Wednesday began with the unmistakable pitter-patter of rain on my bedroom window and, strangely, the weather seemed driven by national sentiment. For many Americans, from California to Maine — across our iconic plains that now felt unfathomably foreign — Wednesday was, like my own Maryland sky, cloudy, cold and dark.
So tears streamed down cheeks and rain pounded glass like a drunken, key-less resident’s fist on a front door. We needed that rain to wash us anew, but instead, it cemented reality. Our new America was here, and while it would be easiest to beg the rain, rain to go away and come back some other day, that future meet-up felt no shorter than four years in the distance.
I, like either you or your neighbor, was drowning in the reality. I needed something, and Wednesday, my solace graced the Baltimore stage at Rams Head Live! after opening acts from Divine Council and 21 Savage.
Young Thug, Atlanta’s own deplorable lord of the slime and hip-hop’s beloved alien, started his Hihorse’d tour in a fashion iconic for reasons unexpected. Descending from the same Georgian state that contributed to the nationally sullen Wednesday, Thugger turned a diverse and defeated crowd into a united roster of accepting and unwavering agents of joy.
Donning a pristine jacket that looked like a Yugi from Yu-Gi-Oh! and Michael Jackson outfit crossbreed, Thug dressed the part of a new-age savior. “Wyclef Jean,” a song off Thug’s Jeffery album, opened and set the tone for the energetic set. The crowd packed in, and, now camouflaged from security in the throng of concertgoers, the cries for a certain accessory began.
“You got a lighter?” asks a man who appeared next to me after being relocated by the dispersive mosh pit.
I did not. Several did, however, indicated by the sweet-skunk aroma that permeated throughout the sweat-drenched venue. As the crowd danced away the blues, medication came in the form of weed, perspiration and Thug.
Thug changed outfits, the crowd moshed on, and those with cash in their wallets flocked to the merchandise stands and clamored for overpriced shirts that proved their attendance. Black, White, Asian, Hispanic: We all danced. We all felt. We all understood. Our savior, a multi-millionaire with face tattoos and a penchant for obscenities, was their fear.
Toward the end of the set, Thug performed his 2014 Rich Gang hit, “Lifestyle.” Presented by Thug and a collective voice from the crowd, the song’s lyrics unintentionally explained the darkness of the day. Our prophet spoke.
“I’ve done did a lot of shit just to live this here lifestyle,” belted Thugger and his audience. “We came straight from the bottom to the top, my lifestyle.”
Eight years of doing a lot of (positive) shit got our nation to a state of historic social comfort, and one day’s result may very likely strip progress back to square one. Walking out of the venue, Thug made his fans contemplate the days to come.
Rain will come, but it’s us who are in charge of determining whether it will be the pitter-patter of morning or the breath of spring.
