On March 28, Columbia’s Music Farm hosted Waka Flocka Flame, DJ Whoo Kid, and Ben G for Ben G’s homecoming show of the Turn Up Godz Tour. The Turn Up trio toured colleges, arenas, and music halls throughout nine states across the Southern coast. Nearly every show was completely sold out. Columbia’s Music Farm was the second-to-last show of the tour. The doors opened at 8 o’clock and before the 9 o’clock opener, LUCiD, got on stage, 1,128 bodies packed into the venue.
LUCiD is an EDM production-duo native to Columbia that is comprised of DJ Pipes and Traktion. The DJ duo pregamed the crowd for the Turn Up Godz from 9 to 10 with a mind-blowing EDM & Hip Hop set. Traktion offered a statement of his perspective of the show:
“It can be somewhat daunting being the first act to play for all of those people. Song selection is critical – being an opener means to be in charge of setting the tone for the night. Columbia’s Music Farm crowd was fantastic and had a 100% positive response to our song choices. The cool part about working with Waka Flocka and Ben G is that they have mastered the balance of EDM and Hip Hop. It’s a bonus when we’ve got some options of genres to mess with when we’re mixing; it gives us the ability to add some versatility into the set. Overall, it was a very good experience for us, and we are always excited to open up for Waka and Ben. The energy is always insane, and that makes the entire experience much more rewarding.”
Following LUCiD’s mix was a performance of B Familia’s very own: Jesse LeProtti.
At 10:30, Ben G swept the stage. The Hometown Hero performed alongside his saxophone player and drummer for his intro songs. The emcee showed off his new improvements by rapping a few new songs, but also brought back some throwbacks for his city like “On My Way” and “Dump My Ashes”. Jesse LeProtti joined Ben G to perform a remix of “Activist”, which originally features Waka Flocka. B-Fam producer, Supah Mario, prowled onto the platform to help turn up the crowd for “Heart of a Lion” which he produced. Ben G also inspired his hometown when he performed his Speaker Knockerz collaboration, “Grow” off of his summer mixtape — Hot Sauce.
By the end of Ben G’s set, the crowd was completely ready for the Turn Up God, himself. Waka Flocka Flame stormed onto the stage — his intro song being: “Wild Boy” by Machine Gun Kelly featuring Waka Flocka. DJ Whoo Kid operated the mix from his perch on the DJ board. Waka Flocka and DJ Whoo Kid spent the hour long set performing songs like: “Turn Up God”, “Mosh Pit”, “Grove Street Party”, “Round of Applause”, “O Let’s Do It”, “Hard In The Paint”, “Turn Down For What”, “Bustin At Em”, “No Hands”, “For My Dawgs”, and a number more. It has been expressed that Waka Flocka is very loyal to his fans; he wants them to have as much fun at his shows and parties as possible. This was proven when the emcee spent a full 20 minutes in the crowd, taking pictures, raving, and just having a good time. (Note: If you missed the event, you can get a feel of the show by downloading The Turn Up Godz mixtape off of DatPiff.)
Benjamin Franklin once said, “Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.” Columbia’s hometown hero put on a show at the Music Farm which provided evidence of his improvement, achievement, and success that has been based on years of growth and progress. So far, the hard work has paid off for Ben G, but in order for the success to have meaning, the growth must continue. This arouses questions for the Hometown fans like: What’s next in our hero’s journey? What direction is he going to take with his music? How is he going to use what he’s learned to innovate and improve the hip hop scene in Columbia? Only time will tell, but for now, a congratulations is in order for a successful tour and step forward in his career.
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”16″ gal_title=”Waka Ben G Photos at Music Farm Cola”]
