Doughbeezy, Dat Boi T, Cray Cray Warehouse Live 7/30/2014
A Wednesday night at Warehouse Live shouldn't be about comedy, yet that's what you get sometimes.
Wednesday was billed as a show to be headlined by Dat Boi T and Doughbeezy, something that may commonly happen given both men's pull of fans and musical output. So worrying about either of them performing and keeping people entertained is not an issue. Dat Boi T, the Screwed Up Essay himself, at least understands where he sits in Houston, somewhere where the old Screw Shop resided and a foot stretched out from his candy-blue Cadillac.
Onstage clad in wolf-grey Jordans, black shades and a dangling Screwed Up Click chain, T chose to stick to his tried and true subject matter -- Houston, every bit of its sprawled-out glory. He waded knee-deep in local ecology when unearthing South Park Mexican's "Mary Go Round" in the middle of his set, called out for every legendary rapper who claimed residency here to get their just due and more.
"Swangin In My Lac," performing "Nuthin But That Screw" with Doughbeezy and Young G, and so forth -- all those minor moments showed that T has zero reason to stop. As long as people love sipping slow, making crazy faces just to show off their grills and paying homage not just to Screw but the culture at large then he'll be there -- wearing blue, more than likely. He's a Screwed Up Superhero indeed.
For Doughbeezy, it doesn't matter whether he has 75 fans in a crowd or nearly 1,000. Wednesday wasn't anything like what he got from the second edition of 97.9 The Box's #979TheConcert, but he still finds a way to make it seem so. "Fuck You I'm From Texas" could raise the dead, part your hair and bathe you if necessary. "Tippin'," with Propain, can stomp a hole in your chest when necessary. You can't pretend to think that Doughbeezy isn't a thing that matters in Texas rap, and he's on the fringe of cracking through even further.
The two main headliners lasted all of an hour combined onstage Wednesday, yet it felt like maybe 20 minutes. Maybe that was because the night dragged until they stepped onstage, or the numerous performing fails by other artists on the bill. I've probably walked into Warehouse Live for a concert more than 30 times, and not once have I ever experienced what I witnessed Wednesday.
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