I didn't have time to peep any new music this past week, so I thought I'd do a little mini-review of the R.A.P. Ferreira show I caught in Seattle this past Thursday.
As most of you likely know, R.A.P. Ferreira is the artist formerly known as milo and still currently also known as scallops hotel, head and part of the Ruby Yacht collective. Ferreira has put on lots of great shows (I believe this was my seventh time seeing him live,) most notably the Hellfyre tour run of 2014 and the "Who Told You To Think?!?" tour run of 2017. This was of course my first time seeing "R.A.P. Ferreira" live so I was excited!
The show's openers were AJ Suede and BB Sun, neither of whom I was too familiar with going in. AJ Suede was up first (I arrived mid-set) and put on a pretty lackluster performance imo. The songs themselves were fine and I'd be interested in hearing the studio versions of them, but his stage presence was pretty dull. It wasn't helped by the fact that he had multiple homies on stage filming him (often getting in the way) throughout or by the fact that he let his DJ do a couple of his (bad) angry scream raps.
BB Sun was up next and did a couple songs with Suede (I guess they have a duo project together?) before taking over his own set. Sun had a much better stage presence and crowd interaction. The music itself was a step up as well. He sort of reminded me of a lighthearted combination of Subtitle and Odd Future. Ferreira, from the merch booth, was definitely feeling the set. I know Sun is part of the large Thraxxhouse collective, part of which shared housing with Ferreira in L.A. at one point, so I wonder if the two knew each other well going in. Anyhow, good opening set from Sun.
I then witnessed something I don't think I've ever witnessed before...the openers ended early...very early! It took Ferreira about an hour from when Sun finished to get on stage and typically you'd blame this on the headliner, but Ferreira's timeslot seemed right on point and the openers seemed to go very short! Sun claimed to have taken mushrooms before getting on stage, so my best guess is that things were moving very slow for him and he figured he had been rapping for much longer than he actually did haha!
When Ferreira finally took the stage, accompanied by Eldon from the UK as his DJ, he put on a very solid show from front to back. I had heard that he was not going to perform anything from his "milo" catalog, which was true, but he also didn't perform a lot from his newest debut R.A.P. Ferreira tape ("The Truly Ancient And Original Lefthanded Styles Of The Hoodwinkers And Penny Pinchers") either! In fact, the only songs I recognized were "stressrunstheworld," "respectdue" and "speck." Instead, the majority of the songs seemed to be from a new upcoming full length album. This makes sense as (1) Ferreira himself noted during the show that he was just in L.A. working on a new album with Kenny Segal and (2) This tour was pretty short and scattered, much more fitting for a "test run" as opposed to a "promotional run." Ferreira also performed a couple tracks from an upcoming project with Eldon under the name "Small Acts (or Axe?)" that they had apparently just finished writing.
Despite not knowing most of the tracks (and of course longing for the oldies,) Ferreira kept myself and the fairly large crowd very engaged. I don't think the heart or spirit of Ferreira changes from milo to R.A.P. Ferreira. The general aesthetics do ring a bit distinctive to me tho. The "milo" name seems to me to be more disciplined and hard-hitting. The "scallops hotel" name seems to me to be more boundary-less and imaginative. The "R.A.P. Ferreira" name takes elements from both acts and combines them with bright melody and sound. The goals haven't changed, but Ferreira seems to be having more fun than ever carrying out his project.
The show definitely got me excited for R.A.P. Ferreira the artist and the new Kenny Segal collabo project moving forward. He ended with a reflective track entitled "Big Summer," which, upon one listen, definitely came across as one of the best Ferreira tracks I've heard yet (under any name.) Can't wait to hear the full version of that when it drops.
Ferreira has a couple more dates left on the tour in LA, San Fran, and Minneapolis. Check him out if you can!
**Random Show Highlights:**
- Ferreria stoping to say hello when he spotted us in the same restaurant before the show.
- The "The Truly Ancient and Original" cassette-only tape selling out before the show started and Ferreira joking about how we'd likely never get to hear that tape! [Luckily I had someone pick me up copies on earlier dates.]
- Ferreira taking his hoodie off and revealing his one of a kind shirt which featured the Ruby Yacht "37 Gems" album artwork on the front and back (because he loves the album so much!)
- Eldon and Ferreira reenacting the "Wazzup" scene from Scary Movie.
- Ferreira getting ready to recite the Ruby Yacht manifesto but deciding to direct people to the hotline instead.
- Lots of new new music to look forward too! [I feel like I heard some shots in a couple songs. He also mentions "Hellfyre" in one of the joints, but I didn't fully catch the context. He shouts out the great Piff James and Hommy Hom. Some solid Blowedian references too!]
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