Throwback Thursdays – Dollar and a Dream

So as a kid from London, I don't really get to immerse myself in hip hop as much as I would like. I try my best to keep myself as involved as I can be, but living across the pond really can be shit at times. So when I went to NYC in June, I had the experience of a lifetime.

So around February time, my brother and I book a ticket to visit my aunt that lives right in the heart of Manhattan, about 5 minutes from Union Square. About 2 months later I hear word of this Dollar and a Dream mini tour that J. Cole was putting on for about 10 odd cities. I'm not going to lie, it kind of hyped me up, but I was gutted to find that there was no NYC show scheduled. So anyway, I land at JFK on the night of June 18^th. I drop my bags off and head straight to best buy to go and cop Born Sinner as well as Yeezus. I had tickets to go see Amateur night at the Apollo for the next day, so everything was looking cool. At around midday on the 19^th J. Cole tweeted that he'd be doing a show at Irving Plaza. This is no word of a lie, I was outside Irving Plaza within 20 minutes of that tweet and the line was already about 300 people deep. This guy has some serious fucking fans. So after a lot of waiting in line, I got my wrist band to realise that I had tickets to amateur night that night. So I rush over to 125^th Street and by sheer luck, find a couple people that wanted my tickets.

So anyway, I got there kind of late, but still found a good place to stand. So I've never been to any nightlife outside the UK. Just the buzz alone around the place was sick. I mean the DJ was playing some seriously old school shit and man were the crowd hanging on every line. It’s great to see such enthusiastic hip hop heads coming together.

So the clock passed nine and the lights cut. A giant roar came from the 1000 person crowd and there comes the man himself, J. Cole. Spitting like the dope MC he is, Cole gave a heartwarming and emotional set to a bunch of fans that have stuck by him since day one.  Cole played almost every classic you could think of. I mean, everything from, ‘Back to the Topic’ to ‘Premeditated Murder’ to ‘Lights Please’, J. Cole had it all. And you know a man is real when he has a thousand people spitting with him for over an hour.

Halfway through his set, he bought his fellow Dreamvillain onto the stage. Cole and Bas tore up the stage with one of the biggest songs of the summer, ‘Lit’. I’m sure I’m not the first to think or say this, but J. Cole is starting something with Dreamville. I know Drake’s building OVO and TDE got their thing going on, but witnessing such love for an up and coming rapper was an experience that will be hard to match. I can just imagine what Bas would have been feeling up on stage.

J. Cole finished his set with the all too familiar ‘Power Trip’. The whole room just flipped. There was not one person in attendance that was not hooked by this amazing performance. I’m pretty sure the bouncers were boppin’ their heads, reciting the words in their heads. And I’m also sure that Jay-Z, sitting pretty, right above me (yes, he was there too) was feeling the love. Before you say anything... Yes. Drake came out for the second show. I was at the first show. Let’s not talk about that anymore...

Check this shit out for yourself. It was amazing.