[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKS1lDswapw]
Young Jeezy and Kanye West – “I Put On”

I, Bels of STACKS Mag, was in the building Saturday night at Phillips Arena along with 20 thousand other screaming fans. Even though I didn’t have backstage access (unfortunately we waited to late to get on the media list), my seat was close enough to get a good look at the entire show. I attached the above video of Jeezy and Kanye because it was with out a doubt the best performance of the night. Please excuse the bass.:)

I must first say that I was surprised when the show started on time. Thank you Jesus for that!! The show lasted like 6 hours. So I was grateful that it started ASAP…because a sista was tired by the time Soulja Boy and T.I.(who closed the show) came out. But during the 4 or 5 hours my eyes were open, I can truly say that it was pretty good.

Check out my recap and pics…

No major stage props overbearing the artist themselves. Especially for Trina whose dancers brought out a silver box which was barely hidden with a white and silver curtain. It had me wondering if she was going to pop out of the box. But instead, we all were caught off guard when Trina stepped on stage from the side of the DJ booth. So what was the purpose of the silver box again????. Shawty L-O tried to make his grand entrance by showing a video clip with some crazy plot of him running from the Feds, then jumping off a building and magically appearing in the stadium hanging from the ceiling by rope like he’s MacGyver!!! LOL. That was hilarious. L-O also ended the show screaming out his number of convictions and arrest and then a digital image appeared on big screen declaring “A NEW KING IS NOW BORN”. Really?

No dress code at this shin dig. But then again 107.9 may have had a “no t-shirts allowed” policy because T.I, Young Jeezy, Plies, and even Gucci Mane all went shirtless. I guess Trina was trying to hang in there with the rest of the goons when the top of her dress kept having wardrobe malfunctions. She quickly let us know she was having a bad day. But that wasn’t too hard to figure out.

Lastly, no show-droppers were on stage. Showdroppers, is a term I made up for artist who drops the ball or come up short in their performance. Soulja Boy, Gucci Mane, L-O, Rocko, Trina, Plies, The Game (who gave it up for Fathers Day by passing the mic to some little boy on stage. The boy started rapping Game’s new joint and turned the house out. That was definitely a good look.), The Dream and Usher (whom Jeezy brought out as well), and T.I and other local acts all did a good job. No fights, no gun shots, just a bonafide CRUNKtastic show.

Plies

Young Jeezy and Kanye West

Monica and her boo Rocko

Richie Rich

(I heard his dad owns outlet malls all over the Southeast.)

Usher

T.I.