Key Glock Gives Texas Glockoma

Key Glock rolled through San Antonio’s Aztec Theatre on 4/20 to fire up the Texas portion of his Glockoma tour. The venue was sold out for a two-night concert event headlining the South Memphis rapper. He then headed to Houston for another sold-out show at Bayou Music Center on April 22.

Along with Mr. Glock, concert goers were able to see a blend of opening acts from Paper Routes Empire’s very own Jay Fizzle and Kenny Muney to newer artists like TiaCorrine. Being in Texas has its perks as we also had a special guest appearance by Dallas rapper BigXThaPlug.

While all of the opening acts performed in front of the drawn curtains of the venues stage, small movements during act changes moved the curtains and gave a small glimpses of what seemed to be a big bust statue of Key Glock himself.

A giant bust of Key Glock sat center stage. – Photo by Jennifer Lake

The house DJ knew how to get the party started as the crowd anticipated the first act. The DJ started to play some popular hits from “We are young by fun.” to “Goosebumps by Travis Scott”. The crowd was very receptive and even started to sing along together in harmony in excitement for what was to come.

Houston’s Bayou Music Center was packed for the Glockoma Tour on April 22, 2023 – Photo By Jennifer Lake

The show started with Jay Fizzle, a resident Paper Route Empire artist who has recently released “Donnafizzo” his latest studio album back in August of last year. Fizzle, who is by no means a newer member of PRE, kicked off his set with a throwback song “Racks Today” which appears on Key Glocks 2017 debut studio album Glock Season. The seasoned fans definitely knew the song and continued to hype Fizzle into his next song “Standing On Top of Shit”. Fizzle’s performance has improved over the years, and it was great to see not only his passion for his music, but also his passion for performing it. Fizzle continues into one of his hottest streamed songs “Sunday”, I like this song best out of his catalogue because it showcases a very chill Memphis-style beat, his lyrical ability, and tells a story all in one. Fizzle then continued his set playing some more songs from his latest album featuring “Dust Town Livin”, and “Never going broke” and even got in the crowd to perform “50 Freaky Bitches”. There was a lot of respect given for the late Young Dolph as throughout his set Fizzle would get the crowd just that more hyped by playing even a couple Young Dolph songs like “Play wit yo bitch”. Without a doubt, the entire crowd was singing along to celebrate his life and pay their respects.

 To keep that energy going Kenny Muney was up next to perform. DJ Rocksteady shouts to the crowd “When I say Kenny!” “Y’all say Muney” and as the crowd and DJ Rocksteady shouted back “Ashtray” started playing and Muney hit the stage. The song choice is always critical I feel when doing a show and what better way to start off the set than with a collaboration he did with Young Dolph back on the PAPER ROUTE iLLUMINATi album, which was Young Dolph’s last album before his passing back in late 2021. Muney has always been an energetic performer and loves getting hyped with the crowd and found they were hyped enough to go ahead and perform “In A Rush” and continue into “Big Muney Shit” some newer songs in his catalogue coming from his latest Album “Blue Muney”. What caught the crowd by surprise is that Muney brought out a stack of blue hundred-dollar bills, ripped one in half, and said “If you catch the ripped one, ill give you five hundred dollars!!“ This got everybody in the venue hyped up and he restarted the song “Big Muney Shit” as he made it rain on the crowd. Muney also played some homage to the late Young Dolph by performing “Talking To My Scale”. He ended his set getting right into the crowd to perform “Muney Prayer” the opening song to his latest album Blue Money. Throwing it back to his Time is Muney album from last year, Kenny went ahead and ended his set with “Leeches”. Kenny was serious about his offer and right after walking off stage, he came right back with a stack of hundred-dollar bills. The individual who had caught the ripped one definitely got more than what they came for as he counted out close to about $800 in blues and handed it to them from the stage.

Fans at Houston’s Bayou Music Center – Photo by Jennifer Lake

The tour also featured a couple of up-and-coming hip-hop artists. First of which was TiaCorrine, a North Carolina native who recently released her 2nd studio album I Can’t Wait featuring the hit “Freaky T” which has almost 20 million plays at the time of writing this review (Spotify). Opening her set with a snippet of “Freaky T” the crowd lit up and roared in excitement. Continuing through her set she performed “FYK” which is a song that I like but I’m assuming that because it’s a single and wasn’t included in any of her recent releases attendees were not familiar with it. TiaCorrine continued with another song “Yung Joc” from an unreleased album back in 2021. Throwing it back to her first studio album “That Saga of 34Corine” was the song “Pancakes” The front row kept her positive throughout the set. Performing songs from her latest album she continued into “Boogie” and “Rocket” more tracks from her latest album. Following that was one of my favorite songs “Lotto” Being that it was her first time in San Antonio, some may not have known her as well as the other performers that day. Her performance was still great! The venue’s lack of participation started to affect the energy and vibe of the concert but handling it like a pro with her bubbly and fun energy she finished off her set with “Freaky T” put the crowd back in a hyped mood of anticipation for the rest of the show.

