This past Thursday night, Consequence of Sound and Red Bull Sound Select came together to bring Bj The Chicago Kid, Pell, and Mykele Deville to Chop Shop in Wicker Park for an epic show.
The past few Red Bull Sound Select shows in Chicago have been nuts, and you can add this one to the list as well. Hopping off the blue line at Damen, on a cold and rainy Thursday night, I start making my way over to Chop Shop. Wondering how the turnout will be due to the crappy weather, I begin getting closer, only to see a line wrapped down the street and into the alleyway. I head on into the venue, make my way to the bar, and instantly see some friends of mine and catch up with them before the fantastic show.
Opening up for a show could be one of the best performances. It’s up to you to bring in the crowd and get them ready and prepared for the rest of the night. Doing just that, Mykele Deville brought a ton of energy to stage performing a few of his early singles, and songs from his newest project, Peace Fam. Mykele has a few different hats, he’s a rapper, poet, curator, and actor. Check out the poetry collective Mykele is also a part of, Growing Concerns
Following Mykele, we had Pell, a rapper/singer out of LA, but born and raised in New Orleans. Pell did a great job of getting the crowd involved with his set. Before he started, he got the crowd to constantly chant “Pell Yeah”. He started his set with his collab with Big Gigantic, Miss Primetime. A great way to continue the vibes, next he plays his feature with the very talented AlunaGeorge, Full Swing. Pell spits a verse with technical rhymes, while AlunaGeorge comes through on the hook with r&b vocals, yet still keeping the record an electronic dance hit. The highlight of his set was when he randomly dropped Usher’s Confessions for the crowd once again to get involved with his set.
To finish the night, we had Chicago’s very own, and one of our best, BJ The Chicago Kid. Coming off a great year in 2016, performing the Star Spangled Banner at Obama’s Farewell speech, and getting nominated for three grammy’s, BJ makes his return to Chicago to bless us with an incredible live performance with the band. Opening up his set with fellow Chicagoan, BJ plays Church, which features Chance The Rapper. I have never seen BJ live before, and just after that first song, I was very excited for the rest of the set. After Church, he transitioned into Good Luv’n, which then transitioned into Love Inside off of his latest project, In My Mind. As he wraps up his set, his DJ drops four hit records in a row! First, he drops Kendrick Lamar’s latest record, Humble. After Humble, he tells hid DJ to slow it back down, and he throws on a classic, All Falls Down, by Kanye West, and one of the greatest to ever come out of Chicago. At this point, the crowd is going crazy, pulling their phones out, snapchatting and singing along to the hits. The DJ cuts the record and BJ gets back on the mic and says, “Alright, that was something slow, let’s speed things up” and his DJ once again drops Humble at a faster rate. The crowd loses it once again. Slowing it back down again, BJ plays one of my favorite verses of his, which is Studio by Schoolboy Q. And to top it all off, BJ finishes the night with a tribute to one of the greatest R&B singers of all time, Marvin Gaye’s Aint Nothing Like The Real Thing. All I can say is if you’ve never seen BJ The Chicago Kid, make sure you catch one of his next shows. You should already know just how good of a voice he has, but his live band is incredible.
Thank you Red Bull Sound Select for bringing me out to the show!
Photos by: @Zoe Rain and @Blvncos
Words By: Nico Rud
Chicago Creatives 