“We’ve been doing this for over 20 years! That’s over 20 years of us doing this trap music! Twenty years of us doing this rap music!” yelled an energetic T.I. as he walked to the edge of the stage to get closer to the crowd. Dressed simply in all black, the Atlanta MC stood silent as he glanced over the audience at the Toyota Center. “We got to show love to the new school. Allow me to introduce you to the new generation.”
As he took a step back, his son Domani, burst onto the stage and the two performed their duet, “Family Connect.” Domani was born in early 2001, the same year as T.I.’s chart-topping debut album I’m Serious so having the now 21-year-old perform alongside him shows just how long and far the Family Hustle rapper’s career has come. The Legendz of the Streetz Tour Reloaded is a showcase of just how far several artists’ careers have come. Last year’s concert featured Rick Ross, Jeezy, Gucci Mane, 2 Chainz, Fabolous, Lil Kim, Trina, and DJ Drama. This year the lineup was basically the same, with Drama, Fabolous, 2 Chainz and Lil Kim being replaced by Cam’ron and Jadakiss.
The show was [packed with hits from each artist with everything from Trina’s “Da Baddest Bitch” to Jezzy bringing the crowd to their feet with “Go Crazy.” While the hits kept coming the show might be too much of a good thing. With only Jadakiss and Cam’ron combining their sets, everyone else performing gave a full concert pushing the last act, Rick Ross, to go on close to 11:30 p.m.
With the show starting around 7, the legends provided the audience with over five hours of music, and while the show was well received, crowd fatigue started to show as the audience began to get anxious and shuffle towards the exits during the final set.
This is not to say the artists weren’t putting their all into the show. Gucci Mane ran through radio hits like “Yellow”, “Freaky Girl” and “I Get The Bag” while also dipping into his mixtape hits. Cam’ron and Jadakiss went back and forth, trading tracks from their extensive catalogs like “Oh Boy” and “We Gonna Make It” with Jada stopping the set to wish Cam’ron a Happy Birthday. T.I even paid homage to the city by bringing out Trae tha Truth to perform for the crowd. While Trae was one of the few guests on the tour, and the show featured fewer headliners than last year, there was still a lot of music to go through and it looked like every artist wanted to make sure that fans got their money’s worth.
The Legendz of the Streetz Tour Reloaded is a showcase of Hip Hop from the South and East Coast from some of the top artists that have defined the genre. For any fan of the music, it is a show that shouldn’t be missed but just be prepared for the amount of music you’re going to get.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2023.
