After The Show There’s The Taco Bell On 14th Street
Last night, I went to a rap concert, and at that rap concert, I took an embarrassing number of pictures. Maybe like 50.
As everyone knows, concert photographs are the worst. They all look exactly the same. Whenever someone posts one on Instagram, I want to comment, YOU’RE AN IDIOT, and then slap them in the face. I sometimes post concert photographs on Instagram.
But the difference last night was that rather than having a stupid fucking light show, or a cutesy moving graphic, the performers were rapping in front of a screen playing a documentary about a couple living with a lion in a suburban town in America. And it was fucking mesmerizing.
I didn’t tear my eyes away once except for the time that I took a shot of whiskey. Which is probably how I ended up twerking so hard to LE1F that some blonde girl turned around and gave AJ and I the “calm the fuck down” stink eye.
They were probably playing the documentary because the concert was pretty low budget. A headliner standing on stage with a mike pressed to his mouth, letting go of flow. Did I just write that? Some of the other rappers had DJs. But LE1F changed all of the tracks himself, while he slowly removed his clothing.
The music was, if I’m being honest, only ‘aight. One of the guys, I’m pretty sure, rapped a song about sucking on his own dick. Amateur hour. But LE1F, who is openly gay, and Art-World-Approved (he recently performed at PS1 MoMA) was…ok, fine, I didn’t understand a word he said. But he wurked it, girl.
While I was watching the sets, and admiring the backdrop, I thought a bit about how hip hop is where all of the intelligent music is being made these days. Most independent music makes me want to cuddle up in a warm sweater with a hot toddy and then kill myself.
But artists like Drake and Kanye West are making albums that speak to contemporary life in a way that feels honest and relevant to me. Trust me girlfriend, listen to the album “Take Care,” and tell me it doesn’t make you feel better about every break-up you’ve ever had. Drake, even though he looks like a cartoon bear, somehow gets it.
After the show, there was the afterparty. And after the party, there was the hotel lobby. Just kidding, I’m not living in the fucking R. Kelly song “Ignition.”
But AJ and I did go to Taco Bell on the way to the subway, which is kind of like an afterparty, I guess. If you’re a hungry girl.
Hardshell beef taco in hand (only Alison got one), we made our way down 14th street, which was glistening with puddles of dirty rain. All the way, we talked about what to eat next, only to board the subway empty handed.
