Last Friday night the best weekend of my life was going to happen and I didn’t even know it. My favorite rapper and my idol were opening and closing this show. Opening up the show was my favorite rapper, Silas. I’ve been listening to him for longer than 3 years now and it’s been amazing seeing his growth. Performing after Silas were YBN Cordae and Atlanta based rapper J.I.D. and headliner Logic.

Opening up the night was Silas with one of my favorite songs of his, Def 2 Ego. As soon as the beat came on and the crowd put their hands up I knew this show was going to be something special. Seeing him take that stage was heartwarming. Previously hearing him talk about how he used to live his life and all the struggles he went through, seeing him perform up there made me want to shed a tear. One of the highlights of the night was when security was escorting the photographers out the photo pit after the third song as Silas was performing “Killa” and he stops his set just to tell them to let me stay because I’m his photographer. It was one of those moments where you’re just happy of the people that have came into your life. His performance was honestly my favorite set I’ve shot in my career. His debut album for BobbyBoy Records “1998” is on sale now and I recommend everyone to give it a listen. Truly my favorite album of 2019. 

Up next was YBN Cordae. A lot of people were excited for his set aswell after seeing a lot of comments about his album “The Lost Boy” as album of the year. One of my favorite songs he performed was a remix to Eminem’s “My Name Is”. He really had the crowd hyped and singing along. Following his performance was J.I.D. After seeing him a few months ago I knew his set was going to have the venue going crazy. He has totally taken the industry by storm as he received his first platinum plaque after being featured on a few songs on Dreamville’s album ROTD3. I wish I could relive when he performed his song 151 Rum. Seeing everyone jump from the back of the crowd was breathtaking. 

The moment every fan was waiting for finally arrived. After seeing him perform 6 times in the past already every show just seems to get more amazing. Seeing your idol up close is one of the moment everyone lives for and I was so glad I was able to this night. The highlight of my night was when I was taking pictures during the last song we were able to photograph and he comes up to me and asks me to hand him my camera. I handed it to him and he started taking pictures of his fans as he walked across the stage. This was honestly the greatest moment in my photography career. He even took a few pictures of me as I pointed at my tattoo I have of his record label’s logo. He calls the cartoon on his logo “Bobby Boy”. Above his head is Silas’ logo which is a crown so I had an idea of combining the both since they’re the two artists that’ve truly changed my life. 

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Silas

YBN Cordae

JID

Logic

Photos Taken by Logic

By: Juan Badillo | Exclusively for @Music, Why Not!

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