In town for Laneway Festival, American rapper J.I.D made a stop in at Melbourne’s 170 Russell for a sweaty, sold-out sideshow.
Queensland rapper Saint Lane perfectly slotted into his banter-filled support set, as he stood a lone figure on stage. Between some unreleased cuts, New Zealand-born Lane ripped through favourite tracks like “Pitbull Type Beat”, “Sugary Sweet” and his latest release “Hickeys” (which you can read more about here). A shoey and merch drop into the crowd later, and before you knew, it the rising star was leaving the stage to join the heaving crowd for the rest of the night.
A simple stage set up ensured that all eyes were firmly on the East Atlanta headliner as he made his way onto the stage, to the flash of a blinding strobe light. An early homage to ’90s hip hop provocateurs A Tribe Called Quest set the scene early for the sort of night that was in store for the packed-out Melbourne crowd. The young rapper proved time and time again that his reputation for having some of tightest bars in hip hop today are completely valid, as he ripped through tracks like “Big Black Truck”, “Never” and “Off Deez”. The house party energy went into overdrive and the mosh pit escalated as fan favourite “151 Rum” kicked off, with fans trying to sing along, but unable to keep up with J.I.D’s incomparable flow.
Young Jiddy finished his set with the streaming monster “Costa Rica” and, as the stage lights came up, he hung around to sign anything his fans needed — from phone cases, to shirts, and even fanatics’ skin — just as his Dreamville compatriots Earthgang did in the same venue only a month ago. With the visit of another Dreamville rapper Bas last year on top of the aforementioned Earthgang and J.I.D, and Ari Lennox‘s tour around the corner, are we any closer to having label leader J.Cole tour announced?
Photos by Tim Lambert.