Kevin Ross’s #TheAwakeningTour At The Viper Room; Dope x BET Kicksperience Pop Up Party

really want to say fuck everything tonight and go get a massage.

— Shirley Ju (@shirju) June 18, 2017

Happy Saturday. It was legit a million degrees out today. Luckily, I had articles to write (sarcasm). One day, I will be able to relax on the beach like a normal person. Standardly, this left me emo af. I had no motivation to function.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BVSaejXg8Cy/?taken-by=dope&hl=en

And then I snapped out of it lmao. I got dressed and head to Weho. I had some time to kill, so I stopped by this Dope x BET Kicksperience Pop Up Party first. The BET shenanigans begin. I pull up around 9:15pm to find a bunch of people standing around outside. It seemed like the party inside did not suffice.

Real 92.3 was all over it. Promo everywhere. Recruited my fashion connoisseur, Corey, to come check this out with me. So happy he did, I hate going to events dolo. And this was a bit of a bunk. I was all worried it was going to be another hypebeast Fairfax event, but nah. It was empty lmao. Not worth of any flicks. Merch was cool- this shirt is a dope collab. Got a raffle ticket for a chance to win Yeezys and Jordans. Asked for more to increase our chances of winning. She said no.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BVc07lbggXl/?taken-by=kevinrossmusic

Next stop: Kevin Ross headlining The Viper Room on Sunset in Weho. This is The Awakening Tour, in light of his last album, The Awakening, which I streamed on the way over. Tonight is one of those situations where I don’t know a whole lot about an artist, and let the show speak for itself. Success..

Shout out to my babygirl Sandrine for being my date. 90’s R&B is her shit, and that ended up being the whole vibe of the show. Shout out to Brandon getting that paper. My favs. We head upstairs to find a full house. No lie, it was packed. First off, The Viper Room is one of the more intimate venues in LA. It was such a great turnout. Huge thanks to Joanne for having us.

full house tonight for @kevinrossmusic 👏🏼👏🏼 @theVIPERroom pic.twitter.com/wUSJ30gMuR

— HipHopDX (@HipHopDX) June 18, 2017

We had to push to the front because we couldn’t see shit. Short girl problems. He came out to “Be Great” and the crowd was lit. There were some serious fans in there tonight. I counted at least 4 females surrounding me that knew the words to every song verbatim. Always such a beautiful sight to see. Next, he played “Don’t Forget About Me” and “O.I.L.”

.@kevinrossmusic performing his new song "don't go" 🙏🏽 pic.twitter.com/rcsq71YlAZ

— HipHopDX (@HipHopDX) June 18, 2017

Man, it was so hot up in there lmao. Poor Kevin was wearing a leather jacket on top of a long sleeve. That came off eventually. He asked the crowd if they had to choose between money and love, what would it be? Proceeding to play “Money Over Love.” The crowd was very receptive. And Kevin has great stage presence. He played his new song “Don’t Go” next, which he shamelessly promoted was on Spotify. I def added it to the DX “R&B/Soul” playlist. I got you, Kevin.

He took it all way to Michael Jackson (think “Butterflies” is sampled on “Don’t Go”). It was great. He proceeded to do his 90’s R&B acapella mash-up, which is all over Youtube. I LOVED it. So dope. He got on the keys next and told us about how shy he was as a child. He always did choir in the church, but in his sophomore year, he got his big break opening for Stevie Wonder. Kevin covering “Another Star” had me in my feels. We were officially fans.

Next, he covered Donny Hathaway’s “A Song For You.” More feels. Kevin’s from Washington, D.C. After shouting out Motown Records, he let the entire room know it took him 5.5 years to get to where he is now, on stage right there in that very moment. Very inspiring. He closed out the show with “Dreams” and gave us all a message: dreams can come true.

Thank you, Kevin.