XXL Freshmen Live 2013 @ The Trocadero, Featuring Big K.R.I.T., Joey Bada$$ and Action Bronson.

Text by Chris Malo. Images by Evan Kaucher.

The XXL Freshman Live 2013 show is a little bit of a misnomer. (Much in the way that MTV’s Hottest MCs list has become.) The trio of performers have been doing their thing –and fairly well-known– for several years, with the possible exception being Joey Bada$$. (Bada$$’ nearly flawless 1999 dropped one year ago, nearly to the day.)

First up was Action Bronson, which I was definitely hyped to see. He recently dropped Saaab Stories which has been on steady repeat. I have been growing this damn Bronson-esque beard out for 9 months and all the other times he has been in town, I haven’t been. The doors opened at 8 and being a veteran of countless rap shows, I arrived what I considered mega early at 8:50. And missed it. I walked in, Bronson walked off. Usually I have that effect on women. I wish I had a cooler or better story but I don’t. (EDITOR’S NOTE: our photographer also missed Bronson).

Next up was Joey Bada$$. Bada$$ was one of the few acts I wanted – or managed – to see at The Roots Picnic this year. Packed into the uber hot tent, the Pro Era kids tore it down. Whether or not the crowd at the Troc caught them recently at the picnic, everyone at the Troc seemed pretty hyped up to see them last night. Statik Selektah, who handles both DJ and production duties for the Brooklyn squad, manned the decks and Joey handled the mic. The diverse crowd (diverse in age, color, style, appreciation) rocked along as he ran through tracks off the 1999 mixtape, the DJ Premier produced “Unorthodox,” and some new tracks from the Summer Knights, which hits the streets on July 1st. But as what happened at The Roots Picnic, the energy really shot up as others from the Pro Era camp (Chuck Strangers, CJ Fly, Dessy Hinds, A La $ole) joined Joey on stage to lend their voice to the tracks. As the Bea$t Coa$t kids fed off the crowd, the crowd reciprocated, culminating in everyone whylin’ out on stage for “Survival Tactics.” One of my rap pet peeves is when a rapper performs over their own vocals. As if they couldn’t get the instrumental track to rap over. When this track is performed live, Joey does his verse (with no back-up vocals)  and for Capital Steez’s verse, the vocals are there and Steez is backed by both the Pro Era members and the crowd. Bittersweet. #RIPSteez

I had no idea what the batting order for the show was going to be. Clearly Big K.R.I.T. was batting clean-up. If it was up to me, I would of thought/figured the order to be reversed, but it wasn’t up to me. I think Action Bronson is the most charismatic character out of the three, Joey Bada$$ is the most skilled and lyrical, and K.R.I.T. is far from a slouch. I sort of expected the crowd to thin out, but when K.R.I.T. took the stage I realized how wrong I was. And how pleasantly surprised. The audience really, really, REALLY fucks with K.R.I.T. I was amazed how the audience knew all the words as K.R.I.T. ran through his growing catalog with K.R.I.T. Wuz Here, Return of 4Eva, Live from the Underground and King Remembered in Time. 

The sound was huge and the King Remembered In Time had limitless energy, pouring it all out. He is reminiscent in many ways of another southern general, David Banner. Rapping rapidly, his Meridian, Mississippi drawl, and ability to enunciate had the audience going wild. And we weren’t the only ones taking notes and impressed. As I looked to my left, several of the Pro Era members had come onto the floor to take in K.R.I.T.’s performance. Even after Joey Bada$$ joined K.R.I.T. on stage to perform “Underground Airplay,” they stayed and mingled in the crowd until their spot was blown and a stream of people began asking them for pics to upload to Friendster/Black Planet/MySpace/Twitter/Vine/Facebook/Instagram. K.R.I.T. gave a solid performance, even coming back for a painfully orchestrated (another pet peeve) and obligatory encore to do “Country Shit.” Wish he had performed “Hometown Hero,” but he didn’t.

I was out of there by 11pm. A rap show record.

But at least I got to catch the end of the Heat/Spurs game.