21 Savage fails to slay at the Uptown
Atlanta — and perhaps the rest of the world — has never seen a rap star quite like 21 Savage. Other household names in hip-hop over the years have made violent lyricism their bread and butter, but few have made it as central to their image as Savage has. The snarled, Southern drawl and flagrant threats of drive-by shootings on “Red Opps” propelled him to notoriety back in 2015. Following two years of continued success — including two Top 10 albums and a feature on Post Malone’s No. 1 “Rockstar” this year — Savage is soaring.
But for all of the artist’s momentum and menace, his first Kansas City headlining date — at a sold-out Uptown Theater — was a disappointment. From the moment he emerged from the mouth of a giant Jason Voorhees mask, to the end of his 50-minute set, Savage kept things far too laid back. His movements about the stage were confined to slow strolls, his body rigid and his head nodding ever so slightly. He came across like a faulty-bobblehead version of the real thing.
Still, if this led to a higher concentration of blank stares than the excitement his peers typically generate, the young audience never turned on him. No, Savage wasn’t particularly exciting to watch, but enough of his fans brought enough of their own frenzy as they danced to his hits — “X,” “Bank Account,” “No Heart” — that a kind of secondhand entertainment could be had.
The few enthralling moments of the night came in the form of a cappella bits that punctuated some songs. “Mad High,” a track from Savage’s first album with Metro Boomin, was given this kind of sendoff. Without a thunderous instrumental or backing track left to hide behind, Savage’s raps rang loud, and his words could fully register in your head. Hearing his voice by itself sent an appropriate chill through the room, reminiscent of hearing a quotable line before a murder in a gangster movie.
Nobody’s asking Savage to flash a big smile or do cartwheels. That would be far out of character, disappointing in a different way. But Young Savage needs to inject more energy into his stage show to live up to his own billing.
Opening the gig were fellow Slaughter Gang artists Tip and Noplug. The two, while more enthusiastic than Savage, lacked his polished sound and couldn’t connect with the unfamiliar audience. Lawrence DJ Yung Grandpa and Savage’s DJ Marc B both spun exciting, crowd-pleasing mixes — the latter offering fans a taste of Savage’s unreleased remix of Tay-K’s viral hit “The Race.”
