Atlanta remains king when it comes to rap music. Because it seems like every so often ATL has to reinvent its sound to undiscovered music territories, just to remind people of its greatness. ATL rapper, Tony Shhnow could give a Ted Talk on this concept because he’s someone who always finds new ways to reinvent his sound with every release. To celebrate the release of his new project, Love Streak, Tony held a one-off concert in Atlanta at Aisle 5.
Usually with rap shows, you can almost always expect them to not start on time. But this show defied my expectations by actually starting on time. I feel like that most likely had a lot to do with the deep lineup this show had.
With this show being hosted by Manni Supreme aka “The Most Energetic Entertainer”, he brought a lot of well-needed energy to this show. Not counting Tony, the most memorable performance of the night had to be Kenny Mason. With there being around six different artists performing, it can be somewhat difficult to maintain that type of momentum with every performance. But when Kenny graced the stage it felt like he had the crowd in the palm of his hands, and he killed his performance.
Fast forward some more time and it’s time for Tony Shhnow to perform. Dressed in an angelic all-white outfit, you could sense that Tony was feeling extremely confident, which is expected. But the confidence to have a show on the same night in Atlanta as Janet Jackson & Taylor Swift says a lot. But it didn’t phase him one bit as he was able to surprisingly still have a sold-out crowd. Even better, you could sense that night that the city of Atlanta truly embraced Tony, and it added to his level of comfortability in his performance.
It was dope to see him perform fan-favorite tracks like “Don’t Look At Numbers” & “Summer Off Relax” but especially seeing him perform an album deep-cut like “Park My Car”. His setlist was the perfect mix of new and old material. Overall, the “You Just Had To Be There” concert. With Aisle 5 primarily being a venue known for pop & alternative shows, it was refreshing and very impressive to witness Tony be able to pack it out.
There’s no other place I rather have been on a Friday night. I might be showing my age, but it truly felt like a “Soundcloud Reunion” having so many nostalgic/familiar faces all in one place. At this rate, it’s only a matter of time until the rest of the world is hip to the ATL’s underground hip-hop scene because they are the soon-to-be faces within mainstream rap.
