Oakland. Coming into the show with no one, but dancing with several different people and meshing with multiple groups as the night continued, dawns awe to the tribute of music. I remember screaming along to GloRilla’s “Tomorrow” and one of the guys standing near me turns around goes “Okayy” and starts hyping me up with his other friends — I start cracking up from laughter. There were so many noteworthy events. The woman next to me whose name I never got recorded several videos of us singing together on her phone that I’ll never see. The 118 backwoods that were smoked in the 8-person group around me that made me deeply regret leaving my two measly joints at home out of fear of confiscation. The Oakland Arena has quickly become my new favorite venue.
Before the show started, a sweet mom, her daughter, and the daughter’s boyfriend sat next to me. There was also another fruitful extroverted woman to my left, she wasn’t quite seated, more so swaying around and roaming. She was lovely. She was the person I sang along to GloRilla with. Later, she encouraged the mom to twerk with her on the arena’s Twerk Cam. She was my biggest inspiration, the way she included everyone on the same time she was on. Her energy and friendliness was contagious. I wish for more people like her at shows.
The first opener was Hunxho, who if I’m being honest, did not look like he wanted to be there. In his defense, there were about 200 people in the entire arena at this point. It was almost entirely empty. I was worried no one else was gonna show (I did not realize I was overtly punctual). This was before my future friends (the friends I make in the future) showed up, so unfortunately, I am still alone in the stands. I would blame it on the emptiness if it was not for the next act.
After him was Gloss Up, who transformed the stillness in the arena. She manufactured energy straight from the music mitochondria the way she instantly had people up and dancing. Mind you the amount of people in this arena was still not enough to fill up a high school auditorium, so her ability to work with the lack of presence was astounding. She put on a high-life performance and was able to ignite the night right.
You would have assumed GloRilla was the headlining event with the energy she exuded on stage. You know those artists you really enjoy who you finally see live and instead of feeling like (yes I saw them!) you feel like (I need to see them immediately again wow), this is how I felt about GloRilla. She was a vibrant, lively, animated spirit when on the stage. Her excitement was palpable and her happiness was infectious. When artists are putting on a show, and having fun enjoying themselves, that’s when it’s a perfect time. Instead of running through a tired routine, or being robotic, it’s about fluidity and connecting with a crowd. GloRilla did just that. She was having fun and made sure the crowd was too. When she played “Tomorrow” I nearly screamed. Truly, song of the year. Someone give her a Pulitzer prize for that song. She ran back FNAF twice, to really seal in the message. There were some other songs from her discography I’d like to have heard, but I’ll have to see her again it seems. After her set, knowing Lil Baby was still to come on, I felt spoiled.
Credit to Louis Raphael
The headlining events for this tour were spectacular and I wish more artists follow suit. Creating a lineup for fans enables an emulate experience, especially when there is a mix of genders on the ticket. Props to Lil Baby’s team for curating this show. Another excellent aspect was the punctuality of every act. Each artist came out on time. Even Lil Baby came out right on time, performed for an hour and a half, and ended with ample time to board BART home. I cannot understate my love for performers who take into account their fan’s working schedules, but also the on-site staff who need to stay after to strike the set, clean, etc.
When Lil Baby came out, the crowd was incredibly hyped. His set was divided into five different chapters and included four different outfit changes. Chapter 1: Wild West, Chapter 2: Trapped, Chapter 3: Earthquake, Chapter 4: Riches, Chapter 5: Serenity. “Never Hating” is an immensely perfect introduction to a set. The ringing beat, the bells, the increasing decreasing tempo – it was the ingredients for a fire introduction. Literally, because fire shot out of the stage. At this point, the stadium was full. Almost every seat. It was almost instantaneous. One second I was in awe fixated by GloRila’s performance, the next, I looked up and it was a full stadium. Almost every seat was sat in it seemed. The room sounded beautiful amidst the union of all the singing voices.
Lil Baby came out in red leather pants, a matching red cut-off shirt, all draped in a full-body criss-cross Swarovski crystal vest, paired with sparkly white sneakers. It was a beautiful outfit and complemented nicely with GloRilla who was also sporting red leather. He stood on top of a floating beam while a line of dancers, in matching red leather bombers, danced below him.
Credit to Louis Raphael
For his next chapter, he came out in a two-piece light-wash denim matching vest and pants, which were studded with little white balls all around. During this chapter he played “Sum 2 Prove”, without the dancers, but no fear because he was able to carry the energy himself. Jumping all around the stage belting the lyrics, Lil Baby delivered an excellent live performance of this song. It was a beautiful manifestation of the lyrics and testimonial to all he accomplished preceding this first arena run. The arena sang along, every single lyric. The echoes of voices sounded like the human version of birds singing their summer songs. I have never experienced anything like it. Not at any pop concert, any other rap concert, or any festival. It was a beautifully humanistic experience.
For Chapter 4, he came out in a beautiful purple satin jumper. On each leg, it had electricity-like patterns, one colored green the other orange, and the electricity ran all around the jumper. This chapter is when he performed “Yes Indeed” and the dancers had a fun lively number which was paired with visuals displaying Lil Baby’s multiplied shadow dancing. The real Lil Baby was in the center of the dancer’s line, dancing along with them. This was such a high energy moment for the closing portion of the night.
For the final chapter, he came out in a simple blank tank top with black leather pants and one single, humble but huge, diamond chain on his neck. I always hear people regin Lil Uzi, Lil Yachty, or A$AP Rocky as the fashion kings in rap. I have seen all of them live, none of them had one single outfit change, let alone four. I deeply appreciated Lil Baby and his team’s attention to fashion.
The show ended and the energy was still present. I was buying a hot dog and some passing woman remarked to me about how delicious the hot dogs are, how now she too needed to buy one, and we made warm banter. To end the night, I bought a merch shirt for ten dollars from some sweet woman and wore it back to BART where I was greeted by a singer in the tunnel and a 6 piece band at the entryway. 10/10 night.
I love how friendly everyone at the show was and I have never experienced such a welcoming, encouraging, and sociable atmosphere at a show. Like I said, I was screaming along to “Tomorrow”, with the woman I befriended next to me. We were dancing, singing, screaming — and it is shocking to say we were all strangers.
Article by Sunny Sangha
Photos by Louis Raphael