The Slump God is, for all his acclaim, one of the more underappreciated stars of this hip-hop generation - though from the crowd’s reaction to his appearance on stage, he was utterly beloved. But the vibe couldn’t have been more different-more on that later.Ī few songs after, it was time to cede the spotlight to Ski Mask. At times, the stage set recalled heavy metal shows of the hedonistic Eighties-Motley Crue’s Tommy Lee on a spinning drum kit wouldn’t have been out of place. The four panel screens and central half-moon never stopped offering exclamation points on the song at hand.
Then came the Latin-tinged, eminently danceable “Hear Me Calling." More than any of his peers, Juice has mastered the singalong hook, and if there was any overarching takeaway from this night, it was the idea that in recognizing and facing youthful despair, there is at the end of the day, hope, and even bliss. There was “Fast," his upbeat reflection on how life has changed monumentally in the past year-plus, as well as “Feeling," followed by smoke flumes accompanying album opener “Empty” - both improbably jubilant songs that nonetheless allude to youthful anxiety and uncertainty, and the desire to medicate to deal with them. That’s a change from the set list from early shows on the tour, when he front-loaded Goodbye songs: an indication of how, more than two months in, the new album has connected with fans.
Clad in a black shirt and red pants, soon enough, he segued into songs from Death Race. From Juice’s debut LP Goodbye & Good Riddance, it’s the artist's rare song that talks about money - Juice’s comfort zone is feeling, not flexing. Between the fraught visuals and 20-something songs from Juice's body of work - already well-established, only two solo projects in, as the very definition of what’s come to be known as “emo rap." Careening from drug-numbed heartbreak and melancholy to angst-fueled rage, it’s hard to imagine a more male-energy show in 2019. There’s fire imagery, a monster truck stage left, chain link, silver skulls, daggers in hearts, and a giant video screen semi-circled by a lighting rig adorned with barbed wire. The eye-popping production was the result of what a few monster hits, two giant albums and a multimillion dollar deal with Interscope Records (that’s paid off in spades) can yield: With a stage design that super sizes the Twisted Metal-inspired aesthetic of the Death Race album art, the show is the classic take-no-prisoners demolition derby-styled video game come to life. The last few times he’d played the New York area, it was on multi-act bills - and they were nothing like this animal, unequivocally Juice’s first true showcase. Not only is the artist born Jarad Higgins hip-hop’s breakout star of 2018, he’s one of the most notable success stories of the past year in any genre.
“It’s crazy all the stuff that can happen in a year.”Īmple evidence of that insanity was on display Monday night (May 20) at Hammerstein Ballroom, as the maelstrom of color, melody, bars and angst that is Juice’s Death Race for Love Tour - in support of his recent sophomore LP of the same name - played the first of two shows in New York, the mid-point of its North American run. “Wow,” said Juice WRLD, upon collecting his Billboard Music Award for top new artist only three weeks ago.