ILoveMakonnen Puffs and Passes During Loudest of the Loud Tour in Los Angeles

After kicking off his first headlining tour in New York City in April, OVO’s promising signee ILOVEMAKONNEN brought his Loudest of the Tour to the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles on Friday (May 15).

The crowd, which consisted mainly of stoner teens, couples on date night and men in their early 20s, found solace in Mankonnen’s direct and simplistic narrative. Before he graced the stage, energetic performances from Key! and Sonny Digital had fans turnt up. When the Atlanta rhymer, who got his big break in 2014 with his Grammy Award-nominated, Drake-assisted hit “Tuesday," hit the stage around 10:30 p.m., it was time to get lifted to his lyrics.

Makonnen, dressed in a long sleeved T-shirt with a huge gold unicorn sprawled across its front, immediately jumped into his Drink More Water mixtape series, performing the sing-a-along, raunchy rhymes of “Sex, Love, Ecstasy.” He kept the momentum going with his “Whip It” freestyle and the Metro Boomin-produced “Too Much.”

Although the audience, clearly dazed and euphoric from the clouds of OG Kush lingering in the air, was too distracted to hear MAKONNEN’s uneven pitch, to the sober ears, his audio was off beat from the records played by the DJ. Nevertheless, he was seemingly unaware of the sound issues and kept his energy high. Thirty minutes into his set and in between the tokes he took from a fan’s blunt, he brought out DJ Carnage to assist him with “I Like Tuh.” The trap fest continued with “Simple Chef” and “I Don’t Sell Molly No More.”

Elated with the turn out and support from the city he used to call home, ILOVEMAKONNEN issued a special message to concertgoers. “L.A. we appreciate you so much. That’s the best feeling in the world having somebody sing yo s---,” he told the crowd before closing out his set with “Tuesday” at 11:10 p.m.

The rapper closes out his Loudest of the Loud tour in San Francisco on May 16 at the Independent.

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