All photos by Jennifer Lake
When a prominent artist passes, particularly the friend of a living one, it definitely bothers me to see people flocking to acknowledge the dead as a means to get acknowledged by the living. This happened a few times last night when people randomly filled moments of silence with “Long Live Dolph,” referring to Key Glock’s cousin, friend, and industry partner Young Dolph. The pair collaborated frequently, most notably on two “Dum and Dummer” mixtapes and the separate tracks “Major,” and “No Sense.” Young Dolph was shot dead in Memphis outside of his favorite childhood bakery, Makeda’s Homemade Butter Cookies, on November 17, 2021 — just eight months after the release of the aforementioned Dum and Dummer 2. While the audience comments during Key Glock’s show at 713 Music Hall may have been cringe-worthy at times, they set the tone for what would be a night of high-energy tributes, moshpits, acapella, and unity that reminded me what hip-hop shows are all about.
Dolph was not only a rapper, but a record executive who founded Paper Route Empire (PRE) in 2010, to which Key Glock was signed and presently continues its legacy. The show opened with Memphis native Zo Trapalot and label member PaperRoute Woo, who warmed up the crowd to the style of hip-hop we’d be hearing from Mr. Glock. However, there was still energy missing from the crowd — enter hitmaker and prominent collaborator Sheck Wes. A member of the hip-hip collective JACKBOYS, Sheck and his peers (including Travis Scott) are anticipating their second group album to be released later this year. Opening with “GANG GANG” from album no.1 and closing with the new single “ILMB,” Sheck infused the audience with a mix of nostalgia and pure excitement. In between that, Sheck only needed 3 more songs to get his finger on the crowd’s pulse: his appearance on Dreamville’s moshpit-forming “Stick” (this is the third time by three different artists I have moshed to this song), and two songs off his only solo album, MUDBOY: “Live Sheck Wes” and the neuron-activiating anthem “Mo Bamba.” While this is likely the shortest set I have seen by a prominent music artist, Sheck played his role to perfection — and now, the crowd was ready for their headliner.
After a longer-than-usual wait, Glock opened with his newest album’s closer “3AM in ToKEYo” and immediately jumped into his most-recognized song, “Let’s Go.” With the simpler lyrics and the flooding popularity, I imagine he wanted to get this out of the way and hype the crowd for his newest tracks off Glockaveli, which released three weeks prior. He played six of the album’s most popular songs, including my personal favorite “No Sweat.” The animations for these were fire, including “The Grinch” with a PRE chain and “Badu” swiftly transforming into Key Glock.
After the momentum of his songs paused, he brought out two of Houston’s finest on the wheel of supporting acts. Artists of a certain stature, from my observance, can spin this wheel anytime they have a show in the H to amp up the crowd and show love to this city or simply Texas — Paul Wall, Slim Thug, Trae Tha Truth, That Mexican OT, and BigXThaPlug are some recent examples. However, Key Glock has made a point throughout his career that he does not easily befriend other rappers (see: “Mr. Glock”), and because of this, he was not bringing them out just as crowdpleasers but as real friends and respected artists. The first was Maxo Kream, who performed the entirety of SoundCloud anthem “Fresh,” a Playboi Carti classic where he is featured on. After this came Bun B, who gave us a rendition of the classic “Get Throwed” that still maintains its authenticity almost 20 years after its release.
Glock ran through classics from his previous eras, which revived the moshpits. Yellow Tape 2’s “Ambition for Cash” and Glockoma’s “Since 6ix” stood out as best received among the crowd. But the real highlight came when he asked for three of the biggest Dolph fans to perform some of his biggest hits, including classics like “100 Shots.” As someone who would not claim to be a big Young Dolph fan, it was a joy to see people my age perform with such confidence without disrespecting the deceased, ensuring that his legacy lives on beyond his mortality.
The night concluded with a mellow performace of “Russian Cream,” to which Glock “tested” the crowd by letting them sing the first verse without his help. Once that was done, it marked a harmonious night of hip-hop and history, and I’m very glad I was a part of it. From the electric show to the day one record signing at Cactus Music, this album rollout has Key Glock showing a lot of love to his “second home” here in Houston. He has done a great job strengthening the alliance between two huge meccas of Southern rap, and it won’t be long before his name ascends as one of its most notable legends.
About Author
