On May 20th, 2018, 18-year-old rappers, YBN Nahmir and YBN Almighty Jay from the YBN crew performed at the Catalyst in Downtown Santa Cruz. The performers showed out to a hyped up audience who had been anxiously awaiting the two acts. Headliner YBN Nahmir gained recognition and huge popularity after his track, “Rubbin Off The Paint” was released on Soundcloud in August 2017 and continued his popularity with “Bounce Out With That” in January 2018. YBN Almighty Jay is not only known for his track, “Takin Off” but also for his most recent relationship with stripper Blac Chyna. However, these boys, “…first assembled YBN as [teenagers] on XBOX live, posting [their] Grand Theft Auto live streams to Youtube and later freestyling during Live sessions,” (Ben Dandridge-Lemco, The Fader). These two from the YBN crew came out to the venue with a surprisingly large audience, eager to hear the new artists’ music.
Opener YBN Almighty Jay warmed up the crowd by laying down fresh raps and performing a number of his singles, as he is yet to produce a debut album. When headliner YBN Nahmir appeared on stage, Almighty Jay stayed on along with other openers, King Midas and Antdog Da Beast. The four rappers performed alongside main act, YBN Nahmir, despite not being featured in his original songs. Each had their own style, however, Nahmir’s music is heavily influenced by Bay Area type beats, similar to SOBxRBE and E-40.
The entire set was wild. Not only were the artists keeping the crowd alive with their music, but YBN Jay Almighty facetimed rumored to-be baby mama Blac Chyna to say “Hi” to everyone in the audience, just to add to the chaos. The crowd was ready for the hype when YBN called out a mosh pit and they were not hesitant to rush the stage when Nahmir told them to. Our own KZSC volunteers had the opportunity to party with Nahmir and his squad on the stage.
WRITTEN BY: DJ N$TY K & DJ LODÄNI