Hype can generate interest around an artist and create the building blocks of a career. Too much hype can do just the opposite. It can raise expectations to unmanageable levels which the artist would never be able to live up to. This performance would define whether Jay Electronica was to become a victim of his own hype.
Openers Dels and Gilla offer a striped down version of their live performances. Dels recent releases have received critical praise for their atmosphere and a lyricism, which translates well to the setting. The audience was respectful and relatively attentive, but it’s clear who they’re hear to see. Gilla offers a more introspective set. You get the feeling he’s unaware of the crowd as he performs as if talking intensely to the bathroom mirror. This would be fine if it weren’t for the sound issues and the music at times completely swallowing the microphone. Gilla’s frustration with the sound becomes increasingly obvious but he powers through his set and what you can hear likely earns him a few more fans.
And of course . From the moment Jay Electronica takes to the stage he justifies the hype. Jay has one mixtape with 5 tracks, one single and a string of guest appearances to his name; somehow this makes for a stronger set. He dots the songs from his breakthrough mixtape Act I: The Eternal Sunshine (The Pledge)
throughout his set and pads the rest with guest verses, freestyles and acapellas.
Jay has the enthusiasm of a rapper who has just started and yet to become jaded. Arguably if he released the albums by this point the performance would’ve been markedly different. Jay repeatedly tells the DJ to cut the music so the audience can hear every word. He even starts verses again, incase they didn’t hear what he said correctly. That’s certainly not someone who is collecting a cheque, he really cares about the performance. At one point a member of the crowd is shouting during an acapella, to which Jay tells him in fewer words to “be quiet” and everyone cheers.
Moments later Jay apologies and reinforces the mission statement of love and unity. There’s the likelihood that it’s an entirely staged moment but when Jay invites everyone on stage it feels like a moment. When people, including himself are struggling to stay on stage he still encourages the entire audience to come on stage with him so he can remove the barriers between them. Whether or not it was pre-planned it works completely and the message in his music relates more than ever.
Jay Electronica completely justifies the hype that every journalist, fanboy and Roc Nation exec saw in him. If we can put even 10% of the personality talent and charisma into his debut album, we’re really in for something special.
