On Sunday, October 16th, I got a special birthday present in the form of a hip hop event at Limelight. DJ Crisis brought his current tour to town, plus Wale was in Nashville with Black Cobain. I got the privilege of bringing in my birthday with my hands in the air, and it was truly a pleasure! Shout out to The Smoking Section, LoveNoise, RockSmith NYC, Break On A Cloud, and all of the other sponsors that made this event into a night worth remembering!

First to the stage was Nashville legends, Stix Izza and Dolowite. They performed a set from their highly acclaimed, “Highway 2 Mars” project. Stix alternated between accappella verses and full out songs from the project, while Dolowite rocked the 1’s and 2’s. Izza ended the set with an incredible “Otis” freestyle that made the crowd go crazy!

As the night progressed, DJ Crisis helmed the turntables to introduce his “Shut Up And Listen” tour. Crisis began scratching in some of Nashville’s favorite music to keep the party jumping. He alternated between cuts from J. Cole, Wale, Big Sean, Kanye West, Jay-Z, and Drake. As the crowd bounced to the music, the performances continued with Open Mic and Dee Goodz. The entire set from the “Shut Up and Listen” tour was jam packed with unforgettable performances from both DJ and emcee alike.

The Limelight patrons sipped on drink specials from the bar as DJ Five Nine came to the stage to introduce Wale’s “Ambition Tour”. The whole club screamed when the “MMG” tag blasted through the speaker. Black Cobain ran out on the stage with his drink in hand. He ripped through his set and definitely earned some new fans. Hands stayed high the entire time and crowd participation was amazing. Black Cobain was the perfect opening act for his fellow DMV artist, Wale.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5e9QPWOpQI&hd=1

Wale rushed the Limelight audience with “600 Benz”. He ran through his various songs with MMG, then progressed into his “Eleven One Eleven” set list. His energy was almost overwhelming and his performance was spectacular. At one point, he got out his smartphone and tweeted to members of the audience. He also stopped his performance to sign autographs for the Nashvillians that showed him so much love. In return for the love that they showed, Wale brought out Nashville’s own, Young Buck. Buck did a brief cameo to end the show. Wale thanked the Limelight crowd for such an amazing experience then proceeded to his tour bus. Shortly after the show, Twitter timelines were filled with Wale tweets. “Ambition” drops on November 1, 2011.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsKFXNahYA0&hd=1

Simply put, my birthday was better than yours! I had a great time and experienced an event that will be talked about for years to come. I wanted to let Middle Tennessee know that hip hop is HERE! I’ve heard way too many people talk about how Nashville isn’t the place to be, but they often forget that it’s called “Music City”. Keep your eyes open, and ears to the streets. Hip Hop isn’t going anywhere!

Photo Recap courtesy of The Smoking Section Blog:
http://smokingsection.uproxx.com/TSS/2011/10/photo-recap-one-week-in-nashville-with-wale-danny-brown-freddie-gibbs-friends#page/1

Photos courtesy of Kelly Hite:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.206146889458877.52564.116793721727528&type=3

Video courtesy of Break On A Cloud:
http://breakonacloud.com/2011/10/19/boac-video-wale-ambition-tour-in-nashville/