“Ayyyyeeee!” screamed Ski Mask the Slump God as he stood on top of a Mad Max styled car flanked by five huge video screens. “We’re going to do this for XXXtentacion. Put your X’s all the way up in the air!”
The audience at the Revention Center all lifted their hands in unison as images of the late rapper flashed across the screens and the first notes of “Sad” rang throughout the hall. The crowd at one point seemed spent from jumping along with the solo shows of Juice and Ski Mask but now with the two on stage the energy began to return.
“I’m gonna let y’all relax during this one…because y’all are gonna lose your minds on the next one,” yelled the Florida rapper as Juice Wrld joined him center stage. “Everyone needs to clear out the middle and start a mosh pit!”
The crowd followed suit and the floor directly in front of the stage began to clear as four plumes of smoke shot into the air and XXXtentacion’s energetic “Look at Me!” blasted through the speakers. Ski Mask and Juice Wrld bounded across stage to the music of their late friend as the audience frantically smashed into each other and threw bottles of water into the air.
The Death Race For Love Tour might be named after Juice Wrld’s second album but the Chicago artist split his time equally between himself and Ski Mask the Slump God. The first half of the show had Juice Wrld connecting with the audience by running through his emotional string of hits. Donning a white T-shirt and shorts, Juice belted out the lyrics to songs like “Empty” as members in the audience ripped off sweat drenched shirts and emphatically sang along. At one point Juice Wrld guided his on-again,off-again girlfriend, Ally Lotti, across the stage and serenaded her for two songs, eventually dropping down to one knee during “Hear Me Calling” as silhouetted, red eyes overlooked them from the screen above.
While Juice Wrld’s half leaned more toward the slower and melodic side of things, Ski Mask the Slump God’s show was dominated by fast paced, hard hitting rapping. After Juice Wrld abruptly ended his half of the show the audience was greeted with a horror movie preview projected across the screens on stage. A zombie figure stumbled towards the audience as music swelled in the background. Ski Mask, clothed in all black, strode across the stage, yelling as the beat for “Catch Me Outside” dropped.
“Aye Houston! You know what the fuck we’re here for,” he screamed as the Missy sampled single sent members of the audience running towards the stage.
The two rappers complement each other, both giving high end performances that kept their fans moving while still maintaining different paced music. Anyone that is a fan of the two would have gotten more than their money’s worth from the Revention Center show.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2019.
