It has only taken Drake five years to reach hip-hop’s top echelon. Not only does he have a Grammy for Best Hip-Hop album to show for it, but No. 1 tracks and albums galore and an innovative label OVO Sound churning out more cutting edge music, but on Monday (Nov. 25) night he added a sold out headlining show at the renown Staples Center in Los Angeles to the list. But Drake didn’t do it alone.
Drake’s Would You Like A Tour concert in LA was kicked off by 20-year-old OVO Sound signee PartyNextDoor. Though people were still trickling into the arena, PartyNextDoor put on quite a performance with tracks off of his self-titled debut mixtape.
With the lights dimming and fog appearing, the crowd knew that the next act was coming to the stage. With his head down and arms crossed, Future appeared in view slowly rising onto the stage. With the crowd going wild, no one even noticed his security escorted fiancé Ciara rushing to her seat to catch his performance. Starting off his set with his feature on the YC track “Racks” and closing out with the Ace Hood single he helped make a hit, “Bugatti,” Future definitely warmed up the crowd for Drake.
But it wasn’t Drake’s turn yet. There was one more “ladies man” to go: Miguel. Appearing in a feathered leather jacket, the R&B crooner gave fans a sexy performance while gyrating, doing half splits, and pointing out women in the audience who he thought he would look good with. It’s safe to say that Miguel’s performance was a scream fest. With him performing fan favorites from “Sure Thing” and Wale’s “Lotus Flower Bomb” to “Quickie” and “How Many Drinks?” Miguel made sure to put the icing on the cake with his last song. Closing out his set with the go-to love song “Adorn,” Miguel brought out Taylor Gang’s headmaster Wiz Khalifa to spit his verse on the “Adorn” remix.
With Wiz Khalifa making an appearance, there was no way that Drake wasn’t going to bring any special guest out with him. The clock struck 9:15PM, and the lights turned off. You could hear an echo of screams and phones flashing on to get ready to record what was going to happen next. With the curtains rising and a lit up oval set with a band in the middle, Drake rose onto the stage with everyone on their feet. Starting off with his new song “Tuscan Leather” off of his Nothing Was The Same album, Drake then took it back to Take Care with tracks “Headlines” and “Crew Love.” After leaving the crowd hyped for more, Drake took a minute to introduce himself as Aubrey Drake Graham. Letting the whole arena know that LA is his second home, Drake then brought out Future to perform Lil Wayne’s “Love Me” and “Same Damn Time.” Cash Money’s leading bossman Birdman came out next to perform his classic Big Tymers single “Still Fly.” Drake then slowed the mood down and brought out the beautiful, stylish and talented Jhene Aiko to perform their sexy love song “From Time,” also off of his new album.
Giving Drake time to rejuvenate and do a quick wardrobe change, his DJ kept the crowd entertained by playing tracks off of Drake’s first album So Far Gone to his more recent tracks, a reminder of how much success Drake has accomplished in the last four years. Even stars like Diddy, Jaden Smith and the Kardashians were in attendance to see Drake do his thing. Returning back to the stage, Drake brought an older woman up with him and respectively seduced her while complementing her sweater. Drake went right into “Worst Behavior” having everyone on their feet feeling like they were at a party, then brought the one-and-only Queen of all Barbs, Nicki Minaj, onto the stage to perform “Make Me Proud” off of his Take Care album. After giving the audience a teaser of “The Motto,” “HYFR” and “F**kin’ Problems,” he brought out everyone’s favorite uncle, Uncle Snoop. Snoop Dogg came onto the stage to perform his classic hits “The Next Episode,” “Nuthin’ but a ‘G’ Thang” and “Drop It Like It’s Hot.” Ending his show with “Started From The Bottom,” it was safe to say that everyone at the concert left very much satisfied and can proudly answer–yes Drake I would like a tour.