Rising star, Lil Tjay, brought his “True 2 Myself” tour to The Novo in Los Angeles this Friday, February 7th. The rapper is already kicking off 2020 with an explosive start, touring his debut album “True 2 Myself” as well as coming off the release of his highly acclaimed recent single, “20/20”. The Novo stage was ready to be graced with Lil Tjay’s performance who was set to come on around 9:30pm. The venue was packed to the brim with die-hard fans ready to hear the new album live as well as revisit some of Lil Tjay’s older hits. The crowd buzzed with excitement prior to the show as all of us waited for the South Bronx rapper to perform.
Lil Tjay had a collection of amazing artists opening the show, including Big Havi, The Kid Laroi, and DJ Dre Black. The first to hit the stage was Big Havi, whose set I unfortunately missed but heard from the fans on the barricade that it was an incredible set and got them hyped for the rest of the night.
The second opener of the night was The Kid Laroi, who came on around 8:30pm. He immediately raised the already high energy in the room and he had the crowd raging from the very first song. He performed his new single “Diva” which the whole audience yelled along to and I could physically feel the floor shake from everyone jumping. His performance really resonated with the audience, who continued this energy and jumped and sang along to the rest of his songs. The Kid Laroi went on to perform his song “Let Her Go” and then was quickly off the stage, but not before making a lasting impression on everyone there. Right after The Kid Laroi’s set was DJ Dre Black who kept the mood up before Lil Tjay’s performance and filled every minute of his set with bangers.
The vibe of the room was incredibly strong by the time The Kid Laroi left the stage and all of us were eagerly waiting for Lil Tjay to come on. With so much electricity in the crowd and such strong openers, I couldn’t wait to see what his live performance would bring to the table. Spoiler alert: it blew my expectations sky high. The 18-year-old came on and performed his first song of the night, “One Take” which the audience raved over. He finished the song by shouting, “LA!” to greet the crowd, not skipping a beat as the next song came on. The rapper performed some of his songs from his recently released debut album “True 2 Myself” which is filled from start to finish with hits and accompanied with a star-studded feature list including Lil Wayne and Lil Baby. Some fan favorites of the night from the album were “Brothers”, “Post To Be”, and “FN”. During “FN” Lil Tjay showed off his showmanship and stage-dove into the crowd as confetti poured from the ceiling and fans sprayed water. With each song you could find Lil Tjay jumping to the beat or putting enough emotion into the song you would think he was alone in the studio. The versatility of his performance was truly mesmerizing to watch.
Although his whole show was incredibly captivating, the thing that stood out the most to me about this show is how much of a bond Lil Tjay had with the crowd and the incredible atmosphere he created. It felt like I was in the basement of a house party with my closest friends rather than at The Novo in the middle of a concert. Not many artists have a grasp on their performance like that, and I applaud Lil Tjay for having it at such a young age. If you haven’t seen Lil Tjay live before, I suggest you make it out to one of the shows on his remaining 19 dates.
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Lil Tjay
The Kid Laroi
By: Aubree Estrella | Exclusively for @Music, Why Not!
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