Rapper Schoolboy Q performs during his show at Auckland's Logan Campbell Centre last night. Photo/Rachael Louise
Rapper Schoolboy Q performs during his show at Auckland's Logan Campbell Centre last night. Photo/Rachael Louise
Rapper promises, then delivers, to bring some "gangsta s***" to his third Auckland tour. But his fans took it to an extreme.
It's difficult to decide exactly when Schoolboy Q's Auckland show went from turned up to, well, a little terrifying.
Was it during the rapper's cover of Kendrick Lamar's rowdy m.A.A.d city when a young girl collapsed and needed carrying out from the middle of the heaving moshpit that bounced throughout his Logan Campbell Centre show?
Or was it when a circle pit escalated during the low slung beats of Yay Yay and turned into a full-on fist fight, a brawl between bro-dudes that had fellow aggressors running to get involved and others sprawling on the ground?
Or maybe it was the show-stopping incident sparked during the slow grind of Tookie Knows II when a punter climbed a scaffolding platform hanging from the roof of the venue's upper deck for a better view?
When confronted by two security guards, he declined their offer to move of his own accord.
Rapper Schoolboy Q performs during his show at Auckland's Logan Campbell Centre last night. Photo/Rachael Louise
What unfolded was a tense but precarious wrestling match that captivated the entire venue - including the show's star and his DJ watching from the stage - and could have ended with any of them falling into the crowd below.
It's not like Schoolboy Q didn't warn everyone what kind of show they were in for.
The bucket hat-loving rapper started his third New Zealand visit with the tone-setting salvo of Gangsta, a song that includes the warning: "They want that gangsta shit".
That's exactly what the 30-year-old Los Angeles rapper proceeded to deliver, from the steel-eyed intensity of By Any Means, to his hard-as-concrete drug drama Dope Dealer and the woozy, Kanye-guested stunner That Part, all songs from his excellently vicious fourth album Blank Face LP.
They're tracks designed to assault all the senses, with bass thuds that feel like gunshots to the chest, and hooks like, "Get out the waaaaaaaaay!" and, "Big dope, blow your nose, boom!" that deserve to be screamed full volume at your neighbours.
It was certainly a change of pace from his last performance here, a second tour at the end of 2014 on the back of his breakthrough album Oxymoron at which he looked tired and over it.
Schoolboy Q during his Auckland show last night. Photo/Rachael Louise
Tonight, Schoolboy was all smiles between songs, and all energy during them, bouncing around the stage during his more upbeat fare, the clubby thuds of Collard Greens,Break the Bank and show closer Hell of a Night that had him spinning on the spot and punters continuing to sing the hook as they stumbled out of the venue.
He describes himself as, "Groovy Tony, the no face killer" and Schoolboy Q delivered exactly the kind of show he promised.
It's just a shame the night will be remembered for some of the things that happened off stage, not on it. It was indeed one hell of a night.
Who: Schoolboy Q Where: Logan Campbell Centre, Auckland When: Thursday, November 3
