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21 Savage inaugural dreamville festival 2019
21 Savage inaugural dreamville festival 2019
Photo Credit: Joshua Galloway for Okayplayer.com

21 Savage Performs a Brief But Potent Set In New York City [Review]

21 Savage pulls to New York City with an umbrella.

A couple of songs into 21 Savage's headlining show at Pier 17 in New York City the lights went off. A video started playing. It was a montage of events that occurred this year.

On Super Bowl Sunday, 21 Savage was arrested by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, who was claiming that the rapper — who is from the United Kingdom — overstayed his visa. He was released from the detention center a week later. The footage displayed the frantic coverage around that arrest. 

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21 Savage has bounced back quite nicely. (Even though the case is still somewhat in limbo.) In May he announced he was going on tour with North Carolina star DaBaby. On Thursday, August 8th, he pulled up to Pier 17, an outside rooftop venue in New York City. Outside needs to be stressed because rain would become a hindrance. A couple of moments after the doors opened it started pouring. There was lightning so the roof had to be evacuated, derailing the opening night performers. (It wasn't DaBaby, but Young Nudy and Calboy.)

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After an extended wait, the rain cleared up and the audience was allowed to go back upstairs. Aware of the time restrictions, 21 Savage raced through a set made up mostly of songs from his latest album, I Am > I Was: including "A Lot," "Monster," "Pad Lock," "1.5," "Out for the Night," and more. 

This was a very pro-21 Savage crowd and they didn't mind the fact he was rapping over his vocals, or that the set seemed abbreviated. After a lively performance of "Bank Account," 21 Savage took off his shirt, threw it in the crowd shouted out New York City, and dipped. 

21 Savage's I Am > I Was your continues with a show in Raleigh, North Carolina on Wednesday, August 14th.