YBN Cordae Kicks Off "The Lost Boy Tour" at the Fonda Theater in LA
Photo by Owen Markham
Last June, YBN Cordae put on the show of a lifetime to around 150 people at the Crocodile in Seattle, Washington. I was lucky enough to have been in the small crowd as the emerging rapper performed the handful of songs he had out, multiple freestyles, and even some unreleased songs that were set to be on the rapper’s debut album (“Broke As Fuck” & “Thousand Words”). Cordae was personal, passionate, and connected with every person in the room that night. Last Monday (January 13th) I found myself at my second YBN Cordae concert but this one felt a little different. In contrast to the 150 people at the Crocodile, on this special night the young artist entertained a sold out crowd at the Fonda Theater on Hollywood Boulevard. Instead of performing a handful of singles, Cordae played the hits off his Grammy nominated debut album The Lost Boy. While much has changed over the past half year for Cordae, the passion that the kid from Raleigh performs with is as present as ever.
Photo by Owen Markham
The show got off to a good start with a performance from the elusive and somewhat mysterious emerging artist Lonr. While Lonr only has two songs out on streaming platforms, he managed to keep the crowd engaged while performing songs nobody had ever heard which is exceptionally hard to do.
The energy really picked up when 24kGoldn began to perform. Accompanied on stage by a sole guitarist, 24k’s set felt more like a rock show then a rap performance. On that night at the Fonda Theater the USC student didn’t appear to be a college kid at all, but rather an emerging star primed to blow. Frequent beat cuts on his guitar driven cut “City Of Angels” showcased Goldn’s excellent singing voice and nailed home the fact that the kid’s a star.
Thanks to spirited performances from both openers, when Cordae finally did emerge from backstage, the whole place lost it. Right from the jump it was obvious that the young man’s allure and stage presence wasn’t a fluke last June but rather an authentic gift that will continue to serve him throughout his career.
Nearly every song was captivating as Cordae seamlessly rapped every word without a vocal track. He was aided by an awesome band consisting of a bassist, DJ, keyboard player, and drummer. The live arrangements of each track made the concert so much more engaging and made Cordae’s already exceptionally sharp pen appear that much more impressive.
Cordae effortlessly controlled the energy all night giving his fans a little of everything. The room would spend three minutes appreciating his excellent lyricism and vibing to a track like “Bad Idea” only to pivot on a dime and open some of the largest mosh pits I’ve ever seen for hype cuts like “Broke As Fuck”.
Although the concert was frequently referred to as “The Lost Boy Experience,” Cordae showed he didn’t forget about his day one fans by playing older cuts like his addicting “My Name Is” remix or his J. Cole response “Old Niggas” which ended up launching his career.
The show ended after Cordae brought up two separate fans to rap Anderson .Paak’s part in his hit “RNP”. While the second girl brought on stage clearly had more flow and stage presence than the guy that preceded her, both fans hit every bar resulting in a fun finale.
The performance YBN Cordae delivered at the Fonda Theater in Los Angeles was easily worth twice the price of admission. Everything from the staging to the setlist was captivating and exactly what it needed to be. Keep in mind that this was also the first stop on the entire “Lost Boy Tour” meaning that we should only expect the show to get even tighter. Go see YBN Cordae now before you have to take out a second mortgage just to grab a nosebleed seat at the closest arena.