Key Glock sold out at Houston’s Bayou Music Center – Photo by Jennifer Lake

BigXThaPlug was up next as the special guest for the Texas portions of the Glockoma tour and the Houston native did not disappoint. Opening his set with “Mr.Trouble” a single that has gained over 14 million plays since it dropped last year. As the crowd got louder so did the hype on stage as you could see BigXThatPlug dancing off the energy as he went into his next song “Big Stepper”. Both songs are not on his recently released album “AMAR” but some that I’m glad he performed as they are some of his current biggest hits being played and streamed. As the smoke filled the air from the crowd and the stage BigXThaPlug continues his set accompanying him is an artist by the name of Ro$ama, who wasn’t on the setlist but does have a few songs with BigXThaPlug which he performed alongside including the track “Rap Niggas”. Keeping the energy at an all-time max BigXThaPlug continued into “Levels” a song off the latest album. What was really awesome was to see him also perform “Strange Fruit”, an older track from back in 2021 that also features Ro$ama. BigXThaPlug is quickly making a name for himself here in the South. Ending his set with “Texas” was a great way to end such a great performance as the crowd was at an all-time hype and even was heard singing along with the newest Texas hip-hop anthem. The crowd wanted more and so BigXThaPlug gave them what they wanted and performed one more song “Safehouse” which at the moment has actually surpassed “Texas” as his most streamed song on Spotify with close to almost 16 million plays. What an even better way to finish off the set!

Leading into the next and final act, DJ Bandplay Young Dolph’s former DJ and producer came out to the stage to get hyped with the crowd. And to get the crowd that much more hyped they played Chief Keef’s popular “Love Sosa” which seemed to work perfectly as then the Curtains opened to reveal a very large Key Glock Bust in the center of the stage. The crowd was already getting loud and jumping with excitement, and when you heard the DJ say “When I say Key, you say Glock”. Then proceeded to shout “Key!” the crowd cheered back “Glock!” as Key Glock hit the stage.

Key Glock at Houston’s Bayou Music Center – Photo by Jennifer Lake

The Memphis rapper Key Glock brought his signature style and swagger to the stage, delivering an unforgettable performance. Starting with “Chromosomes” from his latest Album “Glockoma 2” From his gritty lyrics to his infectious beats, Key Glock’s music has become a staple of the hip-hop scene. And on this night, he proved why he’s one of the genre’s rising stars. Taking it back to his “Yellow Tape 2” Glock performed “Something Bout Me” as he spit fire into the microphone. Seeing Glock progress over the years and develop such a diverse catalogue really made this show special for me. As he went into the track “Dough” from the 2020 “Yellow Tape” album just the start of the beat itself got the crowd roaring in excitement.  As soon as the words came in the crowd was singing right along with Glock. From the Large digital screens showing the graphics related to the song to the Key Glock statue shooting laser light shows out of his eyes this performance was intense. Continuing into the song “From Nothing” from the latest album “Glockoma 2”. Even with not performing the whole song the crowd was still just as hyped going into the next track. “2 For 1” is one of my favorites from the album as it has a unique song that after about 45 seconds goes right into a beat switch. I guess I was not the only one who favors it, as right when the beat switched the smoke cannons went off and the crowd started jumping and roaring in excitement. Im glad it was included in the set as the performance was phenomenal. Taking it back to the “Yellow Tape” album up next was “1997” as Glock had a pretty good feel for the crowd’s excitement and was feeding into it as much as he could. Going back to one of his very first albums “Glockoma” up next was “Bottom of the Pot” which continued to keep the crowd going. Up next was “Ambition For Cash” which I could argue is his most popular song as it has gained more than 167 million streams on Spotify. “Word on Streets” was up next and even though the song performances were a bit short, it provided Glock more time to perform more hits. “Gang Shit No Lame Shit” was up next and the crowd continued to move as one all vibing to the performance. Leading up to the next song “Dirt” a small section in the crowd at the ground level was a scene forming a mini mosh pit in anticipation of the drop of the song.

Key Glock at Houston’s Bayou Music Center – Photo by Jennifer Lake

As the rest of the night went on the mini mosh pit returned for almost every beat drop. At this point in the concert, Key Glock called out to the crowd to ask where the biggest Young Dolph fan was! “100 Shots” a very notable Young Dolph song started playing and he started motioning the mic over to the crowd and eventually invited a concertgoer to come on stage. As she was helped on stage, she got the chance of a lifetime to perform a long side Key Glock the late Young Dolph’s song. She did really well and actually knew the majority of the lyrics which is always good! As Glock disappeared behind the stage for a moment the crowd was asked once again where the fans of Young Dolph were, and 2 more concertgoers were invited on stage to perform the late Young Dolphs “Get Paid”. This gave plenty of time for Key Glock to catch his breath for the rest of the set. In the spirit of Young Dolph “Major” started playing and what better way for Glock to return to the stage than his feature of the song itself. Finishing up the concert with an older track “Since6six” and ending it “Mr. Glock”. Key Glock has really impressed me with how much dedication he has, to not only his craft but his performance as well. Everything just meshed and made for a great experience.

Key Glock at Houston’s Bayou Music Center – Photo by Jennifer Lake

I consider myself very lucky to have been able to see both Young Dolph and Key Glock just 3 years ago at this same venue. Glock was just getting started in the music industry and with the passing of Young Dolph, Glock and the rest of Paper Route Empire artists have continued his legacy to the fullest. Young Dolph will always be remembered through his music.

Key Glock and Young Dolph at House of Blues Houston in February 2020 – Photo by Jennifer Lake

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