Last night, a 21-year-old, Houston-born rapper with stubby braids and a dollar sign in his name crowd-surfed a bank. Travi$ Scott's performance for this summer's vitaminwater and The FADER #uncapped series—before a packed crowd in the lobby of LES People's Federal Credit Union—began when he yelled, "We have to rage in this credit union one time," and he proceeded to do precisely that.
Before the show, DJ Yung Skeeter had tantalized the audience of vitaminwater-sippers with catchy, uptempo house music, but even that couldn't foreshadow Scott's breathless energy. Backed onstage by legendary producer (and fellow Houston native) Mike Dean, who played synths and guitar, the young rapper spent equal time flying through the air and bouncing in the crowd. He boldly dove off a speaker stack to Owl Pharaoh standout "Upper Echelon" and later started a full-on mosh pit near the once-sleepy desk where you pick up brochures about credit lines. Near the end of Scott's set, Trinidad Jame$ made a surprise appearance for the pair's collaboration "Shut Up," as seen above—his eyes behind dark sunglasses in some contrast to Scott's, which glared unblinking as he flew once again into the audience with the tireless charisma of a classic hardcore frontman. As #uncapped host Miss Info said in her interview afterward with Scott, who was still out of breath—he's "intense."
See photos of the party below, and for interviews and performances from all of this (and past) year's #uncapped events, check out the vitaminwater YouTube channel. #uncapped is making Monday nights all summer long less boring with surprise performances in traditionally mundane venues. For chances to win tickets and up-to-the-minute location reveals, follow vitaminwater and FADER on Twitter.
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