Last night, an Illuminati princess in a bra, shorts and fishing hat initiated Miami into some kind of dark, new world hip-hop order. In this new order, there are no genders and no lames, just cold beats that bang and verses that sting.
It was a strange and enchanting initiation. All the converts were left sweaty and stunned as the head bad bitch Mykki Blanco wailed about, shouting though breathless through to the end of her sermon.
It had to have been one of the most interesting and unique performances the carpet at Bardot has played host to in a while. It's not every day a dude is the best female rapper around.
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We arrived at about midnight to find local DJ and producer Chalk working up the grooves. He was throwing down all kinds of vibes, from house to funky electro and back. His black shirt said simply "I used to be an altar boy."
The crowd was a modest collection of enthusiastic music geeks with developed senses of fashion. They stood around mingling and smoking cigarettes, daring to venture onto the dance floor for the last few tracks before the Great White Hype took the mic.
At about 12:55 a.m., Blanco's DJ Open1One took over the controls, throwing down some trappy rhythms, sparse and a little evil with lots of swagger. The rapper stood warming her boy up by the booth's edge, sporting black lipstick and a wild look in her eye.
"My my my my," she said, taking the center of the crowd, delivering her words with the weight of poetry, "Look at theis beautiful crowd, all of these beautiful people, they chose to come to my show, yo."
After an intro about mutants, she bent her body and slammed her words right into the head of the microphone, starting off the set with the "sinister" beat of "Haze.Boogie.Life." Rapping about freaky people, the audience took in the unique sight of this gender-queer artist, some commenting to each other about the bra, the lipstick, all backed by some of the illest beats.
She worked her way through the Brenmar-produced "Kingpinning," jumping up and down with the rhythm and rapping into the faces of everyone around.
"You know what? I think it's time for a roll call," she said between songs. "I said roll call motherfuckers."
Throughout the set, the DJ would let the beats drop out, allowing Mykki to deliver the words acapella with fiery venom. Her dark skin shone with dripping sweat in the flashing green lights. The scene had a real underground and ethereal feel as the crowd closed in their circle, brainwashed by the beat.
After tirelessly running through track after track, the vibe became more serious.
"It's time for you to get initiated," Blanco decided. She mustered all the dramatic flair she had and removed her fisher's hat to reveal a close-shaved head, glowing green in the dim and eerie light. She took up the mic stand and propped it behind her neck like a less-tortured Jesus. She dipped from side to side, doing a tribal-esque dance to the dark beat, getting real funky and spooky and cultish.
Mykki at her best is sexy and dangerous, a kind of icon you won't to touch but wouldn't dare. The initiation dance was the peak of the performance, very vogue and intense and different. She rapped twisted Latin words, inserting her name into the chants and sweating like mad. Everyone was ready to join the Mykki militia, no doubt.
Blanco performed more hits like "Wavvy" and "MB's First Freestyle" and kept the energy up through to the end. By about 1:45, the crowd was still entranced, but it was time to take a bow. It really felt like we had watched some kind of performance art rather than just a hip-hop show, and that was because we had.
"This is Mykki Blanco," she said. "This was the initiation. Thank you."
Mykki Blanco's Setlist Highlights:
-"Haze.Boogie.Life"
-"Kingpinnin"
-"YungRhymeAssassin"
-"Virginia Beach"
-"Squanto"
-"Join My Militia (Nas Gave Me a Perm)"
-"Wavvy"
-"MB's First Freestyle"
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