Written by: Racquel Villagante
Photos by: Taylor Friginette
May 5, 2016
VANCOUVER, BC – On Thursday, May 5th, 2016, the premiere of the Cloud City show series kicked off at the Rickshaw Theatre. Cloud City was an idea that originated out of a partnership between Slimkid3 formerly of the The Pharcyde (Los Angeles), Soulection Radio’s infamous AbJo (San Diego), and rap group OTOW GANG (Seattle). The vision and mission was to create a series that would transcend the traditional DJ-rap show format and deliver a live music experience that would take the crowd on a journey from the golden age of hip-hop to the soul-electro sounds of tomorrow.
Seattle’s jazz-soul-blues band, Body of Work, started the night off paying tribute to hip-hop’s roots with classics like Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On?”. Despite the Rickshaw being sparsely-filled at this point–likely due to Cinco de Mayo festivities–the band brought with them an exceptionally high level of energy and musical talent. Paolo, the lead singer of BOW, wowed the crowd with his powerful vocals. The show’s photographer at this point tweeted: “This is one of the best shows I’ve been to this year and it’s barely started!” A very noticeable audience member said the same thing minus the device. Lost in the groove, this character was right up against the stage doing the running man in a winter fur trapper hat. Cloud City was clearly his preferred method of workout for the evening.
Slimkid3 (Tre) jumped on deck right after BOW and served up some much-craved 80’s & 90’s throwback tunes from the golden age. Tre got on the mic and shouted: “Check this out! I’m taking you all back to the old school!” The audience responded with a resounding “Wooo!” at which point more crowd movement commenced. The dude in the front row was no longer the only one working up a sweat. Hits from Tribe Called Quest, Snoop Dogg, Jay-Z, and of course, The Pharcyde, were among those revisited. When Blackstreet’s “No Diggity” came on, Tre cut the music after the chorus (“I like the way you work it”) at which point the audience was to fill the silence by singing, “No Diggity.” The audience failed miserably at this task and a proverbial cloud of shame fell over the city.
Despite the apparent lameness of the room, OTOW GANG kept the good vibes flowing. Their larger-than-life stage presence and emcee prowess managed to bring the last remaining Vancouverites up and out of their seats. Vancouver’s own rap crew The X Presidents (Khingz X Matt Diamond X Mark James) joined both OTOW and BOW to perform tracks “Good Gangster”, “Tumblin”, and “Fall of Rome.” What stuck out most about these Pacific Northwest emcees was their charisma and constant momentum up on stage. Theirs was a performance that commanded attention.
Just when the night seemed to hit its peak, Khingz and Mic Flont of OTOW welcomed Soulection’s AbJo to the stage. AbJo elevated the room to lit status as he seamlessly weaved his signature hard-hitting electro-house sound through crowdpleasers like Mark Morrison’s “Return of the Mack”, Aaliyah’s “Are You That Somebody”, and Yeezy’s “Testify”, Kendrick Lamar’s “B**** Don’t Kill My Vibe”, and Chance The Rapper’s “Favourite Song”. AbJo’s flawless and chronological set of past to present hip-hop hits did not disappoint and successfully delivered on the mission that Cloud City set out to accomplish.
After their West Coast tour through Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, and L.A., Cloud City will be returning to Vancouver for an even bigger hit-and-run. It’d be wise to stay tuned and not miss out on the sequel.
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