This year's vitaminwater and The FADER #uncapped series continued last night in New York with three members of LA's T.D.E. family, who transformed the white-walled West Side Gallery into a dazzling performance space. A dressed-for-sweater-weather crowd that included actresses Jessica Stroup and Chloe Bridges, designers Carly Cushnie and Michelle Ochs and actor Anthony Mackie gathered after sundown. They were greeted by chilled vitaminwater and DJ Green Lantern, who blended Rich Homie Quan's smooth "Type of Way" into a blistering trap mix.
Soon, Miss Info arrived onstage to introduce T.D.E.'s first-ever female signee, GEN F alum SZA. In a knee-skimming football jersey and platform sneakers, backed by a DJ and keyboardist, the New Jersey native sang two new songs, "Julia" and "Teen Spirit," the latter produced by Toronto's 16-year-old Wondagurl. With humble confidence and a smile, she thanked the audience for greeting the new girl so nicely, then passed the mic to Schoolboy Q, who launched into a set of new tracks and old favorites—like "Blessed," "Sexting," and "Hands on the Wheel," from his Setbacks tape and last album, Habits and Contradictions. After someone in the crowd tossed out a new nickname for Q—Quwop—he dropped bouncy new single "Collard Greens," the first from his upcoming LP, Oxymoron, whose release date announcement seems imminent. Suddenly, king Kendrick himself popped up for his verse on the song, sauntering onstage to yelps from the crowd and a billion Instagram snaps. Watch them do "Collard Greens" together, above. "Can I get one in?" he asked after, lingering to deliver the towering "m.A.A.d. City" with Q as enthusiastic hype man.
Kendrick departed and Schoolboy Q wrapped up with a buoyant rendition of "Yay Yay" before sitting down with SZA and Miss Info to talk about new beginnings, making albums instead of tapes, his adorable daughter and his next album. "Oxymoron is finished. I turned it in," he confirmed. Cheers to that. Stay tuned for the full conversation, coming next Monday. 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 has made Monday nights less boring with surprise performances in traditionally mundane venues all summer long. This season of performances is coming to a close—for chances to win tickets to this year's upcoming final installment, follow vitaminwater and FADER on Twitter.