A Rising Star: Lexa Gates live at racket NYC
Lexa's debut album, Elite Vessel, experiences its first tour traveling through 12 cities in North America by headliner Lexa Gates. On Wednesday, November 27th, Lexa Gates appeared in her home state for her last tour date in the New York City thoroughfare at the Racket. New York, being one of the monikers of a capital jazz abode and holding the title of being the pioneer of hip-hop, is a significant reflection of her art. The work of the Jungle Brothers & A Tribe Called Quest, which introduced jazz elements in hip-hop, is still rarely preserved by New York artists, such as Lexa. The rare MC incorporates jazz and hip-hop elements akin to the sonic feeling of lo-fi.
The sold-out venue, Racket, witnessed outside a massive queue of fervent fans discussing their excitement on the upcoming show of Lexa Gates along with West Coast supporting act Jonah Love. It's beautiful to witness music's commonality as a poetic apparatus that can create social hubs for fans to establish a spark of friendship. Traveling through the procedural security screening and entering the venue where people would have to stair climb to the next level to be on the floor. A full house represented a sold-out venue from the floor to the mezzanine. Familiar faces such as Skaiwater and WolfaceJoeyy were among the people who could not miss this pivotal moment.
Jonah Love, the initial opener, offered himself as the precursor to the masses of a hip-hop tradition preserved for 51 years. The Master Of Ceremonies: the niche of engaging with the crowd courageously with hopes of positive results. Jonah executed this niche with records like 1 of 1 featuring Matt Swain with a euphoric, uptempo style, giving the music power over the crowd as a ventriloquist. The crowd was merely a puppet to the ventriloquist rhythm. In syncing them to bop to a guitar trap record, Get Crunk. He was a destined cult leader who utilized call and response to share heart-to-heart moments with his fans while on Facetime with his mother and ensure the fans were safe and hydrated. Versatile records: Sunny Side and Whereabouts convey braggadocious, introspective grind-rap ambition imbued in the fans that night. Jonah exited the stage, leaving words of wisdom to the fans in safe-space service of alcoholic beverages to not drive if under the influence.
During a brief intermission, the production crew set up a green garbage with many flowers within the receptacle beside a park bench. A theory emerged that the flower in the trash could parallel her indecisiveness toward Lover: Where she asks herself if it is love over due to the complicated eternal fluctuating conflict of her social life and work life impugning with each other but only fermenting provisional emotions. She'll eventually recognize she hates being alone and is addicted to being in love.
Shortly after, DJ Yasmine Rosario, another imperative hip-hop element for half a century, appeared on stage to connect her laptop to the DJ setup. She taps into New York's heart and soul to set the mood with Like That! by Laila. The record immediately ignited the fans to recite the lyrics. The recent champion sound, Sexy Drill, could not have been excluded from Yasmine's setlist. Not My Problem by Cash Cobaine, featuring Laila, gave the fans a place to put their burdens of life in the abyss of oblivion. Service musical escapism is a relief for the ardent followers of music to enjoy life since, like Lexa, America is guilty as well for having an imbalanced work-life balance. The DJ let the South close out with Big Mama by Latto before Yasmine requested a successful crowd chant from the audience to call out for Lexa Gates for her impactful moment.
The stage presence is almost indefinitely drastically aura shifting when it's the headliner's turn. Lexa Gates ambles upon the stage in a bouffant skirt, black blouse, and black vest, which coordinate with her circular fishnet stockings and complement the black high-leather heels. The wordsmith steps in front of the microphone while engaging eye contact with her audience, conveying winged eyeliner as a highlighting attribute to her visage. Her hair is in two sleek buns. A fashion statement is being made of being alternatively bourgeoise.
Overture song Selfish overtly imbued the masses to reverberate back to Lexa: "I'm not giving you no pussy for free." A powerful moment that underlines the cost of copulation isn't currency transactional but sentimentally transactional. The secondary track, jazz-infused lo-fi Thinking of You, potently renders insight into an in-depth poem to relate to. A contemplative labyrinth after journeying through the healing of a heartbroken experience from a previous relationship would leave anyone defensive with trust issues, truculency in future relationships, or indecisive philophobia. Ironically, arguably, the most current song was Rotten To The Core, a poetic hoe phase anthem, seguing to a slow pace beat-switch that tranquilizes the crowd control. For closure, the song Dirt was the initial exiting for Lexa Gates to end the show with. Yet, Lexa had a change of mind to perform an encore after flowers were thrown on the stage, resulting in a lighter thrown at Lexa. The encore Where Are You ended the night, making the fans feel special.
To make a long story show short, Elite Vessel is the epitome of a Hip-Hop show born from an album. Carrying the hereditary genes of what makes Hip-Hop Hip-Hop, the rare jazz instrumentals, the sound system being diverted by DJs, and the wordsmith, the master of ceremonies, lyrically controls a crowd by connecting words, soul, and rhythm to persuade. It is a rare and sacred art to visualize a modern-day artist in the New York scene during its drill era to incorporate jazz and authentic lyricism while melodically applying ballads. Imperatively poetic, a person who loves alternative Hip-Hop will monumentally appreciate this show.