Georgia Ross

GRAVY FEST. Yung Gravy sold out The Armory, which has a maximum capacity of of 8,400, for his first Gravy Fest

Matthew Harui, better known as Yung Gravy, was greeted by an enthusiastic crowd at The Armory for his last stop on the Grits and Gravy tour Nov 29. Throughout the night, Gravy charmed the audience with Minnesota’s superiority and pride. Despite the shockingly crude lyrics and visual content of his performance, ages ranging from Generation X to Generation Zers mouthed along the words to Gravy anthems.

Despite his flashy fur coats and sunglasses, Yung Gravy had a midwestern upbringing. He was raised in Rochester, Minnesota, and graduated from the University of Madison with a degree in Marketing. During his time at Madison, Gravy developed branding strategies for start-up companies and opened a few companies of his own as well. He began uploading music on SoundCloud in his sophomore year and in 2016 he released his debut single Mr. Clean, one of his claims to fame.

The concert began with a long list of four openers and a DJ commentator who performed for about 2 1/2 hours before Gravy took the stage.

First was Carter Vail: heavy percussion, glowing synths, a dependable electric guitar line, and unmanicured vocals, at some point shouting into the microphone. Vail’s band was the most indie of all of the artists. Vail was also the only vocalist out of the five who played an instrument for the duration of his performance. Halfway through, he threw off his cowboy hat, shaking his hair and dancing, which the crowd applauded.

Next was Freddie Dredd whose dancing consisted of running around and jumping to impressive heights, especially for his height of 5 ‘7. Despite asking the crowd numerous times to form a mosh pit, at one point saying “When I get rowdy, I want to see you f****** punching each other,” the energy was low. Later, he asks the crowd to raise an arm in the air and scream “Ay” with him. His performance was reminiscent of the SNL Rap Roundtable skit.

Then, Waka Flocka Flame skipped out onto the stage and, like his name, he brought high energy. When his 2010 hit ‘No Hands,’ came on, the crowd erupted. His blunt electrical beats and energetic rapping brought everyone, even the straight-faced security guard, to dance and sing along. As Flame’s performance progressed, a group of men accumulated on the stage in the back. They took selfies, walked away, and then returned and took a few more. The act was random, but it fit the theme of the night.

After Flame, bbno$ ran out on stage. From his graffitied bright white pants to floppy 60’s hairstyle parted to one side, to his sophisticated glasses, his first impression was goofiness. Immediately, he explained his ritual at the beginning of each of his performances: he hands out a cookbook to a member of the audience. bbno$ got a few laughs when he passionately started to read through one of the recipes on stage. But as his performance continued, his goofiness turned into cockiness. One of his choruses went: “Who that boy, yeah? I’m that boy yeah.” But after, when his hit ‘Lalala’ came on, the crowd chanted along to all the words.

Lastly, the lights dimmed almost pitch black, smoke appeared out of nowhere and Yung Gravy walked on. In many of his songs, and all of his hits, Gravy has become an avid music sampler. He plays American classics like “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley, “Mr. Sandman” by The Chordettes and “Right Back Where We Started From” by Maxine Nightingale, charming his listeners with a nostalgic blast from the past. He blended rap, country, folk, with an electric intersection, and it sounded impressively clean.

However, his performance was underwhelming: he sauntered around the stage, occasionally raising his arms to emphasize lyrics, and picked up a collection of bras that the audience tossed onto the stage. He proceeded to thank each person who threw one onto the stage and dangle each bra onto instrumental cables and chords, which the crowd laughed at.

Most of the graphics displayed behind him were of overly sexualized women. At one point, Gravy announced he had created a new video that he would play for the first time. As the video played, a hush fell over the crowd, reaching the quietest it had ever been at the concert. The video compilation depicted various women wearing nearly no clothes at all, either dancing, baking, drinking, or picking fruit, meanwhile, Gravy sat smugly beside them watching.

To end his performance, Gravy tossed out roses and the audience cheered. He wound up his arm trying to throw a handful of them to the crowd, but in the process, many fell awkwardly from his hands to the ground, and petals exploded from the ones that made it into the air.

To summarize Gravy’s performance, along with many of the openers: crude, misogynistic, and insulting. Almost all of his lyrics and commentary to the crowd used degrading language toward women. While Gravy’s new take on the rap genre is refreshing, it doesn’t excuse the content.

But, the most disturbing part: everyone seemed to love it.

This story was updated on 12/10 to fix grammatical errors.