D.R.A.M. performed at the Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood last week, with Abra as his opener. When I first arrived at the venue I was shocked to see how small attendance was. No more that 20 people waiting in line for their tickets to be checked. Walking inside I expected it to be a relatively low key show, but as the show time neared I turned around to see a huge crowd of people anxious for the show to start. Asking around, I found out about a third of people came to see Abra perform, another third were huge fans of D.R.A.M., and the rest came to watch D.R.A.M. after seeing him perform with Chance the Rapper and The Social Experiment for his Family Matters tour.
Abra is a fairly new singer out of Atlanta, writing and producing her own blend of slow, drifty alternative R&B music. She is the only girl signed to Awful Records, the Atlanta record label started by Father. Abra came out with an awesome set, playing hits off her mixtapes BLQ VELVET and ROSE. The song Fruit was definitely a favorite and everyone went crazy during I GUESS when she let a girl from the crowd sing along. She was on stage for about half an hour followed by a short DJ intermission.
D.R.A.M. came up on stage next setting off a huge uproar from the crowd. The Virginia artist is probably most famous for his Cha-Cha song which attained great popularity over social media. Last year, D.R.A.M. released his debut project, #1EpicSummer, showing off his unique blend of groovy, high-energy hip hop, with soul and gospel influences. The tour’s namesake, Gahdamn!, is his latest mixtape which was met with high praise last year. He opened up with his latest single 1 Year, a tribute to the work he’s put in and progress he’s made as an artist so far. He followed up with Signals (Throw It Around), and brought up Mass for 2$. He ended the show with, of course, Cha-Cha, coming off the stage and hyping up the everyone on the floor. Overall, a great concert and awesome performance. Can’t wait to see what D.R.A.M. and Abra do next.
