There’s nothing like closing off the weekend with a show at the Echo. As this was my first rap show, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, but by the end of the night it’s safe to say that it exceeded anything I could have imagined.

The show had 3 opening acts leading up to Kodie Shane – all of which were unique in what they brought to the table. When we entered, DJ Katbrownsugar set the mood by mixing popular hip-hop tracks to get people moving. Since the venue wasn’t very packed at that point in the night, she very much did her own thing and seemed to be having fun with it.

As the night went on, people started moving towards the center, anticipating the next act – Baby Goth. Baby Goth combines the “pastel goth” aesthetic with the “SoundCloud rapper” sound. Her stage energy was fantastic, as she danced around the space to get the audience excited. It was cool hearing that it was her first time performing in a live venue, and I was glad I got to be a part of that. However, I was disappointed that she didn’t actually rap her songs and appeared to be lip syncing over a recording. As I looked around the audience, it seemed that others were realizing this too. Regardless, her loud stage presence made her an overall fun act to watch.

After Baby Goth followed Guapdad4000. He made a conscious effort to connect to the audience, telling a backstory behind each of the songs he would perform. When he started performing, his style seemed immediately different from that of Baby Goth. Guapdad’s repertoire consisted of mostly down-to-earth raps with a tinge of humor, making references to microwave rice (as a college student, I can fully relate) and white girls with good credit scores (cannot relate). On top of that, his performances were all very high energy despite a dead audience (which by the way, he totally called us out for). Even though it probably didn’t show at the time, I really enjoyed his act and will definitely look into him more.

Lastly came the act we’ve all been waiting for – Kodie Shane herself! After a long wait while staff members were figuring out technically issues, the instrumental opening to “Love and Drugz II” started playing and the mood of the room immediately took a 180 as crowd members started chanting her name. Over the instrumental was Kodie’s own audio recording, reflecting on her growth as an artist and transition into adulthood. When Kodie came up to perform, it was clear that she was having a blast, moving from one end of the stage to another and engaging the audience by asking them to move with her and wave their hands in the air. The blend of her raw vocals and the incorporation of live instruments gave a whole new dimension to the songs, heavily contrasting to their recorded versions. Throughout the show, she constantly mentioned how thankful she was for everyone in the audience, and definitely showed this through her actions too. During “Thinking Bout U”, Kodie handed out roses to people in the very front row. She even took a fan’s phone and recorded herself singing into the camera. Overall, her stage presence was huge and energetic, and it was obvious that she was there for the people and giving it her all. What a way to wrap up the weekend!

— Katie Li, DJ

SHOW REVIEW: KODIE SHANE @ THE ECHO